MHKs have voted not to delay the progress of a Bill that aims to strengthen the powers of the gambling regulator.

The Gambling Acts (Miscellaneous Amendment) Bill 2025, referred to as the GSC Bill, aims to create an enhanced set of inspection and investigation powers for the Gambling Supervision Commission, including powers to enter and inspect premises.

But when the Bill returned to the House of Keys this week for its clauses stage, Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan called for it to be referred to a committee to report back in April.

She warned about ‘harmful over-regulation’, which would have a significant impact on the sector. She claimed the industry ‘had not been listened to’.

‘This Bill needs proper assessment,’ she said. ‘We can’t just pass the Bill and shrug our shoulders.’

Onchan MHK Julie Edge said: ‘We should never railroad something that could significantly damage a sector of our economy.’

But Treasury Minister Alex Allinson said referring the ‘essential’ Bill to a committee would ‘very likely kill’ its progress.

He said this would leave the island in a ‘very difficult situation’ when it came to assessment by MoneyVal, which he said had already pointed out it would be looking at the e-gaming sector in detail to ensure the right resources were in place to ‘ensure any criminality doesn’t contaminate e-gaming and the wider financial services sector’.

Home Affairs Minister Jane Poole Wilson agreed: ‘There is no doubt, it’s a matter of public record, that there has been criminal infiltration. If we allow criminality, transnational serious organised crime, to weaponise parts of our sector then that is the thing that will cause serious and long-lasting damage. So we must get this right.’

MHKs voted by seven votes to 13 not to refer the Bill to a committee. They went on to consider the clauses of the Bill and tabled amendments.