U.K. may offer overseas online gambling licenses

British Chancellor Gordon Brown is expected to court the online gambling industry in his upcoming budget, the Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Brown will reportedly reveal a plan in his March 21 budget to announce that businesses could obtain a British gaming license and still remain based overseas.

The online gambling firms could relocate to Britain starting in September to obtain a license under the Gambling Act.

The companies, however, would have to pay a tax to the government, likely in the neighborhood of 2-3%, the newspaper said.

The tax is called a Remote Gaming Duty and it would allow gaming operators to avoid paying the country's value added tax.

The government Treasury didn't comment in the article, which cited unnamed sources.