The Isle of Man Government has published its latest National Risk Assessment on money laundering exposure within the gambling sector, identifying online gambling as a significant area of concern. The findings outline sector specific vulnerabilities and evaluate the material impact of money laundering threats across both terrestrial and digital channels.
According to the assessment, the gambling sector overall is rated medium high. Online gambling receives the same rating due to its international profile, high transaction velocity and exposure to customers from higher risk jurisdictions.
Sectoral NRAs form a core part of the island’s wider financial crime strategy, allowing authorities to compare risks across industries and build a complete national threat picture.
Key risks highlighted in the report include criminal ownership of gambling businesses through complex structures, exploitation by organised crime groups from East and Southeast Asia and the use of false or stolen identities to bypass customer due diligence. For land based gambling, cash intensiveness remains a primary laundering channel.
Emerging risks include the use of artificial intelligence, deepfake technology and virtual assets to obscure identities, as well as turnkey business setups that enable rapid onboarding with minimal scrutiny.
The Government stressed that these risks relate to specific misuse scenarios and do not reflect a lack of standards across the licensed sector, which it described as operating with strong governance and high AML and CFT compliance.
Operators are required to review and update their business risk assessments to reflect the new findings and consider whether customer and technology risk assessments also require revision.
The Gambling Supervision Commission said continued cooperation between Government, industry and regulators is essential to maintaining the island’s reputation as a safe and competitive jurisdiction.
Terrestrial gambling is assessed as medium low based on its smaller scale and domestic footprint
