Gambling legislation reforms

Closes 13 Aug 2025

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Standardisation of ‘associates’, ‘beneficial owners’, ‘controllers’ and ‘senior managers’ across the gambling Acts

General commentary on the descriptions of changes in this consultation

The commentary below focuses solely on the substantive changes currently proposed in the FSA Bill and the GSC Bill. In the interest of keeping this document concise, it does not generally address consequential or ancillary amendments made to support the implementation of those substantive changes.

Please note that the descriptions provided are of the proposals as they currently stand. These may be subject to revision following the outcome of the public consultation or during the legislative process in the branches of Tynwald.

Definitions of ‘beneficial ownership’, ‘controller’ and ‘senior manager’

The Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) is introducing standardised definitions of key terms, namely ‘associate’, ‘beneficial owner’, ‘controller’, and ‘senior manager’, across all relevant gambling legislation.

This initiative is informed by Recommendation 28 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which advises that regulatory authorities should take appropriate legal or regulatory measures to prevent criminals or their associates from holding a significant or controlling interest in, managing, or operating a casino. While this Recommendation specifically targets casinos (including online casinos), the GSC considers it prudent to apply this standard more broadly across the Island’s gambling sector to ensure that the ownership and control of all entities licensed by the GSC are held to the same standard.

This requirement is an important preventative measure, to protect the integrity of non-financial sectors. It also links to Recommendation 24, which seeks to prevent the misuse of legal persons for illicit purposes.

As such, consistent definitions will be inserted, or amended where existing definitions are already in place, across the gambling Acts. These definitions are also relevant to the operation of the new inspection and investigation powers.

The GSC is particularly seeking feedback on the appropriate shareholding thresholds at which a beneficial owner should be considered a controller of a company, by virtue of exercising significant influence.

The current proposed thresholds are:

  • 5% of voting shares in the case of a privately owned company
  • 20% of voting shares in the case of a publicly owned company

These thresholds reflect the GSC’s historic regulatory practice. The 5% threshold aligns with the trigger for notification of changes in beneficial ownership under the now-omitted section 12(1)(a) of OGRA. Meanwhile, a 10% threshold is currently applied under the Casino Act 1986, again based on established practice.

The GSC welcomes views in particular on whether these percentage thresholds remain appropriate or should be adjusted.

2. Do you have any comments that you would like to make with respect to the proposed definitions of 'associate', 'beneficial owners', 'controllers' and 'senior managers' that will be used in connection with the consolidated inspection and investigation powers as the licensing criteria under the Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001; and Casino Act 1986?
3. With respect to the definition of 'controller' specifically, do you have any comments to make with respect to the minimum share ownership thresholds specified in sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) that would mean such owners are considered a controller? Should these be different than the currently proposed amounts of 5% in the case of a private company and 20% in the case of a public company, whose stocks are traded on an 'exchange'?