An Introduction to Jersey, Channel Islands - the reputable home for the eGaming Industry.

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 including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and has won numerous awards as an offshore and international financial centre.

The Island has a unique constitutional position, is self-governing, with a stable government and independent fiscal and legal systems.

Although its allegiance is to the British Crown, the Island’s domestic autonomy has been preserved via charter and convention through 800 years of history.

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.

Tax-Neutral 

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

No Gaming Duty

No Capital Transfer Tax

No Capital Gains Tax

No Value Added Tax (VAT)

No Withholding Taxes

No Stamp duty on trading company share transfers

No Wealth Taxes.

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

Jersey Gambling Commission 

The Jersey eGaming industry has an independent Regulator, the Jersey Gambling Commission (JGC).

Having introduced robust and flexible remote gambling legislation, the approachable JGC, is pro-active regarding its regulations to ensure that its dynamic operational environment continues and to take advantage of emerging opportunities.  The members of the Jersey eGaming industry all have 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.

Licence costs

The licensing regime is straightforward too. Jersey has a single B-2-C licence (£15,000) and/or a single B-2-B licence (£10,000) 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.

Data Centres, Cloud Services, Lottery

Jersey offers a comprehensive and robust business, power and communication infrastructure. It has 3 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 eGaming benefits from a number of app developers and games developers with extensive knowledge of building financial and trading systems.

Jersey is also active in the lottery sector, quietly producing in excess of 160 market leading instants in the past 10 years. Jersey developers have shaped this industry and are at the forefront of mobile and online enablement of lotteries. Indeed, software providers in Jersey have deep experience of working with global leaders in the lottery industry and have led the thinking into exactly how their products should operate.

Listing Services 

Part of Jersey's international eGaming focus is accentuating the IPO and Listing services already in place on the Island. Jersey is currently home to 110 companies listed on the worldwide stock exchanges from London to New York, the greatest number of FTSE 100 companies registered outside the UK, and the greatest number of companies outside the UK that are listed on AIM, including a third of all Chinese companies listed on AIM.

Incorporation 

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.

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 (JFSC) acts as the supervisory body and requires high standards both of corporate governance and anti-money laundering compliance.

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 for the modern remote gambling operator.

Marcus Pallot, partner at Carey Olsen Jersey

[email protected]                                         T +44(0) 1534 822247

https://www.careyolsen.com/sectors/egaming