Side stepping the politics of the China and Russia respectively, China launched special economic zones in the 1980’s to galvanise it's economy, and Russia is in the process of setting up four SEZ’s for offline gaming after a ruthless cull on Casinos in Moscow and other places.

Much has been made of Gordon Brown’s “missed trick” in not bringing some of the off-shore gaming firms back to the UK by offering a preferential remote gaming duty. Would it not be a sensible move by a UK Government to look to set up SEZ’s in deprived parts of Britain, perhaps in a limited number of areas that have suffered from the loss of manufacturing industry in the 1970’s and 1980’s?

With a Gibraltar type minimum/maximum cap on total gaming revenue tax it  could perhaps be superb at social regeneration, and once more put the UK at the fore-front of the gaming industry?

Dostoyevsky, he liked a punt on roulette.