- Major flop – Boss of Digital Isle of Man concedes June’s e-gaming risk policy was a ‘huge mis-step’ that slammed shut the licence door on East and Southeast Asian operators. Isle of Man Today
- Industry anger – Critics accuse the government of rushing out the policy with zero consultation and now demand a public apology.
- Fallout mounting – Since the statement, some 37 online gaming licences have been surrendered or cancelled, dozens of jobs lost and the e-gaming sector has seen a steep slide. Isle of Man Today
At a conference held at the Comis Hotel on the Isle of Man, the head of the island’s digital agency laid bare a major admittance: that a big policy gaff had been made six months ago.
Lyle Wraxall, CEO of the executive agency, said that the e-gaming ‘risk appetite’ statement unveiled in June this year had cost jobs and money.
The bungled communiqué had declared that the Isle of Man had ‘limited appetite’ for granting licences to businesses with ownership or control linked to East or Southeast Asia.
The unusual intervention had been triggered by fears of a perceived underworld influence in the industry.
For 18 months there have been claims of infiltration by global crime syndicates.
Now, Mr Wraxhall claims this approach was nothing short of a ‘cock-up’.
The confession underscored the damage done, after the PR exercise had backfired.
What was meant to reassure stakeholders and boost compliance instead triggered confusion and anger across the industry, which says the announcement was rushed and issued with no meaningful engagement.
One senior accounts manager from a major firm, according to IoM Today, summed up the mood: ‘What this industry needs is some assurity from the government… if you’ve made a mistake, just to ‘fess up and tell the industry that was a mistake.’
Now, there is talk of a new, ‘all-combined’ risk appetite statement – one which could amend or soften the controversial wording of the previous
But officials warn that any replacement must be much better communicated.
Meanwhile, the consequences of the original statement are coming into sharp relief: the island has seen 37 licences surrendered or cancelled in the past year, reducing the tally to 64 — down from a peak of nearly 100.
Job losses have followed.
The conference heard that 60 roles were recently lost at major e-gaming firm Games Global/Microgaming, a sobering indicator of the sector’s decline. Isle of Man Today
As the island braces for a looming inspection by MONEYVAL — the Council of Europe’s anti-money-laundering watchdog — plans for an ambitious new e-gaming strategy have already been pared back significantly.
A document drafted in April with talk of expansion and innovation has been stripped of its more forward-looking elements, rebranded simply as a ‘statement of strategic intent’. ‘It does not have much left of it, in all honesty,’ admitted the Digital Isle boss.
For a jurisdiction once keen to position itself as a hub for global online gaming, this reversal marks a dramatic pivot — one that leaves many in the industry wondering whether the Isle of Man can recover its lost momentum anytime soon.
