The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) has asked for stakeholder feedback on its newly drafted documents that would introduce civil penalties to individuals responsible for anti-money laundering and counter-financial terrorism (AML/CFT) failures.
Currently, civil penalties can only be applied to gambling operators, but the Gambling Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2025 would expand this to include individuals.
This would primarily target key persons or managers who failed AML/CFT measures through “that individual’s consent, connivance or negligence.”
For example, last month, the GSC delivered a civil penalty of £200,000 ($272,100) to Shelgeyr, the owner of Maverick Games, after it found AML/CFT failures at the company.
An investigation found systemic weaknesses in customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and the ongoing monitoring processes.
In its most recent national risk assessment, the island ranked its money-laundering risk at ‘medium high’, which is similar to its rating in 2020.
However, the Isle of Man has made several recent changes to how it approaches the risk of money laundering and noted specific vulnerabilities in the gambling sector.
The new draft documents explain how the GSC will assess individual responsibility in the AML/CFT process, and examples of how content, connivance or negligence may arise.
There will also be an explanation of how the penalties would be calculated.
This guidance will be separate, but complementary, to how civil penalties are currently applied to operators.
The GSC will also be holding an online Q&A session to discuss these potential changes, although the exact time and date are yet to be finalised.
The feedback period will run from today until 25 May.
The Isle of Man is also trying to target organised crime groups originating from East and Southeast Asia who are operating illegal businesses on the island
