MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Andrew J. Zammit and Krista Hili, GVZH Advocates
responsible for the actions of the white-label providers insofar as the activities concerned are covered by a licence issued by the MGA in favour of that white-label service provider. 6.5 Technical Measures There are currently no technical measures, such as ISP blocking, in place to protect consumers from unli- censed operators. 7. Responsible Gambling (RG), Also Known as Safer Gambling (SG) 7.1 RG Requirements Maltese gaming legislation and regulations provide for a number of responsible gaming requirements aimed at protecting minors and vulnerable persons from unscrupulous operators. The Responsible Gam- ing Foundation, set up in Malta in 2014, has launched several projects and initiatives in this regard. A National Gambling Helpline (1777) was launched by this Foundation in 2015. Furthermore, in addition to Directive 2 of 2018 (the Player Protection Directive), the MGA imposes requirements ranging from strict advertising and marketing regimes to the possibility of self-exclusion. In May 2020, the MGA published a consultation paper to gather feedback on “Suspicious Betting Reporting Requirements and Other Sports Integrity Matters”, aimed at safeguarding the integrity of sports and sports betting. A guidance paper was subsequently issued in this regard, advising all MGA licensees on matters relating to sports betting integrity. 7.2 Gambling Management Tools Gambling management tools adopted by the MGA are focused principally on obligations placed on opera- tors to assist players with determining whether or not they are problem gamblers, making leaflets or other material regarding organisations that assist problem gamblers readily available to players and ensuring that there are procedures in place to enable players to exclude themselves from playing for a definite or indefinite period of time.
In March 2019, the MGA issued a preliminary market consultation (PMC) document to request information pertaining to the possibility of implementing a unified self-exclusion system to be applied to the regulated gaming industry in Malta across gambling operators, irrespective of the channel. 8. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) 8.1 AML Legislation The PLMFTR oblige online gaming operators to con- duct high levels of customer due diligence (CDD), with a risk of steep penalties for non-compliance. The MGA has issued a new directive dealing with the Key Function of the PLMFTR. Directive 3 of 2020, which came into force on 20 July 2020, obliges B2C licensees to have at least one of the key function hold- ers vested with the key function of the PLMFTR. This key function holder must also be a money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) registered by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Directive. The FIAU is the Maltese government agency respon- sible for the combating of money laundering and financing of terrorism. It has published two sets of implementing procedures in terms of the PLMFTR, applicable to land-based casinos and the remote gaming sector. These implementing procedures focus on specific areas of the PMLTFR and their application at an industry-specific level, in order to highlight those aspects of money laundering prevention that are of most relevance to the industry, and to ensure they are understood and interpreted consistently by all Maltese licensees or other licensed operators based in Malta. 8.2 AML Requirements As an EU member state, Malta has implemented all EU Directives regulating the prevention of money laun- dering. Malta is part of MONEYVAL (the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Launder- ing Measures and the Financing of Terrorism), which was established in September 1997 by the Commit- tee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to conduct self- and mutual assessments of the AML measures implemented. The principal sources of Maltese law
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