Antigua, a well-known and reliable Internet gambling jurisdiction have been licensing and regulating online casinos for over a decade. The island nation has just been rocked by a scandal involving one of their most prominent bankers. The question on everyone’s lips is “How will this affect Antigua as an online gambling jurisdiction?”

While the answer to this question is not clear at this stage, it is certain that little trust can be placed in the hands of Allen Stanford. Allen Stanford is one of the major Antiguan investors and has influence in almost all sectors of the Antiguan economy. The Stanford International Bank is owned by Allen Stanford.

Mr. Stanford has been charged by the United States Department of Justice for fraud by making false promises and fabricating historical return data, with the intention of deceiving investors. Mr. Stanford’s bank has allegedly been selling fake deposit certificates. The bank has been involved in a Ponzi scheme to the tune of around $8 million which has affected thousands of unsuspecting investors.

A Ponzi scheme is a scam in which a fraudulent investment operation pays investors financial returns from their own money or from money paid by other investors. No real profit is earned in this kind of scam, and investors lose their initial deposits.

Antiguan online casinos are on the whitelist for Internet gambling advertising. United Kingdom legislators are considering removing Antigua from the whitelist. The Stanford scandal has raised concerns regarding Antigua’s ability to regulate their Internet gambling industry since the legislators overseeing it are the same legislator’s on whose watch the Stanford scandal occurred.