The Malta Gaming Authority Suspends & Cancels 4 Licenses
In the past few weeks, the Malta Gaming Authority has informed players that it has suspended and cancelled licenses of 4 top online sportsbooks and their gambling operators.
Frustratingly, the MGA decided to not divulge much information about what type of specific issues arose. Here’s what we do know.
The MGA’s Gambling Licenses: A Quick Rundown
Lots of UK casinos are dual-licensed at both the UK Gambling Commission and the MGA in order to be able to provide gambling services remotely to different countries.
That’s how you may have heard of the MGA in the first place. The MGA offers two types of licenses to gambling operators:
- B2C (business to consumer)
- B2B (business to business)
Recent issues involve the B2C licenses that the MGA gave to 4 online gambling operators in charge of sportsbook sites.
This means that problems may have involved the operators’ relationships with their clientele. In some cases, player complaints accumulate until the MGA decides to take a serious look at the different operators.
The sportsbooks in question might have been negligent towards things like:
- Problem gambling
- Services offered to minors
- Services offered to unauthorized territories
- Bonus & withdrawal policies
- Other issues that aren’t being published
Two Cancelled B2C Licenses
Out of the four licenses, two of them were outright cancelled by the MGA.
The operators in question must communicate to their players via their websites that they no longer have the authorization to offer gambling services. After they do this, they must cease all online activity.
The affected sportsbooks are the following, as described below.
Bet Service Group Ltd.
Bet Service own the popular Gamebet sportsbook, the site of which is still up and running. Any players that are still using this sportsbook are therefore using it despite Bet Service getting their license revoked.
Players should note, however, that only the Gamebet sportsbook is licensed by the MGA. The Gamebet site also hosts a myriad of other casino games and gambling activities, which are not under the same license.
Indeed, Gamebet’s miscellaneous gambling services are operated by Radon B.V, which has a Master Gaming sublicense.
So you can still play at Gamebet – just avoid their sportsbook.
World-of-bets EU Ltd
World-of-Bets had been operating under the MGA license since 2008 as a popular sportsbook. You will no longer be able to find them online anymore.
Since their license cancellation, they have diligently followed the MGA’s instructions, stopped all operations and taken down their site.
Two Suspended B2C Licenses
Two gaming operators have had their B2C licenses temporarily suspended by the MGA, pending their compliance with the MGA’s conditions.
They’re expected to stop all operations indefinitely, refuse all new customers and deposits, and most importantly, provide the MGA with requested documents.
The MGA advised, players that still need to withdraw money or take out bonuses from the sportsbooks to send them an email at [email protected].
Betixx Ltd.
You might be familiar with the popular Maltese sportsbook, Betixx. They’ve been operating under the MGA’s B2C license since 2013.
Once again, the MGA have not provided any specifics about the investigation they are conducting and why they suspended the license.
But players better hold back their bets until the investigation is up and the verdict is given. We do not have any news regarding how long the investigation will take either.
Morpheus Games (MT)
You might not have heard of these guys yet. That’s because this gaming & entertainment company is new and quite small.
Yet, no matter how small the company, anyone dabbling in the gambling industry must toe the line if they’re to build a reputation.