Life after PokerStars? Eric Hollreiser, their former head of corporate communications, has been working with the Isle of Man Government to put in place the cannabis licensing regime.

He talks to Working Week about the opportunities in the cannabis space, and the similarities with the online gambling industry.

Like a number of top executives who came to the island with PokerStars, Eric Hollreiser has chosen to stay here. He has opened his own marketing communications consultancy, AceHollreiser, which specialises in working with entrepreneurs in regulated businesses.

As he points out, when a company like PokerStars comes to the island, they tend to bring talented people with them and one of the spin-offs is that some of them stay here and set up new businesses.

He says: ’There’s a good number of us who I speak with on a regular basis. By and large I think they’re doing interesting things that are value add for the island too.

’PokerStars is a great case study for how investing in new industries, bringing new companies here and welcoming them, and allowing them the freedom and the ability to grow, yields long lasting dividends.’

Eric and another colleague from PokerStars, Frederik Ekdahl, were instrumental in helping Isle of Man Government to finally get a cannabis licensing regime over the line.

The effect on the island’s economy from the pandemic, coupled with the likely changes in global taxation, had added urgency to the search for new sources of potential growth. Cannabis was one that government had already been looking at and now there was a need to prioritise the issue.

Eric says: ’There was a reasonable hesitancy in government on something as potentially controversial as cannabis. Now, they were looking to really turbo-boost the effort.’

Eric was approached to assist and he brought in Fredrik Ekdahl, who had been head of regulatory affairs at PokerStars, along with former PwC executive, Steve Billingshurst.

Eric says: ’We came on board and I led an integrated team, working with a number of the different departments, within DfE, Business Isle of Man, the Home Office, DEFA - everybody who needed to be involved.

’We looked at the feasibility from an economic development standpoint and saw that this could provide upwards of 250 jobs, not without risk and not without some investment, but a very modest investment and relatively low risk.

’The largest risks as I saw it were, firstly that we were too late and secondly there was reputational risk - how much the government wanted to be perceived as being in the cannabis business.’

This is where all of Eric and Fredrik’s experience in online gambling came into play.

Eric says: ’Reputational risk is where my experience and my expertise is, along with Fredrik’s, with these kinds of businesses like online gambling. If you go back 15 years ago it had much more of a stigma than it does today and there are lots and lots of similarities between the growth of the online gambling industry and the growth and evolution of the cannabis industry.

’Many of my former colleagues in the online gambling space look at the cannabis business and say: "Wow, this is kind of like where we were 10 or 12 years ago."

’The main piece of work they did was on setting up the right regulatory framework in which potential cannabis licensees could operate.

’It was a hard road to hoe but we were very successful in doing the work that was needed to devise a set of regulations that were smart, effective, that saw the opportunity and protected consumers and, by extension, protected the government’s reputation for being a very good, gold standard regulator and really got the ball rolling,’ says Eric.

The Isle of Man regulations broadly follow UK drug laws but there are some important differences for entrepreneurs eyeing up the island as a place to set up a cannabis business.

Eric explains: ’The frustrations that operators in the industry have had with the UK is the bureaucracy so there have not been many licences granted and it’s been like pulling teeth to work with the regulator.

’What the Isle of Man can offer is the same assurances of a stable, English speaking government which many global operators are looking for.

’We can bring the flexibility of nimble regulations which we’ve demonstrated in the online gambling space and, I like to call it, "somebody at the end of the phone line".

’When you call up the Isle of Man Government, by and large you get a real person and, when you’re a commercial operator in a dynamic, fast-moving space, the ability to have that open dialogue and know somebody is on the other end of the phone for you is so important.

’So that was hugely attractive to the folks that we were talking to that were interested in this space.’

The cannabis plant produces a range of products, starting with industrial hemp - which has no pharmaceutical or narcotic component - but does have a range of uses including animal bedding, ropes, insulation and hempcrete, a form of concrete.

Then there is the CHC-containing cannabis and finally the medicinal grade, higher concentration THC and tincture cannabinoids that will be used for medicinal purposes.

There are several licensing pathways under the new legislation which are dependent upon the type of cannabis product the intended licensee wishes to either produce, distribute or export from the island.

The Gambling Supervision Commission has been put in charge of granting licences. Under the regulations an Isle of Man company is required, with an island resident as the responsible person.

They must have an existing route to market and a realistic business plan.

Since completing his work with government Eric, along with Fredrik Ekdahl, has set up Manx Cannabis Concierge, using their knowledge of the regulations and their previous experience working in a regulatory environment, to help companies navigate the licensing process from application to launch.

He believes that the Isle of Man offers ’enormous advantages’ for anyone setting up a cannabis business, just these new businesses will offer opportunities to lawyers, accountants and others here.

He says: ’When people say to me that I’ve got a vested interest in the industry, I say: "I’ve got a vested interest in the island claiming new opportunities, new businesses and new industries because I’m a consultant".

’The more businesses that come to the island, the more businesses that flourish here, the more opportunities I have.

’At the same time I also know what the island is capable of so, even when I’m look at cannabis, I think there’s probably 10 other things that I would like to see the island investing in and creating regulatory and legislative entrepreneurial environments for those to flourish.

’Will cannabis be successful on the island? I think so, yes. Is it guaranteed? Absolutely not, so just in general I don’t like putting all my eggs in one basket but I think it’s the right kind of industry that suits the island’s specific capabilities, has the growth potential and leverages existing expertise.

’What the Isle of Man brings is exactly what the industry is looking for.’