A total of 35 online gaming licences in the Isle of Man have been surrendered or cancelled over the past 12 months.

It means that the number of online gambling licence holders has fallen to 64.

Twenty-nine licences have been surrendered in the current calendar year - three, Annexio Ltd, Aviling Tech Ltd and Worldwide Gaming Ltd, in this month (October) alone.

Between the beginning of October and the end of 2024, five licences were surrendered, and one cancelled by the Gambling Supervision Commission.

During the past year, six new licences were awarded - four for software supply, one for network supply and one a full online gaming licence.

At its height the number of gaming licences on the GSC register stood at 99.

Egaming remains an important and significant contributor to the Manx economy, accounting for about 16% of the island’s GDP and directly supporting more than 1,000 jobs here.

Licences might be given up as they are no longer commercially viable or because a company is relocating and is shifting to a country that has opened its market for licensing.

But over the last year or so, it has emerged that online gaming and gambling platforms have been targeted by organised criminal gangs operating out of East and South East Asia .

A new national risk assessment published this year states that the Isle of Man currently now has ‘limited appetite’ for business in the egaming sector where there is ownership and/or control from this region.

Regulators will not authorise new businesses from this area, and will review the terms of any existing licences, where this falls outside of the new national risk appetite.

GSC chief executive Mark Rutherford told a Tynwald scrutiny committee in July: ‘We are under attack, and we are taking the fight back to the enemy.’