The Malta Gaming Authority is continuing with its statutory tradition of public transparency with the publication of its Interim Performance Report that covers the period between January and June 2022

Some of the authority’s activities that were covered in this period include suspensions, licence warnings and cancellations for both online and land-based activities in Malta.

During this period, the MGA has conducted 16 full compliance audits as well as 100 desktop reviews and 7 AML/CFT compliance examinations. The compliance audits have resulted in one warning, one licence cancellation as well as one licence suspension.

Seven administrative penalties and two regulatory settlements were issued resulting in levies of €85,000.

The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAO), which works closely with the MGA took four actions effective licensed entities. Rather than punishment, remedial action was taken, including administration penalties of €386,567 and written reprimands.

More than 625 criminal probity screening checks were also carried out by various individuals and businesses. A total of 22 money laundering reporting officers (MLROs) were interviewed during this period. Furthermore, circa half a dozen actions including letters of breach were issued by the MGA’s Commercial Communications Committee.

The MGA has also looked into requests for assistance from 2,578 players. Around two dozen websites which claimed to have a valid gambling licence were also investigated. More than a dozen notices were published on the MGA’s website to warn players of potential pitfalls.

After checking 18 responsible gambling website checks, five observation letters were issued. Suspicious betting reports were also issued, including 122 alerts, resulting in 16 new suspicious betting reports.

Interested parties as well as licensees also submitted more than 278 allegations of suspicious betting.

The Malta Gaming Authority is a leading gambling authority that issues various licences to casino and sportsbetting operators.