Stanford Scandal May Affect UK Rating of Antiguan Online Casinos

But the recent financial scandal involving billionaire Allen Stanford may cause the island he dominated to lose the prized rating for its Internet gambling industry.

Achieving the status of being included on the United Kingdom's whitelist for online gambling advertising is a point of pride to Antigua and the online casinos based there. But the recent financial scandal involving billionaire Allen Stanford may cause the island he dominated to lose the prized rating for its Internet gambling industry.

Stanford had a hand in almost every sector of the Antiguan economy, and his bank was the major one located there. But revelations by the US Department of Justice contained allegations Stanford had run a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, and the operations of the Stanford International Bank in selling phony certificates of deposit have come under question.

UK legislators have expressed concern that the same regulators who control financial matters, including overseeing Stanford's bank, watch over the country's online casinos. Those lawmakers want a review of Antigua's status on the white list and question Antigua's ability to properly regulate its gaming industry.

" Didn't one uncontrolled trader bring Barclay's Bank to the edge of ruin a couple of years ago? And the banks there haven't done too great a job picking investments, have they? Still, they want to bully us," John Sinclair, a resident of Antigua, responded.

Parliament members are asking for greater transparency of the whitelisting procedure as a whole. They want an opportunity to scrutinize the process by which the decisions on online gambling sites are made.