I could well be trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but I was interested in a recent case where a Canadian GGPoker player alleged he was not being allowed to withdraw his properly won money and his protestations were being ignored. I wrote to the UK's Gambling Commission, their Regulator, about it, thinking that GGPoker's T&C would also apply in full to non-GB players. This was their reply:

"Dear Sir

Thank you for your correspondence about the website GGPoker. 

You have contacted us to clarify if the gambling business would need to comply with our rules in relation to players playing in Canada.

Gambling businesses that offer gambling facilities to players in Great Britain (GB) must hold an appropriate Gambling Commission licence. They must also adhere to our Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). If they don’t we will consider taking appropriate regulatory action against the gambling business.

However our rules and regulation do not extend to players who may be playing outside of GB.

By way of background, gambling businesses may hold more than one gambling licence. They may hold a licence with us to provide gambling and advertising activities to players in GB. But they may also have a separate one to provide gambling activities to players who reside outside of GB.

The gambling business will have more details about their licence on their website. This is usually displayed at the bottom of the home screen. 

Customers playing in Canada would need to ask the gambling business which licence they were gambling under and whose regulation. They can then contact the appropriate regulator for advice and report any concerns directly to them. They should also raise the matter directly with the gambling business by following their complaint process as detailed within their terms and conditions on their website.

Thank you for contacting us and I hope this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely  

Contact Team Advisor

Gambling Commission
www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk"

Worth knowing, imo, if you are playing from outside GB on any GC-regulated poker site.

***

Edit: To add to the completeness of this post, with regard to GGPoker I wrote to their Support and have just received the response:

"Hi

Thank you for contacting GGPoker Support.

Canada is part of our global server which is regulated by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission.

Please refer to our terms and conditions for more information: https://en.ggpoker.com/terms-conditions/

Best regards,

GGPoker Support".


Being from the UK, I have been reading https://ggpoker.co.uk/terms-conditions/. Hence my reason for writing to the GC, initially.

Fwiw, if you are a non-UK player at a site regulated by the IOMGSM, you can complain about the site via https://www.gov.im/categories/busine...mplaints-form/

I suppose that makes sense. The regulator of the legal entity can't be responsible for ensuring that GG complies with the rules and regs in each country they hold a licence to operate in. Thats the responsibility of each country's regulator.

It does raise a point I've not thought of before though. If I'm a UK player on vacation in Canada that plays at GG (if I can do that legally without letting GG know), I'm presumably under the Canadian regulation for the wins and losses incurred. That could get really tricky if I have a problem.

It'd be an interesting legal question. Would Canadian regulation win out over whatever jurisdiction (which I assume would be England and Wales, but two contracting parties can agree to be ruled by whatever legal system they like) you agreed to be bound under in GG's terms and conditions when signing up?

Thought ggpoker general license was under Isle of Mann

Wow look, another example of ggpoker being sketchy as hell.

Not quite sure how you work that out, and how you presumably work out that other sites would not have similar jurisdictional issues?

You'd think Canada would get some courtesy coverage, since we are technically still ruled by the British monarch.

If you contact the UKGC and get anyone competent to answer your query, they will very efficiently assess how best to answer the query in a way that ensures that the UKGC doesn't have to do any work. This reply being a fine example.

Most large companies do have other licenses, but in theory a company could only have a UK license and have non-UK customers. It is a legal requirement to have a UK license to service UK customers. That license has T&C that surely apply to customers, not just UK customers or UK customers playing inside the UK. I can't recall any reference in license terms/codes etc to non UK gambling being unlicensed. So imo

However our rules and regulation do not extend to players who may be playing outside of GB

is not correct.

It is also worth noting that the initial legislation that founded the UKGC had no reference at all to licenses being required to service UK customers and some in government actually thought that the UK would become a hub of internet gambling at that time. That ambition would obviously have been absurd if the license didn't apply to all customers. The law change that required a UK license for UK customers said nothing about exclusivity.

So, yes, GG poker has different regulators for its different corporate bodies, but, just in case it didn't, the UKGC first gave its "nothing to do with us" reply.....

I don't think it is an interesting legal question at all.

Player is in Canada. Site is in Isle of Man.

The jurisdiction would be selected by either by agreement (ie, the terms and conditions), or, in its absence, either the location of the site or the location of the player. There's no rational reason to think that another jurisdiction (in this case, UK) would apply.

This would be a very controversial interpretation of law. There's a presumption in UK law (and, indeed, the law of many nations) that laws do not have extraterritorial effect.

Don't nitpick - their rules apply to their licencees and their licencees and players can be based anywhere in the world. As indeed in this case rules apply in Canada though a license is in the Isle of Man.