MGA Cracks Down on Four Online Gambling Operators

The Malta Gaming Authority is getting tougher on erring licensees as it moved to suspend the licenses of two online gambling companies and to terminate the licenses of another two companies over the course of the past few days.

Most recently, the regulatory body issued a statement on Monday to inform that it has canceled the license of online gambling operator Bet Service Group Limited. The company provides B2C betting services through its flagship brand Gamebet.

Bet Service Group was directed to proceed with the cancellation process of its authorization to provide gambling services under a license by the Malta Gaming Authority and to suspend operations with immediate effect. The operator also had to display a notice on its gambling website that its authorization has been canceled. At press time, no such notice can be seen on Gamebet’s website.

The MGA canceled on Friday the B2C license of World-of-bets EU Limited, which was first licensed by the regulator in 2008 to operate online sports betting services. The company has canceled operations under its MGA license since its termination.

License Suspensions

The MGA announced last week that it has suspended the licenses of Betixx Limited and Morpheus Games (MT). Betixx is a sports betting operator incorporated in Malta in 2013 that primarily targets the German gambling market. Morpheus Games, too, holds a B2C license by the Maltese gambling regulator.

The two operators were directed to suspend operations indefinitely, stop accepting new customers and deposits, and provide the MGA with the requested documentation.

The gaming authority said in separate statements on each of the four operators that it would not release more information about what prompted its decision to suspend/terminate the licenses in order to prevent any investigations performed by the regulator itself or other competent authorities from being compromised.

The MGA advised players with outstanding payments from any of the four operators to send an email to support.mga@mga.org.mt and submit the information they are requested.

Malta-licensed operators hit the headlines over the weekend in relation to Norway’s fight against companies targeting its market without being locally licensed. The Times of Malta reported that six gambling operators holding licenses by the MGA were sent warning letters by the Norwegian Gaming Authority to stop servicing Norwegian customers. It is understood that the regulator also sent copies of the letters to its Maltese counterpart.

The six operators that received the letters were Betsson Group, Co-Gaming Ltd., L&L Europe Players Ltd., Gaming Innovation Group, Kindred Group, and Lucky Dino Gaming Ltd.

The Norwegian Gaming Authority also ordered local banks to block payments to and from accounts used for processing gambling-related transactions.