Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency and a long-established base for online gambling and B2B gaming businesses. The Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) was established in 1962 as an independent statutory body. It regulates land-based and online gambling on the Island, and has also licensed the Island's medicinal cannabis sector since December 2020.

The online regime rests on the Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001 (OGRA). In 2025 and 2026 the main focus has been a package of reforms to the GSC's powers, centred on fitness and propriety standards and civil penalties, along with a heavy anti-money laundering (AML) agenda.

Regulator and licensing

The Gambling Supervision Act 2010 sets out the GSC's status, constitution and regulatory objectives:

• ensuring gambling is conducted in a fair and open way;
• protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling;
• preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, or being used to support crime.

According to the GSC, all forms of online gambling are potentially licensable under OGRA except spread betting, which falls to the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority. Operators that establish on the Island to provide online gambling must hold an OGRA licence.

The GSC offers several online licence types:

• Full Online Gambling Licence. The GSC calls this its most popular licence. It covers both B2C and B2B activity, from taking bets and managing player accounts to supplying games, issuing sub-licences and providing white-label solutions. It spans casino, sportsbook, poker, bingo, mahjong, esports and bespoke formats.
• Sub-Licence. For smaller operators with an exclusive relationship with a Full Licence holder. Sub-licensees run their own brand and platform but may only offer products the Full Licensee is licensed for. They remain responsible for compliance, player protection and reporting.
• Network Services Licence. Same privileges as the Full Licence, plus the right to accept players from global "Network Partners" without re-registering them. It is aimed at pooled liquidity and progressive jackpots.
• Software Supplier Licence. Optional. Under the basic regime, no licence is needed to supply software to an Isle of Man operator, but the operator must give the GSC test-house certification before deploying it. Licensed suppliers are listed on a register, and Isle of Man operators can deploy their listed products immediately without notifying the GSC.
• Token/Blockchain-Based Software Supplier Licence. For businesses that supply gambling software built on blockchain technology or token-based systems (GSC overview).

Under fees effective 6 July 2023, every application costs £5,250. The annual fees are:

Licence	Annual fee
Full Online Gambling Licence	£36,750
Software Supplier Licence	£36,750
Network Services Licence	£52,500
Token Based Software Licence	£52,500
Sub-Licence	£5,250

Key rules for affiliates

The GSC does not publish a separate affiliate licensing regime. Marketing rules sit in secondary legislation made under OGRA. The GSC's secondary legislation page describes these regulations as setting "rules for advertising, website disclosures, and prohibited content", with enforcement powers and penalties for non-compliance.

Other OGRA regulations cover the following areas, which also shape how operators handle referred traffic:

• registering new customer accounts, including account management and data privacy;
• holding participants' funds in a segregated client bank account held on trust;
• excluding specified activities from the licensing requirement, subject to conditions.

AML obligations sit under the Gambling (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) Act 2018 and the related 2019 Code. They are a central focus of GSC supervision. In a public statement on 6 February 2026, the GSC imposed a £200,000 discretionary civil penalty on former licensee Shelgeyr Limited for breaches of the 2019 Code. The GSC said it expects boards to oversee operators' activities "in particular when any aspects are outsourced". That expectation applies to the third parties an operator relies on.

Recent changes

• 2025: consultation on the GSC Bill. The GSC consulted for six weeks in July and August 2025 on reforms to seven gambling Acts, including OGRA and the Gambling Supervision Act 2010. The bill had its first reading in the House of Keys on 28 October 2025. Changes made after Treasury feedback included requiring the GSC to issue written fit-and-proper guidance, and restoring an objective for the GSC to have regard to "the stability and sustainability of the sectors it regulates".
• 2025: Permitted Disclosures Order. The GSC reported that new legislation in 2025 widened its ability to share information with law enforcement and other regulators. The instrument is listed on its secondary legislation page as the Gambling Supervision (Permitted Disclosures) Order 2025. It also noted that an eGaming National Risk Appetite Statement was published that year.
• 28 April 2026: bill passes Tynwald. The Gambling Legislation (Amendment) Bill completed its passage through Tynwald. It introduces a fitness and propriety standard and a new civil penalty regime. The Government said it hoped for Royal Assent before Tynwald's July sitting.
• 8 July 2026: civil penalty regime. The GSC published its response to engagement on the draft Gambling (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2026. Under the reforms, civil penalties can be imposed on certain individuals as well as operators: "controllers", "key persons" and "senior managers". This applies where an operator's AML/CFT breach is attributable to their consent, connivance or negligence. The GSC said it expected the regime to start before October 2026 if Royal Assent was announced at the 21 July 2026 sitting, and promised advance notice before it takes effect. This review did not find confirmation of Royal Assent or a commencement date on the official pages checked.