GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 46 - February 2020

BRACING FOR BREXIT Youwill rarely hear or read this , but I think the best piece of advice that I can give you as an affiliate is to simply relax . . . Seriously, don’t panic about Brexit . Things still need to be resolved, matters may still change , and yet you can’t domuch about it . Fundamentally, Brexit doesn’t mean that your affiliate business must change “right now.” that simple or easy. Some are saying that Brexit will have finally been done and dusted by the end of 2020. I sincerely doubt that. There’s more (yes, sadly more) to discuss and finalize and while this should be less of what we are used to (“we said, they said, we voted, the vote was lost, so we go back to the table, we said, they said….”), the reality is that it won’t be a tick box exercise. So, what am I getting at? Seriously, don’t panic about Brexit. Things still need to be resolved, matters may still change, and yet you can’t do much about it. Fundamentally, Brexit doesn’t mean that your affiliate business must change “right now.” You will have time to make the changes that suit you and your business soon, and there will be countless number of support organizations and resources out there to assist. CHANGES TO THE LAW As a qualified lawyer myself, quite a few people in the industry, in- cluding affiliates, have asked me whether EU laws will still apply. In one way or another, they most likely will. One of the laws that really affects your life as an affiliate is that four letter acronym that runs shiv- ers down your spine: GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Yep, the law that basically changed the way you could interact with your visitors and subscribers. To most affiliates, I think it’s a fair assumption that it wasn’t that welcomed. Unfortunately, it’s not the case that GDPR will scurry away. Rather, GDPR will become a part of English law and apart from a few minor and technical differences, things won’t change. It’s expected and cited that this will be the same for all the laws that affect your affiliate business, apart from… TAX Ah, now the three-letter word that not only sends shivers, but makes most of us cry. And, sadly, Brexit isn’t making the whole tax situation any easier (it’s complicated enough, so with Brexit You might be thinking, “What does Brexit mean for me as an iGaming affiliate?” and, more specifically, “What should I, or could I, be doing to prepare?” Well, I am here to help . . . I think. DON’T PANIC You will rarely hear or read this, but I think the best piece of advice that I can give you as an affiliate is to simply relax. Over the last couple of years, I have witnessed iGaming affiliates taking hasty and irrational action in light of Brexit. “It might be a hard Brexit, so I am planning to move my entire business to Malta and making X employees redundant in the U.K.!” Not only was this an over-the-top approach, but it was also plain wrong. That’s a costly, inefficient and troubling move to make when there was no hard Brexit to contend with. Here’s the thing: Panicking was the modus operandi for about six months as Brexit did appear to be coming to a “hard” and worrying end. However, if you’re someone who believes that we should learn from the past, one thing we can be quite sure of is that Brexit won’t steamroll ahead to a fast and effective resolution. The latest date for Brexit was 31 January 2020. By the time you’re reading this that date will have passed. Will the Brexit deal be finalized and agreed by then? Personally, I doubt it, but who knows? Even if it has, you’ll be pleased to know that there is a significant “transitionary period” to go through. In other words, even though the Brexit deal has been agreed, it hasn’t happened. There’s a divorce period to occur where things get sorted between the U.K. and the European Union. Interestingly, that (or I should say “this”, if it’s happened already) transitionary period won’t be G P W A t i m e s . o r g 40