With reference to the Notice of Cancellation (hereinafter the ‘Notice’) dated 10 May 2021 issued by the Malta Gaming Authority (‘Authority’) in accordance with the first proviso to Regulation 12 of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations (S.L. 583.06) (hereinafter the ‘Regulations’), Magic Services Limited (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Authorised Person’) was provided with a twenty-day time period within which it had the right to show cause as to why the Authority should not proceed with the enforcement measure highlighted by said Notice in accordance with reg. 9 (2) (a) of the Regulations.
The Authorised Person, however, failed to make its submissions to the Authority within the stipulated time-period.
In light of the above, the Authority is hereby notifying the Authorised Person that pursuant to the Notice, the Authorisation bearing the number ‘MGA/B2C/149/2007’ (hereinafter the ‘Authorisation’) shall be cancelled in terms of the Regulations.
The foregoing decision to cancel the Authorisation has been taken pursuant to the grounds mentioned in the aforementioned Notice.
Further to the foregoing, the Authorised Person is hereby being directed to:
1 . Suspend all gaming operations with immediate effect and cease to register any new players in terms of the Authorisation;
- Provided that the Authorised Person shall enable existing players to access their accounts for the purpose of requesting the withdrawal of their outstanding player balances.
2 . Duly notify the players, if any, of the cancellation of the Authorisation. Such notification should be effected by means of the Authorised Person’s website/s, as well as via electronic mail. Moreover, such notification shall include, but shall not be limited to, the manner in which such registered players are to withdraw any funds held by the Authorised Person on their behalf;
3 . Provide the necessary guidance and assistance to the players in relation to the procedures that shall be applied by the Authorised Person further to the remittal of outstanding player balances;
4 . Further to sections 2 and 3 above, the Authorised Person shall:
- Where players make a request for the withdrawal of their outstanding balances, endeavour to remit all player funds standing to the credit of such players by not later than five (5) working days from the date upon which a player makes a request to this effect;
- Provided that where the players fail to make such request, the Authorised Person shall endeavour to remit all player funds standing to the credit of every player.
- Provided further that where possible, outstanding player balances are to be remitted to the same account from which the funds originated.
- Follow the procedures laid out in the Gaming Authorisations and Compliance Directive (Directive 3 of 2018) with respect to inactive and dormant accounts, including but not limited to, the remittal of outstanding balances to the Authority, where applicable;
- Ensure that all pending player disputes are duly settled; and,
- Within not later than five (5) working days from the date of publication of this Cancellation of Authorisation, submit all outstanding reporting requirements, including but not limited to Player Liability Reports, Industry Returns and Questionnaires.
5 . Process personal data in accordance with its privacy policy and with any applicable data protection legislation. The Authorised Person shall also bring to the players’ attention the manner in which it shall process all player data further to the termination of the Authorisation;
6 . Submit to the Authority a transaction report extracted from their back-end system together with the supporting bank statements, attesting that all player funds have been duly remitted to the registered players;
- Provided that the Authority shall reserve the right to request the Authorised Person to provide the necessary facilities to the Authority in order for the latter to extract and make copies of the relevant data, including but not limited to, essential regulatory data as defined in the Gaming Definitions Regulations (S.L. 583.04).
7 . Settle all outstanding fees that are due to the Authority as duly delineated by virtue of the Notice, amounting to a total of seventy-one thousand, thirty-five euro, and fifty-four cents (€71,035.54), within a period of five (5) working days from the date of publication of this Cancellation of Authorisation; and
8 . Remove, with immediate effect, any reference to the Authority and the Authorisation in accordance with article 51 of the Gaming Act (Chapter 583 of the Laws of Malta) (hereinafter the ‘Act’).
Without prejudice to the conditions that must be adhered to by the Authorised Person with immediate effect and any other deadline referred to above, the Authorised Person shall comply with the above listed actions by not later than seven (7) days from the date of publication of this Cancellation of Authorisation.
The Authorised Person shall remain liable for all applicable obligations emanating from the Act and any other applicable regulatory instrument.
In terms of Article 43 (1) of the Act, if the Authorised Person feels aggrieved by the decision of the Authority, such person shall have the right to file an appeal before the Administrative Review Tribunal within twenty (20) days from the date of publication of this Cancellation of Authorisation.
The Authority reserves the right to issue further directions to the Authorised Person. Moreover, the Authority reserves the right to take any other measures pertinent to it at law, to ensure compliance with the Act and the subsidiary legislation thereunder.