The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) has warned it will now be considering imposing civil penalties on those who violate anti-money laundering regulations.
Draft regulations regarding how civil penalties may be imposed have been proposed following amendments to section 22 of the Gambling (Anti‑Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) Act 2018, brought about by the Gambling Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2025.
Civil penalties may currently only be imposed on operators, but it appears the GSC is looking into changing that and is asking industry stakeholders for their opinion via a consultation.
The GSC stated: “The Gambling Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2025 expands this power so that a civil penalty may also be imposed on certain individuals (specifically “controllers”, “key persons” and “senior managers”), where an AML/CFT contravention by the operator is attributable to that individual’s consent, connivance, or negligence.”
Frameworks within the drafted regulations focus on three areas: the maximum civil penalty that could be imposed on individuals or operators; factors that must be considered when determining the penalty amount; and the process that must be followed to impose the penalty, including notice and appeal requirements.
Guidance explains how the extended power will be applied by the Isle of Man regulator, including: assessing individual responsibility; examples of how consent, connivance and negligence may arise; how penalties are calculated; and the decision‑making process.
The consultation process began on 23 March and will run through until 25 May, 2026.
An online Q&A session will be held by the GSC to help stakeholders understand the draft regulations and for further discussion. Details of this session will be published by the regulator in due course.
Once the consultation process has concluded, a summary document will be published by the GSC, outlining the responses received and any changes that may be made to the regulations and guidance.
Maverick Games, SBOTOP and SK IOM Limited have all been fined by the GSC for AML violations over the past year.
Shelgeyr Limited (Maverick Games) was fined £200,000 in February, Celton Manx Limited (SBOTOP) was fined £3.94m in July last year, while SK IOM was fined £70,000 in June 2025.
