Casinos: Croxfords goes on line as group make bid to beat the Las Vegas houses.

Stanley Casinos say "recognising that the Internet is the undeniable evolution of casino gaming, Stanley has brought its entire enterprise online."

Two of the online casinos largely replicate terrestrial counterparts while the third offers gamers "a seriously entertaining suite of casino and non-casino games." They offer downloaded or CD software and the chance to play the games on your own PC or on line. Only on-line games create winnings.

According to Stanley, "The future of gaming is available in today's technology, and we are keen to lead the way."

The sites offer payment by Visa and Mastercard, Switch, Delta and Wire plus Neteller. Unlike most gaming sites, Crockfords has a button for a gambling support group - in this case GamCare.

Neteller is a money transfer system in the style of PayPal. Users of Visa and Mastercard, which have announced that they will not permit on-line gambling transactions, can make payment via this means without Visa and Mastercard knowing where the money is going.

Although the publicity and websites lean heavily on the group's UK centre of operations, and the customer services centre is in Liverpool where the group's main operations centre is houses, the on-line casino is, actually, licensed and incorporated in Dominica although the contract between gambler and company is expressed to be subject to English law.

The operations are conducted by "Advanced Technology Limited," a wholly owned subsidiary of the Stanley Leisure plc, a UK listed company. "ATL" is the Dominican company. According to the International Business Unit of the Finance Department of the Commonwealth of Dominica, the fee for an internet gambling licence is USD15,000 and a renewal of USD75,000 on the anniversary of the licence or the greater of 5% of gross revenue or USD50,000 on filing of accounts.

Dominca says that it is "promoting itself as a tax free jurisdiction" and no tax is payable on offshore earnings.

The casino terms seek to pass the burden of compliance with local law to the user: "You can only use the Casino if you are of the legal age of majority as determined by the law of the country where you live. You cannot use the Casino if you are under 18 years of age in any circumstances. The Games offered by the Casino are only available to you if you are a resident of a country where participation in such Games is allowed by the laws of that country.

The Company does not intend that anyone should use the Casino where such use is illegal. The availability of the Casino does not constitute an offer or invitation by the Company to use the Casino in any country in which such use is illegal. Use of the Casino and participation in its Games is void wherever prohibited by any applicable law. You accept sole responsibility for determining whether your use of the Casino is legal in the country where you live."

This provides an interesting sidelight on the law in Hong Kong where offshore gambling is illegal and the latest counter-money laundering measures are designed to catch such activity. There are no identification checks to download the software from the website and this raises the issue of how far website owners should be required to go in identifying their users.

An example of this problem is the recent successful libel action brought in Australia against a foreign website owner where a tiny number of subscribers were in Australia but the Court took the view that the website was published where it was viewed, not where it was served from.

The conditions include the following: "You agree, represent and warrant that.....The sources of funds used for gaming are not illegal." This clearly identifies the major problem facing on line gambling: that of conducting any know your customer procedures. It is this, and the fact that US gambling houses are subject to legal KYC demands that has stifled their entry into on-line gambling. It remains a matter for debate how long the UK will take to bring about similar demands.