Why a clean Brexit is imperative for the health of UK Gambling

When it comes to the health of the kids, a clean break and amicable divorce is much better than a broken marriage with nothing carrying it on but inertia. The House of Commons is voting on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit proposal today. If it doesn’t pass, the United Kingdom is in danger of staying in a marriage its people do not want, and this could have bad long term consequences for the UK gaming industry, and for gaming in the rest of Europe as well.

Two reasons. First, and less controversial, is that not knowing will keep businesses guessing instead of doing business. Second, and more controversial (agree with me or not here), the Eurozone and by extension the EU itself will eventually break up anyway because it is inherently unstable. Better to start that process now in an orderly fashion rather than have it disintegrate with all countries previously part of it turning inwards in a fit of protectionist xenophobia, wounded, and reluctant to do business with one another after it happens.

Let’s deal with the less controversial reason first. Whether you are rabid Brexiteer who believes Brussels is taking over the United Kingdom or a Remain fanatic who believes that leaving the European Union single market will be worse than the Blitz and cause mass starvation in the streets, the two sides can probably agree on one thing. Not knowing is not a good thing. The vote today, June 12, in the House of Commons on Brexit could really scramble the entire process and keep the UK in a state of market limbo for years. If Theresa May loses this vote, we’re going to see more bookies fleeing to Malta, and further disruption of business across sectors. Bet365 and William Hill are already putting one leg in Malta so as not to get stuck in jurisdictional limbo for too long, “Hovering between two sides of the fence” to paraphrase Elijah the prophet of all people.

Why does it look like the UK could get stuck in limbo if the vote doesn’t go May’s way? Establishment media is starting to put out feelers about a second referendum vote with their typical hypocritical selective nonsense about foreign interference. The straws they’re grasping at are so thin you can barely even see them with an electron microscope, which the floaters of these public trial balloons freely hand out so you can catch their drift.