One of the biggest headlines this month has been the publication of the UK Gambling Commission's online casino whitelist. This is the highly anticipated list that says which online casinos can or cannot advertise in Britain when the UK Gambling Act goes into full enforcement soon. Contingent upon the regulatory jurisdiction in which the site is licensed, if a site is licensed within a jurisdiction that has not made the whitelist (and is outside of the European Economic Area), that site is forbidden from advertising in the UK.

This is precisely the reason why several online casinos were making provisions to get re-licensed in other jurisdictions just in case their jurisdiction did not make the cut. Inter Casino, for example, has already gotten re-licensed in Malta, and is poised to begin advertising in a big way come September 1, 2007.

With all this talk about an online casino "whitelist", it's necessary to explain to players that just because thousands of gaming sites are not on the whitelist does not mean all of them are no good or untrustworthy. It simply means they cannot advertise in the UK. Any of these casinos may indeed meet all of the requirements to advertise, but because they are licensed in a jurisdiction that does not meet the same requirements, they lose out through by the principle of association.

Also, just because a regulatory body was not whitelisted, does not mean it should not be trusted. Part of the UK Gambling Commission's criteria for whitelisting sites is that they contribute to organizations which help with addictive gambling counseling. And while this is certainly a worthy cause, just because a regulatory body does not have something like this in place, does not mean they are are ineffective regulators. Regulatory areas such as Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and Alexander are nonetheless effective at ensuring fair and safe internet betting.