Isle of Man live gaming tournament legislation passes review

(Isle of Man).- The Isle of Man could soon stage live temporary gaming tournaments after proposed legislation that would legalise the activity passed through its second reading in the island’s Legislative Council last week.

2012-05-09

Isle of Man

Reading time 1:23 min

(Isle of Man).- The Isle of Man could soon stage live temporary gaming tournaments after proposed legislation that would legalise the activity passed through its second reading in the island’s Legislative Council last week.

Put forward by Manx politician Eddie Lowey, the Casino (Amendment) Bill 2012 would amend the governing Casino Act 1986 and the Gaming, Betting And Lotteries Act 1988 and permit already licensed casinos to obtain a temporary premises certificate in order to stage limited-time gaming competitions.

Lowey is a member of the Isle of Man’s Treasury and stated that his measure would create an opportunity for the island to participate and benefit from an industry that has a ‘proven success record’.

“I believe the Isle of Man would be doing a disservice to itself if it didn’t participate and take advantage of its reputation as well regulated in this area as far as gambling is concerned,” said Lowey.

Casinos on the Isle of Man can already stage live tournaments but these must be conducted within a licence holder’s permanent premises, which proponents of change argue limits the size of the competitions. The Casino (Amendment) Bill 2012 would facilitate larger live tournaments by allowing premises other than those belonging to a casino to be temporarily used for the purposes of gambling.

“Online gambling is one of the economy’s recent success stories and the Department of Economic Development has identified a significant and important opportunity to capitalise on the excellent foundations that the gambling sector had established here by allowing the staging of live gaming tournaments,” said Bill Henderson, a member of the island’s lower House of Keys branch of parliament, earlier this year.

“These are very high-profile events and usually attract significant comment and coverage from the gaming community. They are typically televised and often make celebrities of their most successful participants. With this legislation, a casino licence holder would be able to enter into a business agreement with a tournament provider to provide a venue of any size to suit the tournament. The Isle of Man has some splendid facilities that would provide very suitable venues for such events,” he concluded.