On 9 May, the Maltese Parliament approved the third and final reading of the new Gaming Act, which is aimed at raising the jurisdictional profile of Malta from a regulatory perspective by strengthening the MGA’s supervisory role, specifically the compliance and enforcement functions to better achieve the regulatory objectives, in line with concurrent developments relating to anti-money laundering and combating the funding of terrorism.

This new framework shall also broaden the regulatory scope to increase the MGA’s oversight and to allow, in a proportionate manner, intervention where necessary. As stated previously, the new Act will also segment the role of a Key Official within a licensed entity into various key functions for direct scrutiny and targeted supervision controls, and shall strengthen the player protection framework by formalising the role of the MGA’s Player Support Unit as a mediator between aggrieved players and operators. The new Act also envisages new and more effective processes for criminal and administrative justice.

Further information is available on the MGA website.