There are extremely strict gambling laws in the British Virgin Islands that forbid gambling and as such there are no land-based casinos here, but on the other hand, there are offshore online casino companies that operate their finances from the territory.
As the law currently stands, making wagers on any games of chance in the British Virgin Islands is illegal. Although, the ban on gambling in the British Virgin Islands does not extend to online gambling currently. There are petitions in motion, lobbyists in action, and regular reviews of the gambling laws for and against both online and land-based gambling constantly in motion, and so the law could be modified at any time.
Albeit, the fact that the laws restricting gambling do not apply to online gambling and that there are offshore companies that operate online gambling businesses on the British Virgin Islands have led to a common misconception that there are online gambling regulatory bodies in the British Virgin Islands.
Now as an online casino company has a ‘business license’ to operate its finances in the British Virgin Islands, then it could potentially apply for an online casino license from one of the other many online casino licensing bodies available as long as the company meets the strict financial and regulations set out.
British Virgin Island Online Casino License Claims
Any online casinos or websites that claim they have anonline casino licensed issued from the British Virgin Islands is making a false claim simply.
Therefore, if you see an online casino that claims to be licensed here, you should be wary and carry out further research or just blacklist the casino if you are unsure.When you do carry out further research, most of the time you will find the casino’s company name is registered in the British Virgin Islands, which ultimately does not mean it has a casino license.
Sometimes it is not by any fault of the online casino when a casino player believes the casino is licensed in the British Virgin Islands. This is because some online casino review websites categorize an online casino or claim the casino is licensed in the British Virgin Islands.
The company may very well be licensed/registered there, but that license is a Financial Services Commission(FSC) license and not a casino license. Usually this is because the person writing the review believes that because the casino’s licensed company name is registered on the British Virgin Islands, that the same license applies to online gambling; a myth that is not true and rather an assumption as you will discover in the next section.
British Virgin Islands Online Gambling Companies
The reason there are so many overseas online casino companies registered in the British Virgin Islands is because of the stable legal system not interrupted by US or EU laws as well as the favorable tax benefits here.
Just because an online casino has incorporated its company here does not mean that it has a gambling license from the British Virgin Islands or that it offers its services to citizens here. It simply means the casino company’s financial dealings are all sent through the British Virgin Islands, which come under the scope of the BVA Financial Services Commissions as well as via the Registry of Corporate affairs.
Some casinos will use the wording ‘Company xxx is licensed to operate in the British Virgin Islands under company number *****’ on their website, and this could lead to people believing that that this is an online casino license when in fact it is just proof the casino’s operating company exists.
The British Virgin Islands Vs US Virgin Islands
We should also clear up the differences/confusion between the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands. The two often get mixed up because they are close to each other and some people use the British/US prefix interchangeably.
This also means the laws in regard to online gambling get mixed up. The US Virgin Islands fall under the scope of federal laws; while the BVI has its own government.Although the Virgin Islands do fall under some scope of the British Law, the British Virgin Islands do not fall under the European Union (EU).
Conclusion
If an online casino directly claims it has an online casino license from the British Virgin Islands, then this is not true. Gambling is illegal in the territory and so there is no casino licensing body on the island for online or land-based casinos to apply to. Yet, there are hundreds of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands due to attractive taxation laws.
Therefore, a large number of online casino companies have their head offices here, but you should note that the license the casino company has obtained to operate here has absolutely nothing to do with casino licensing. If any of these companies plan to apply for an online casino license, then they would need to apply to any of the well-known online casino licensing bodies such as the UKGC and MGA for example.
