The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) participated in the 6th Forum on US Online Gaming organised by C5, which was held in New York City between 13 and 14 May 2015. This year’s meeting was attended by participants from all over the US together with a number of European sector professionals.
The MGA’s Executive Chairman, Joseph Cuschieri attended the event, having been invited as one of the distinguished speakers for the session entitled ‘Through the eyes of the pioneers: Top iGaming Tips from the Europeans’ which was moderated by Nick Nocton (Director, Jeffrey Green Russell Limited).
In his intervention, Mr Cuschieri stated that “It is important that the Malta Gaming Authority opens up to the US inter-state gaming regulatory approach to retain a horizontal gaming market outlook outside the EU, with the aim of achieving alignment in relevant areas of common interest for the gaming sector to flourish responsibly and effectively within and outside the EU market. It is one of the right fora to share regulatory experiences across the continent and listen to operators’ operational outlook within a diverging gaming regulatory environment. The US brick and mortar debate vs. the online providers, certainly unveils sensitive arguments worth considering from a local regulatory front, to achieve the desired regulatory balance between online and land based operations, particularly within the backdrop of an ongoing technological converging gaming market.”
During the event Mr Cuschieri outlined his ideas on Malta’s future role in the gaming sphere together with upcoming developments from a regulatory front. He emphasised the need for closer bilateral relationships between European regulators to streamline technical standards and interoperability so that compliance is simplified. This forum was a platform for various relevant discussions dealing with the emergence of digital gaming and regulation, market outlook on the US as well as scrutiny of the economics underpinning the iGaming industry generally amongst other topics.