The island’s gambling regulator is facing a shortfall of £778,000 this year due to a lower-than-expected number of gaming licences on its register.
The Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) gets it income from annual licence fees and new business applications.
In its revenue bid, the regulator said it was expecting an income shortfall of £778,000 below Treasury forecasts for 2025-26.
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It explained the number of licences carried forward at the start of 2025-26 was expected to be 109, significantly lower than the projected figure of 148.
In fact, the number of online gambling licence holders on its register currently stands at 84. In addition, there are three bookmakers, five controlled machine suppliers and one casino licence holder.
The GSC said factors contributing to the shortfall include the regulator not meeting its new licence applications targets.
In 2022-23 this was envisaged to be 39 but was actually 22 and the year ended with 89 licences rather than the projected 102. In 2023-24, the target for new licences was 39 but there were actually only 26 and the year ended with 99 on the register rather than the anticipated 127.
For 2025-26, the projected number of new licence holders has been reduced from 39 to 27.
The number of licences lost each year is budgeted at 15%.
In 2022-23, the figure was 8% but in 2023-24 it had shot up to 17%.
As Isle of Man Today reported earlier this month, a total of 25 e-gaming licences have been suspended or cancelled in the last 12 months. Over the same period, 18 new licences have been approved.
The GSC’s revenue bid states that during 2023-24 and the first two quarters of 2024-25, a higher-than-expected number of applications failed to the meet the required standards for approval. Seven applications were received and processed but not considered for approval.
The GSC also cited the impact of the police raids on King Gaming in April last year, as part of investigation into allegations of international fraud and money laundering.
‘The recent well publicised revocation by the GSC of licences for King Gaming has further complicated the outlook for new business, with seizures and prosecutions a possibility,’ the bid document states.
It continues: ‘The establishment of a dedicated enforcement team within the GSC may result in fines and penalties for both current and revoked licence holders. These will be processed as income for the GSC.
‘However, this could also reduce the Isle of Man’s attractiveness as a preferred jurisdiction, potentially leading to fewer new applicants and the loss of existing licence holders if the GSC is compelled to revoke additional licences.’
The GSC said next year’s evaluation of the Isle of Man by MoneyVal - the Council of Europe body in charge of monitoring compliance with international standards on countering money laundering and financing of terrorism - is also expected to ‘further impact the pipeline of new business’.