Lotteries & Gambling Authority of Malta

The LGA Malta was first created in 2000 but was re-organized in early 2004 to reflect Remote Gaming Regulations. Malta was the first state within the EU to regulate Remote Gaming. In 2005, the Malta Remote Gaming Council was created. The point of the council is to unify all remote gaming licensees by providing them the abilities to face new challenges as a collective group. The LGA further an opened an online forum for licensees, ISP Providers, financial and legal representatives and stakeholders to be able to enter into discussions regarding the industry and how it relates to the remote gaming industry.

The LGA governs all forms of gambling within its jurisdiction. These include casinos, online casinos, lottery, remote gaming, non-profit gaming, commercial bingo, media games, games of amusement and broadcasting. The authority’s goal is to regulate all sectors of gaming and the lotteries industry. They do this through fair and transparent gaming, the prevention of money laundering, and the prevention of corruption through the removal of criminal activities or involvement.

The LGA, under The Remote Gaming Regulations of 2004 are responsible for the governing of the online gaming licensees within its boundaries. Online operators find the friendly terms of the LGA attractive due to the low taxation laws in place. In addition to attract new online gaming business to the LGA, a number of tax benefits are offered. Additional benefits are in place such as the ease of licensing and a solid ICT infrastructure. Malta also offers financial and inexpensive, easy to understand legislation with respect to e-commerce, the accepting of wagers and support this with an established regulation body. In addition, as Malta is a member of the EU and licensees are able to advertise their services across the EU and into the U.K. This is a very attractive feature to obtaining licensing in Malta as it allows for European and U.K residence to participate in the services those licensees offer. This in includes all bingo sites under licence in Malta.

In order to obtain a licence in Malta applicants will be categorized into one of four categories. Online Bingo falls under a Class 1 licence. All online bingo operators who seek to obtain a class 1 licence are required to provide business and technical related information pertaining to their operations as well as compliance systems within their operations. Once a licence is granted, it is valid for a term of five years. All licensees are must operate a physical base within Malta as per the laws of the LGA. There is a cost associated to all licensees that include licensing fees and corporate taxes. The taxes in Malta however, as stated are low, and the max tax paid by any operator will not exceed 465 euros per annum.

The LGA has taken a proactive position to govern other aspects of the licensee. All operators must ensure all financials transactions owed to players be paid with five business days. The only exception to this rule is when verification documents are required. Also all operators must place player deposits into a separate account and not use these funds to cover daily operations costs. This ensures that players playing with an online bingo site under licence from the LGA can be confident that their funds are protected and are safe.

The LGA provides a dispute service for players who participate in gaming activities with any of its licensees. If a resolution cannot be obtained between the two parties, players are able to visit Playresponsibly.org.mt and fill out a complaint against the licence. The LGA bases all investigations on facts as presented by the player and in defence as presented by the online gaming establishment in question. The LGA will contact both parties in order to investigate the complaint properly and will present an outcome based solely on the evidence presented and based on the rules and regulations that govern the licence under the particular complaint.

The LGA offers one of the best governing bodies for online gaming. They take the responsibilities seriously and provide a professional body to govern the rules that operators must operate under. Should an operator fail to meet those rules/regulations they risk a suspension in their licence and possible permanent disbarment from the LGA.

LGA Malta requires operators to segregate player funds, which means that bingo sites Maltese licenced bingo sites are a bit safer than the rest. Due to this, we give Malta’s governing body an “A”.

Official Website: Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta