Isle of Man Regulator Penalizes Celton Manx for Compliance Gaps

Celton Manx, once a licensed online gambling supplier in the Isle of Man, now faces a £3.9 million ($5.3 million) penalty following a series of failures related to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) controls. The island’s Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) found several major lapses before the company gave up its license earlier this year.

Good to know

• Celton Manx gave up its Isle of Man licence in May 2025, after holding it since 2008.
• Regulators flagged systemic AML and CTF compliance failures.
• The original £5.6 million fine was reduced by 30% due to cooperation.

Before surrendering its licence, Celton Manx underwent a regulatory review by the GSC. That investigation turned up dozens of problems tied to the company’s risk assessments, customer monitoring, and overall approach to AML and CTF safeguards.

One of the central issues was how Celton Manx worked with third-party partners. According to the GSC, the company failed to ensure its network partners were following compliance standards equal to those required by the Isle of Man’s Gambling Code. Monitoring tools for those customers were missing or incomplete.

Regulators also found that Celton Manx had not properly assessed or documented the risks tied to money laundering or terrorist financing. Players deemed high risk were not subjected to stronger due diligence. On top of that, recordkeeping and tech risk assessments were spotty and not done often enough.

In some cases, Celton Manx delayed providing requested documents to the Financial Intelligence Unit, another breach of expected procedures. There were also concerns about the qualifications of the company’s money laundering reporting officer and compliance officer, both of whom the GSC said lacked the expertise to handle those responsibilities.

Training was another weak spot. The GSC stated that the education provided to staff fell short of legal standards, leaving them unprepared to spot or respond to suspicious activity.

The fine was originally set at £5.6 million, but Celton Manx admitted to the failures and agreed to work with regulators. That cooperation led to a reduced penalty of £3.9 million.

In its statement, the Gambling Supervision Commission said, “The Code sets out the preventative measures necessary to ensure, to the greatest degree possible, that a gambling operator’s products, systems and services are not exploited for criminal purposes.” The regulator stressed that falling short of those requirements opens the door to serious risk.

Celton Manx claimed that no money laundering or customer harm had taken place. But that did not change the regulator’s view that serious compliance breaches deserved a financial penalty.

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