New Gaming Law Effective From Today

The new Gaming Act, affirmed by Maltese Parliament on 8 March 2018, together with the subsidiary legislation and Authority-issued restricting instruments which build up the point by point procedures and techniques constituting the all encompassing administrative structure for the gaming sector, came into force today 1 August 2018 in the wake of experiencing the EU Technical Regulation Information System (TRIS) process, in accordance with European Union Directive 2015/1535.

The new framework raises the jurisdictional profile of Malta from an administrative point of view by reinforcing the MGA’s supervisory part, particularly the Authority’s consistence and requirement capacities to all the more likely accomplish its administrative destinations. This is in accordance with simultaneous improvements identifying with against illegal tax avoidance and battling the anti-money laundering and combating the funding of terrorism.

The new administrative framework likewise enables the Authority to be more coordinated in its basic leadership, by evacuating pointless administrative weights not helpful for the administrative goals, while at the same time reinforcing supervision and concentrating the controller’s endeavors on regions which exhibit a higher hazard profile.

Moreover, the change improves buyer assurance benchmarks and capable gaming measures, while advancing a hazard based approach towards direction. It furnishes the MGA with more extensive powers in the fields of consistence and authorization and builds up objective-situated guidelines to support advancement and improvement.

Underlining the significance of this turning point the MGA’s Chief Executive Officer Heathcliff Farrugia expressed that:”Today marks one of the most important days in the history of the MGA. Years of hard work finally come to fruition. I would like to thank all those involved in making the new regulatory framework a reality, in particular my predecessor Mr Joseph Cuschieri for the foresight to initiate this project, Parliamentary Secretary Hon. Silvio Schembri and the Maltese Government at large for their ongoing support and commitment, and especially the MGA’s personnel for their relentless work in developing and implementing the new legal regime.

This is the beginning of a new chapter in Maltese gaming regulation. One which builds on the foundations of the previous laws, and which empowers the Authority to further strengthen the way it regulates the industry, and to continue being a thought leader for the years the come.”

Subject to the transitory arrangements conceived in that, this structure is pertinent for remote gaming operators starting today 1 August 2018, while lan-based operators will wind up subject to these new laws starting at 1 January 2019.