The question of whether there is anything more the island could be doing to retain or grow the e-gaming sector, was raised at the Topical Talks roundtable.

Gary Lamb, chief executive of Manx Telecom, had submitted a question which asked: ’There is a lot of concern around the island about PokerStars’ announcement of redundancies with further potential losses due to the impending merger (between The Stars Group and Paddy Power parent Flutter) and the move into America. Is there anything more the island could be doing to retain or grow the e-gaming sector?’

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said he used to be the government’s political head of e-gaming and it was a job he enjoyed because ’we were dealing with world leaders not branches’ in the island.

Mr Quayle referred to the recent news about job losses at PokerStars - it was first revealed exclusively by Isle of Man Newspapers.

He said: ’I know that those jobs have already, and more, have been filled elsewhere.

’Other e-gaming companies are expanding on the Isle of Man and there are a number of other businesses that have had a meteroric rise.’

Mr Quayle said the e-gaming sector will see, over the next five-year period, ’a shrinking of numbers and only the big boys will survive’.

He explained: ’If you look at (corporate) service providers in the island, they are buying each other up at the moment.’ This had been partly due to the cost of increased regulation.

’It’s the same with the e-gaming sector,’ said Mr Quayle.

’Yes there have been a number of jobs (lost), but they are committed to the island in the meetings I have had with them.’

He said there was one company which had asked not to be named, but he said he knows for a fact that it was planning a ’significant increase’ in employee levels.

So overall the net level of jobs in e-gaming was going up, argued the chief minister, who is MHK for the Middle constituency.

Nigel Simpson, head of international markets, Zurich International, told the gathering that the reality was that there was a lot going on at the moment and he said it was important to look at the net movements in any particular industry or sector.

’The fact that some roles go, some come, some change shape, it is not as binary as saying it’s a few jobs. I agree it’s difficult for the people involved in that change, but the reality is that there is an awful lot going on. There is much going on to keep those numbers stable.

’Sometimes we miss the conversation about the net movement and I think that is the important thing and trying to get that net movement into the right salary bands and everything else.’

Mr Quayle also referred to the recent news reported in the business news about Pokerstars increasing its business in Malta after the dotcom licence was transferred to the Mediterranean island, which is an EU state.

Mr Quayle told the Topical Talks debate: ’I’ve been warning about Malta for a while.

’Sure enough you have seen the problems (there).’

He said: ’A well-run stable jurisdiction with a good reputation is what the gaming industry wants and that is what the Isle of Man provides.’

The chief minister agreed there was sometimes a struggle to get the right qualified staff in some quarters and this was why the Locate strategy had been devised.

He said Locate had been paying dividends. He said the population had gone up since the start of the current administration following worries the island was shrinking.

’If you take into account that our death rate is higher than our birth rate that means our population has gone up by nearly 600 people in the last 12 months.’

Stuart Chivers, head of banking at Isle of Man Bank, said a lot of companies were investing in automation and they want to stay here in the island with longevity here.

But he said ’losing heads’ was a by-product of automation.

He predicted: ’I think we shall still be seeing companies shedding small numbers of people.’

Manx Gas chief Ian Plenderleith said it would be wrong to downplay the quality of the institutions that the island has and how attractive that makes the island in terms of being a place to do business and to invest.

He said: ’We have strong government, we have independent courts and we have challenging media as well.’

He said the levels of institutional risk were greater in other parts of the world.

Peter Boxer, executive director of external relations, Cabinet Office, said it would be very interesting to see how things will progress once the UK leaves the EU and the potential for the future relationship with the island.