GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 2 - October 2007

27 But moving a gaming operation from halfway around the world to the Med- iterranean is not as simple as renting a U-Haul truck. “This is the first time the entire industry as a whole has had to think about moving,” said Pe- ter Marcus, spokesman for InterCasino Group. InterCasino—theworld’s oldest online casino — spent nearly two years planning and executing its move from the island of Curaçao to Malta. “It was a very tough de- cision to leave after 11 years in Curaçao,” said Marcus. “But unfortunately it became clear that Cu- raçao would not be able to offer servic- es moving forward and that it would not be on the U.K.’s White List.” InterCasino also wanted to be located closer to its customers: In 2005, be- fore the U.S. adopted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), about 50% of InterCasino players were logging in from Europe. Today, it’s about 70%. InterCasino Group considered the Isle of Man, Alderney, the United King- dom and Gibraltar before settling on Malta. “We rejected Isle of Man and Alder- ney because they were not part of the EU,” said Marcus. “We looked very closely at the UK but of course the (15%) tax rate re- ally made it uneconomi- cal in any sense to move there, which left us with Gibraltar or Malta. We really do see both juris- dictions as comparable, but ultimately we made the decision to move to Malta, predominately because the economic and taxation regulations were more favorable.” The next step was to register the company in Malta and apply for a gaming license. “ Malta has the complete package. It is one of the best jurisdictions in Europe, if not the only jurisdiction, that provides a safe, regulated environment for online gaming operators who want to operate within the European Union. — Christopher Vella regional director for Pentasia ’’