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Isle of Man new Online Gaming Licences
Hon Allan Bell, Minister for Home Affairs of the Isle of Man, today announced the allocation of the Island's first three international Internet gambling licences. The combination of a competitive tax regime and a strict regulatory environment has attracted a rush of applications from large casino and gaming operators round the world searching for a safe, well regulated base for their proposed online casinos.
Only major firms which have a reliable track record and were able to satisfy detailed security screening reached the short list.
Mr Bell revealed that the three licence winners are:-
Littlewoods Leisure - the UK betting and gaming company, pioneers of the world's most popular football Pools and now with a diverse portfolio of gaming products delivered to over 1.6 million households via multiple channels including the internet, telephone and door-to-door collector network.
MGM MIRAGE - own some of the world's most famous gaming and hospitality landmarks like the Golden Nugget Casino, the Mirage and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The company was voted for several years Fortune Magazine's most admired company in the gaming sector and has also featured in the overall US top 10.
SunOnline Limited - a division of Sun International Hotels Ltd, one of the world's leading resort and casino operators. The company's properties include the flagship Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in The Bahamas.
All three successfully surmounted strict compliance procedures including police, treasury and data protection checks on individuals as well as their companies. In addition, the Island's Gambling Control Commission must approve both the games and the underpinning software. Tough money laundering rules - including "know your customer" practices - will be enforced, to parallel the Isle of Man's strict and much praised financial regulations.
Once the gaming begins, an official statistician will check that the odds match the outcome. Online customers will have the additional protection of a £2 million bond set aside by each company to guarantee the payouts to winners.
As well as these first three licences, Mr. Bell is to seek approval of Tynwald, the Isle of Man Parliament, in October for a further nine licences for issue when suitable applicants are identified. The request for additional licences is partly due to the quality of some of the other applicants and the interest expressed by other large companies in obtaining licences. If Parliamentary approval is secured, consideration will be given to granting some of the extra licences in early November, 2001.
Mr Bell said:-
"The world wide web has opened up global opportunities undreamt of a few years ago. It abolishes borders, creates global distribution channels - and means that a jurisdiction like the Isle of Man, with a population of 75,000 can be the centre of world business.
"We intend to be a central player in what is likely to be a fast-growing global gaming business, based on the internet. The quality of partners we have selected makes this ambitious goal entirely attainable.
"But great opportunity also brings great responsibility. The Isle of Man has won five major awards in a year as the world's foremost international finance centre because we are careful to combine a fair and competitive tax regime with very tough regulations.
"We have extended this winning combination into the brave new world of international online gaming to give encouragement to businesses and confidence to customers and to our international regulatory partners."
For further details please contact:
Mr J. C Lalor-Smith, Isle of Man Government +44 (0)1624-623355
Jeff Watt/Roger Carroll, +44 (0)20 7353 3444
Bell Pottinger First Financial +44 (0)7770 381 182
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