MGA cancels three gaming licenses, fines two operators for missing payments
The gaming licenses of three operators were canceled by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) earlier this week. eGaming Lab Limited, M-Hub Gaming C4 Limited, and Morpheus Games were among the names that had their licenses revoked as all three entities had failed to pay their license fees on time. All three operators had been given a 20-day notice, but neither of them paid the fee, thereby violating a couple of regulations that led to the suspension of their respective licenses.
Malta Gaming Authority has been particularly strict over the last 18 months after being greylisted by FATF for a year in 2021. ©Markus Spiske/Unsplash
The MGA’s regulation 10 (1) (a) and regulation 9, which revolve around payments that are owed to the regulator, were hence found to have been breached by all three operators. In addition to revoking their licenses, two out of three entities were ordered to settle all pending payments owed to the regulator. eGaming Lab were given a five-working days ultimatum to pay up the sum of €50,083 that they owe to the regulator.
Operators can appeal the decision
MGA issued another five-working days ultimatum to Morpheus Games to pay off an outstanding sum of €80,775. M-Hub Gaming do not owe any such amount to the MGA, and therefore the entity was not ordered to pay, but they still have had their operating license revoked. Aside from these pronouncements, the authority has also asked all operators to remove any references to the MGA with immediate effect.
According to the Malta Gaming Act, operators who get their licenses revoked for any reason have the right to appeal the move. The next moves for these operators are likely to be derived based on Article 43 (1) of the Act, which gives all three aforementioned operators a 20-day window during which they can appeal against the MGA’s decision to revoke their respective licenses.
Three licenses, including DGV’s were revoked earlier this year
Suspension of these three licenses are not the only ones announced by the MGA this year. In August 2022, DGV Entertainment saw its operating license revoked as it also failed to pay the license fee. DGV were given the same 20-day notice, but they failed to pay the fee and ended up with a revoked license and a bill of €36,301 that had to be paid to the Maltese regulator.
Before the suspension of DGV’s license, the MGA had canceled licenses for BIB Limited and Field of Fortune Limited for breaching almost the same sections of the MGA’s rulebook.
Malta’s gaming regulation over the last few years has been something of a reaction to its larger standing in the iGaming world ever since Malta had made it to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist in 2021. Malta were subsequently removed from the greylist after making the necessary changes, and have since shown an aggressive hand in dealing with errant operators.
Starting from February 2021, the authority had canceled the licenses of seven out 20 companies that they had sent show-cause notices to in the preceding months. This period coincided with a period of record administrative fines being handed out to operators across the country, including an infamous case that saw Blackrock Media paying out a €2.3 million settlement to stay functional.
