Malta and Swedish regulators target greater cooperation with new MoU
MGA and Spelinspektionen sign new agreement to share information
Two of Europe’s biggest gambling regulators, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) and the Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pledging “enhanced cooperation” in gambling regulation.
Under the MoU, both regulators have agreed to share information “on matters of mutual interest and policy areas”, together with providing operational assistance to each other on a continuous basis.
MGA CEO Heathcliff Farrugia said the authority is “actively seeking to foster relationships” with fellow international regulators, primarily due to the crossborder nature of egaming.
“This MoU, signed with the Swedish Gambling Authority, is an important step towards achieving both our respective regulatory goals in vital areas of mutual interest, especially since the MGA and the Swedish Gambling Authority share a significant number of operators licensed by both regulators,” Farrugia added.
Many operators recently licensed in the Swedish market including Betsson, LeoVegas, Betway, Betfair and Casumo all hold licences to operate in Malta.
Both have recently gone through the process of overhauling their markets, with the Maltese passing the Malta Gaming Act in August 2018 and the Swedes instituting a new licensing and regulatory process at the turn of the year.
Spelinspektionen director general Camilla Rosenberg said the opening of communication channels will enable both to become stronger in their respective supervisory activities.
“This is the beginning of a broad and long-term cooperation, and our plan is to initiate corresponding collaborations with more gambling authorities in Europe,” Rosenberg added.
In other news, an administrative court in Sweden has ruled a player seeking to prematurely end his self-exclusion period under the Spelpaus national platform could not do so as this would “counteract the purpose” of the self-exclusion register.
The player had contacted the courts after being denied the ability to restart his gambling, despite still being in his selected self-exclusion period.