MGA: New Gaming Act has made regulator more “agile”

The implementation of the new Gaming Act was a “pivotal” moment in the Malta Gaming Authority’s (MGA)  history and enabled it to become far more “agile in its decision-making”, the regulator’s CEO Heathcliff Farrugia has said.

Releasing its annual report for 2018, the MGA confirmed it had issued 16 warnings to operators and 73 notices of breach of MGA regulations during the last twelve months. MGA regulators suspended licences belonging to four operators, cancelling another eight.

A total of 139 administrative fines were imposed on operators following regulatory breaches.

“The new framework strengthened the MGA’s supervisory role, specifically in the areas of compliance and enforcement, enabling it to focus efforts on areas which present a higher risk profile,” Farrugia added.

The MGA confirmed it had issued 93 new licences to operators during 2018, receiving a total of 2019 applications for licences during the period. Only eight of these licence applications were rejected by the Maltese regulator.

“2018 was a remarkable year for the Authority, predominantly because of the coming into force of the new law on the 1 August 2018,” Farrugia added.

The replacement of the previous multi-licence system of regulation with a two-licence approach as part of the Malta Gaming Act has resulted in a three-fold decrease in the number of licences from 625 in 2017 to 275 in 2018.

Maltese licenced operators contributed over €1.4bn (£1.2bn) to the island’s economy during 2018, up 12% from the €1.2bn reported during 2017. The taxation and compliance contribution made by licenced operators as part of their regulatory duties rose to €66.9m (£60m) during 2018.

Farrugia confirmed that the MGA’s focus during 2019 will be on “consolidating what has been built so far” and building on its current regulatory powers to ensure integrity of licensees, promote consumer protection and allow for technological innovation.