In an article for iNTERGAMINGi, Carey Olsen partner Marcus Pallot and director at Garfield Bennett trust, William Bennett, offer an introduction into what Jersey can provide as a jurisdiction for the eGaming Industry.

An Introduction to Jersey - a new home for the eGaming Industry in the Channel Islands

Most people will be aware of Jersey's reputation as a leading financial centre. The Island, just a few miles from the French coast, has been repeatedly endorsed by international bodies and has won numerous awards as an offshore and international financial centre. 

Jersey's robust, modern and sophisticated legal framework is the foundation of Jersey's finance industry and developments are continually being made to ensure it remains attractive to domestic and international markets.

Jersey's tax-neutral environment provides financial certainty as there is:

  • No Capital Transfer Tax, 
  • No Capital Gains Tax,
  • No Value Added Tax (VAT),
  • No Withholding Taxes, 
  • No Stamp duty on trading company share transfers, and
  • No Wealth Taxes. 

As a base for business, Jersey has a reputation that is second to none.  

Jersey for eGaming

More recently, the Jersey Government Council of Ministers conducted a detailed review of the existing legislation and regulation of the Island's remote gambling industry. The review concluded that the existing Jersey permissive regime was fit for purpose and would continue under its existing independent regulator the Jersey Gambling Commission (JGC).

Having introduced robust and flexible remote gambling legislation, the JGC, which is business friendly and approachable, is open to consider reforms to its regulations to ensure that its dynamic operational environment continues and to take advantage of emerging opportunities. Industry has an excellent relationship with the JGC.

Further extending its tax-neutral environment, Jersey has no gaming duty and the JGC has recognised and introduced licence costs that better reflect the costs of licensing for remote gambling activity, especially in the modern multi-jurisdictional operational era.

The licensing regime is straightforward too. Jersey has a single B-2-C licence and/or a single B-2-B licence designed to capture all commercial gambling activity and which permits ancillary business. Whilst independent games and technology testing is a licence requirement, the Regulator will recognise testing certification recently approved by approved independent testing houses.

Jersey is fully aligned with the highest standards of the third anti-money laundering EU Directive and the JGC provides further protection of the integrity and reputation of the Island to ensure Jersey presents a top class jurisdiction for eGaming.  For companies operating casino style services and/or for those who administer third parties' funds, the Jersey Financial Services Commission acts as the supervisory body and requires high standards both of corporate governance and anti-money laundering compliance.

Jersey offers a comprehensive and robust business, power and communication infrastructure. It has three World-class data centres, with provisions for disaster recovery, cloud services and comprehensive DDoS protection. It benefits from a host of banks, Payment Service Providers ("PSPs"), all major accountancy firms and first tier legal practices.

Jersey does not require staff or specific services to be located on Island, with the exception of some data hosting and a locally incorporated company to hold the licence, and the government has dedicated teams who will provide assistance to operators wishing to establish part of their operations on Island.

For the modern remote gambling operator, Jersey's reputation for sound regulation cannot be equalled and the jurisdiction has become a very real and competitive alternative to the modern remote gambling operator. 

To read more from iNTERGAMINGi, please click here.

Previously published by iNTERGAMINGi

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.