Egaming becomes Isle of Man's largest business sector
Online gambling industry overtakes insurance as the Island's biggest economic sector following 30% YoY growth
Egaming has overtaken the insurance industry as the Isle of Man’s largest economic sector after growing by almost a third last year, according to a government report.
The Isle of Man National Income Accounts, published by the Economic Affairs unit of the Cabinet Office, revealed income from the egaming sector grew from £529.8m in 2012-13 to £690.4m last year.
The 30% year-on-year growth means egaming now outstrips the insurance industry for the first time with a 17% market share of Manx-sourced income compared to insurance’s 15%.
“We have been working with industry to ensure that we bring in robust regulation that provides consumer protection as well as maintains the flexibility needed for innovation,” the Isle of Man’s head of egaming, Mark Robson, told eGaming Review.
“I believe that the growth will continue on the Isle of Man as we show more people that the Island is the ideal location not only for the business, but also for staff to live and work,” he added.
The Isle of Man is currently in the process of hiring a new director of egaming development at the Department of Economic development following the departure of Peter Greenhill last month. eGR understands the application deadline for the role has now closed but that an appointment is unlikely to be announced for several months.
In May the Isle of Man named online gaming veteran Mark Robson as its new head of egaming and Robson pledged to ensure the island remained the “premier jurisdiction for gaming business”.