As you may be aware Malta’s Parliament has just approved new provisions which shall be added to its national Gaming Act. This Act shall strengthen the powers of  the Maltese Gaming Authority. Hence the Authority will have powers to enforce industry compliance, standards and regulatory guidelines on gambling/betting stakeholders. This  will be  in line with concurrent developments relating to anti-money laundering and combating the funding of terrorism.  It will also focus on improving player protection standards.

The Malta Gaming Authority obtains a greater supervisory role, acquiring the power to investigate, intervene or monitor, betting enterprises deemed to have breached anti-money laundering policies.

There will be the development of a new player support unit, designed to be a mediator between aggrieved players and operators relating to potential disputes.

When will the law come into force?

As stated in the MGA Press Release “The legislation is currently undergoing the Technical Regulation Information System process (TRIS) in line with European Union Directive 2015/1535, whereby the EU Commission and Member States may issue their opinions thereon. In the absence of issues emerging from this process, it shall come into force on 1 July 2018 for remote gaming operators and, following a transitory period, on 1 January 2019 for land-based operators. The same considerations apply to the subsidiary legislation and Directives which are envisaged to be issued under the remit of the new Act, which are also currently undergoing the TRIS process. In order to facilitate the transition to the new legislative framework, the MGA has embarked on a process of liaison with existing licensees, and outreach shall be increased in due course both with operators as well as with other interested stakeholders. This shall include guidelines on the application and interpretation of the new laws and policy”.