I have chosen Gibraltar for this purpose. I am based in Europe and pretty much the only jurisdictions that allow and regulate online gambling (UK is about to introduce its new Gambling Bill in Sept 2007) are: Gibraltar and Malta.
I cant be speaking of Malta, but i do have some experience with Gibraltar, so let me share it with you:
– Your physical presence is not required on Gibraltar to set up a company, all you need to do is to send certified copies of the required documents (passport, utility bill to prove address, etc.)
– Best thing to do is a non-resident company ( 0% tax), this is what most people do. Once you want to come down and live there you are becoming resident and so is your company – and the rate of 30% corporate tax applies.
This is as far as my experience goes – i own two companies and they own my gambling assets. I have never run into any legal trouble and i dont plan to – even since i have entered this biz i have been focusing on europe, US is not even 1% of my revenue. I obviously cant advice on matters such as: what happens if DOJ decides to go after you to Gibraltar.
What i know for sure is that online gambling is legal there – and thats why im in the process of obtaining residency permit there.
And dont forget – even if you do set it up like that in any of the offshore locations, you still have to pay the taxes somewhere (most likely where you are located). So if you want to disclose your offshore revenue at your place of residence (be it the US or whatever) – you might end up having to explain what the company does and how it earns money…