MGA cancels eight gaming licenses, suspends four operators in 2018

The Malta Gaming Authority cancelled the gaming licenses of eight operators in 2018, a relatively significant rise over the three such licenses which were cancelled the previous year.

In 2018, the MGA also suspended four operators, a drop from the three suspended in 2017, issued 16 notices of reprimand and 73 notices of breach, and imposed a total of 139 administrative fines on operators following various regulatory breaches.

The figures emerged from the Authority’s 2018 Annual Report, published on Monday, which underlined the strong emphasis on effective enforcement which the MGA put in place last year.

“Throughout 2018, the MGA mainly focused on the implementation of the new Gaming Act which empowered the Authority to further strengthen its regulatory oversight,” the MGA said in a statement.

“Furthermore, the MGA focused on the regulatory compliance through implementation of a number of innovative internal and external initiatives which improved overall governance and supervision of the gaming sector. In 2018, the Authority continued to further strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) supervision, in order to ensure effectiveness in the mitigation of ML/FT risks relating to gambling services.”

In 2018, the MGA and Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit jointly issued the Remote Gaming Implementing Procedures – Part II that were directed toward the remote gaming sector. Throughout the year, both Authorities participated in cooperative initiatives to strengthen the oversight of the gaming sector.

Throughout 2018, the MGA conducted a total of 33 AML/CFT full-scope examinations, eight of which were conducted jointly with the financial services watchdog.

The Authority’s Fit & Proper Committee deemed 63 individuals or companies to be unsuitable for a licence, or for a significant role in a licensee. In particular, 37 of these were related to individuals or companies considered as not having satisfied the integrity and reputation pillars of the MGA’s fit and proper criteria due to possible connections to money laundering or funding of terrorism. Around 2,000 criminal probity screenings were conducted during the course of 2018

The number of gaming license application received in 2018 stood at 209, roughly similar to the 220 issued in 2017. Last year, however, saw a drop in the number of licenses issued, with 93 such licenses having been granted in 2018 compared to the 165 in 2017.

The remaining licenses are still going through the acceptance process. Moreover, eight license applications were rejected in 2018.