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Isle of Man May Issue Additional Online Gaming Licenses

"The quality of companies that are applying is such that we're looking seriously at additional licenses," Julian C. Lalor-Smith told RGT Online earlier this week. "We are very impressed by the types of companies that have applied." Lalor-Smith is the Administrator of the Administration, Legislation and Gambling Section of the country's Department of Home Affairs.

Lalor-Smith said his office will not release the names of the 11 applicants, even when the winners of the three licenses are announced, probably in early September. Last Friday, MGM Mirage confirmed that it is one of the applicants.

In June, the Isle of Man's parliament, the Tynwald, approved the territory's online gambling regulations. While three licenses are specified, Lalor-Smith said it wouldn't be difficult to increase that number.

"We would probably look at going to October Tynwald for additional licenses, provided everything pans out," he said. Background checks are under way on all 11 applicants. That way, if some of the companies not selected in the first round are chosen in the next tranche of licenses, he said, the background work will have already been completed.

These investigations are taking a little longer than expected, Lalor-Smith said, because "literally thousands" of letters have been sent to police departments, customs officials, professional organizations, banks and other sources of information.

How fast a licensee launches a gaming site will depend in part on how much work it's done before filing the application, he said. Plenty of work remains, he said, in implementing the new law. For example, the specific games have to be approved and so does the software.

"We want to make sure that we get this business right from day one," Lalor-Smith added.

The island, which is in the middle of the Irish Sea, has one land-based casino, in Douglas, the capitol. It's operated by Gala Group, the United Kingdom's largest operator of bingo clubs. Another license for a land-based casino is available, but not issued.

There is also licensed sports betting, both walk-in shops and telephone and online sites. The sites are operated by Betinternet.com, Mannbet Ltd. and Manx On-line Betting Ltd.

As an internally self-governing, dependent territory of the British Crown, the Isle of Man has complete responsibility for its own gaming regulations. The Tynwald is 1,000 years old. The territory makes an annual payment to the United Kingdom for defense and foreign representation.

In Nevada, Brian Sandoval, who just resigned as Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, said that when MGM Mirage informed him that the company was applying for an online casino license in the Isle of Man, the company "assured me that they wouldn't do anything that wouldn't comply with existing law."

"There's nothing currently in our regulations that would prohibit them" from operating an online casino licensed in a foreign jurisdiction, Sandoval said. But, he warned, "They should be very cautious about accepting bets from minors and from citizens of the United States."

Nevada regulators would be concerned if one of the state's licensees accepted online bets from a U.S. resident, he said, "because of the uncertainty of the federal law."

Sandoval said he's not aware of any other Nevada licensee, besides MGM Mirage, that has applied for a license in the Isle of Man.

Debbie Munch, a spokeswoman for Park Place Entertainment, told RGT Online today that her company has not applied for an Isle of Man license, but is considering doing so. Like MGM Mirage, Park Place – the world's largest gaming company -- is headquartered in Las Vegas.

"We have some concerns about how Internet gaming can be limited to people who are legally permitted to play and how Internet gaming can be legally limited to jurisdictions that welcome it," she said.

"We're considering it. We may do it (apply to the Isle of Man) as a placeholder or we may not do it at all," Munch said. "The focus is on how this can be done in a way that would be responsible."

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