At midday last Tuesday Business News exclusively witnessed an island ’first’ for the thriving e-gaming industry.

We joined Bill Mummery, executive director of Celton Manx, for the global launch of the company’s live dealer casino.

The studio, together with a sustainable solar energy installation with 120 panels on the roof, represents a £500,000 investment by Celton Manx.

Mr Mummery is recruiting 26 island people to work in the studio, the first of its kind in the Isle of Man, which occupies part of the top floor.

Months of planning have gone into the studio, equipped with two roulette and four baccarat tables and live streaming provides table shots and a ’picture in picture’ display broadcast over the internet to a global player base.

And a secure operations room houses 2,400 packs of barcoded playing cards.

We were the only media representatives sitting in the boardroom with Mr Mummery, just a few yards from the studio, as the countdown began.

We watched as the first baccarat game got going and it was a case of ’place your bets’.

Just for fun Mr Mummery invited Business News to choose the ’banker or the player’ - maybe it was beginners’ luck but we were lucky and correctly chose the winning banker.

Mr Mummery said the live casino is being broadcast to punters worldwide tuning in on the SBOBET and SBOTOP brands.

The experienced online gaming supremo said he has been ’very pleased with the standard of the applications we have received’ and is confident of filling all the vacancies. Gaming hours are currently midday to 8pm, and this will gradually increase to 24/7 operations as staff recruitment is completed.

Mr Mummery said the process began in July so it has taken three months from start to finish.

He said:’This possibility came up in July when we were reviewing global industry trends and I spoke to my regulators on the Wednesday and by close of play on the Friday I had formal approval from the regulators and the support of the Department for Enterprise which in itself shows the best of the Isle of Man when it comes to supporting businesses.’

Mr Mummery added: ’It is quite pleasing that we can deliver something like this in the island with a three-month timeline from nothing and using island-based skills.’

The day before the live launch an invited group visited Celton House including Enterprise minister Laurence Skelly who congratulated Celton Manx on ’a remarkable achievement’.

He hailed Mr Mummery a ’pioneer’ and leading figure in the e-gaming industry and praised Celton Manx for its social responsibility programme, ’massive commitment to Net Zero’ and long-standing support of the local economy.

Digital Isle of Man chief executive Lyle Wraxall said: ’We would like to send our sincere congratulations to Bill and the Celton Manx team on the launch of their live dealer studio, a first for not only Celton Manx, but for the Isle of Man. Celton Manx continues to invest substantially in the island, through their recent recruitment drives and their commitment to a "Net Zero" future, with the installation of the 120 solar panels at Celton House; they have fully supported the Isle of Man Government’s climate change agenda.

’Well done Bill and Celton Manx for the incredible investment; we look forward to continuing to work closely with Bill and the team on their future developments and successes.’

The operation is fully gaming operations compliant with robust security procedures and ’resilient’ infrastructure;

Construction began in July 2020. Local suppliers were used wherever possible. These included Banana Computers, Descon, Emerald Home and Office, Green Powers Electrical, Macro Metals, Office World, Premier Flooring, Quine and Cubbon Printers, Test and Maintenance Services.

Celton Manx appointed Manx Solar Electrical to supply and install 120 solar panels covering 90% of usable space on the roof of its Braddan headquarters, linked to three Tesla Powerwalls.

The panels have been installed in an east-west layout for maximum efficiency. The system also ensures the live dealer casino operation is uninterrupted in the event of a power outage.