The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has cancelled the license of Playbay Malta Limited, which operates HDbets.com. The Malta regulators found the operator guilty of ‘systemic deficiencies’ in its compliance with AML/CFT obligations. As part of the ruling, the operator, Playbay Malta will now be barred from performing gaming operations, registering new players or accepting new customers.
The MGA further ordered that registered players with Playbay Malta will be able to access their accounts and all the funds for registered players will be refunded in compliance with the current regulations.
The MGA released a statement of findings that included:
- The Authorised Person’s voluntary suspension of the licence has expired on 6 September 2020, and no plan has been provided by the licensee of when and how it intends to reactivate such authorisation;
- The results of the compliance review conducted jointly by the Authority and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit on 2 October 2018 identified systemic deficiencies in the Authorised Person’s adherence to its AML/CFT obligations which render the Authorised Person unable to operate in line with its regulatory obligations.
The MGA have been cracking down on operator breaches over the last 12 months, with 11 licenses revoked in 2019. Playbay isn’t the only operator to feel the wrath of the MGA with suspensions handed out to Knockout Gaming, BetElephant, Pick Mister and World Watch, which had offered peer to peer gaming.
The MGA reported that it had seen 11 licenses suspended and seven cancelled due to various regulatory breaches in the first half of 2019.
The MGA has placed the burden on license holders to report suspicious activities and irregularities around betting activity through the MGA’s new consultation mechanisms on the their website.
By moving the burden onto the operators, the MGA is hoping that the license holders will become more transparent in any regulatory discrepancies.
