Changing legislation: how the MGA is adapting

Europe is increasingly trying to regulate legislation around online gambling internationally. At the moment, this does not seem to be very successful. Each country has set up its own casino license and its own rules around online gambling. Rules imposed by the EU are not always seen in Malta. Indeed, Malta has come up with its own Bill55 to protect online casinos within their own country. An online casino in Malta has to stick mainly to the rules in Malta and less attention is paid to European rules. Yet we are slowly seeing new rules emerging in Malta too. But how is the MGA adapting to the changed legislation in Europe?

MGA mainly protects their own online casinos

For Malta, online casinos are obviously an important source of revenue. They earn a lot of money from the casinos located here. In addition, quite a few companies from the online casino world are based in Malta.

Yet Malta feels increasingly threatened by mainly foreign laws and regulations. Online casinos licensed in Malta, for instance, are blacklisted in Germany. Purely because they are not licensed in Germany. We also see this happening more and more often in the Netherlands. Millions in fines are even being handed out to casinos operating in the Netherlands. They have an MGA license, but missing the new Dutch license.

In response, MGA has changed the law to protect online casinos. As long as they abide by the rules in Malta and are licensed here, they can hardly be prosecuted. Malta does let it be known that exceptions are possible, but in theory, a ruling in Germany cannot be enforced in Malta. This means that it is almost impossible to redeem fines from online casinos in Malta.

MGA does apply stricter checks

With competition from other countries, we do see increasingly strict controls being carried out by the MGA. Previously, the MGA mainly intervened when financial obligations were not met. Or when there were a lot of negative reports about an online casino. But recently, we have seen that the MGA checks more strictly. The MGA is really adapting as an enforcer due to changing legislation. Recently, quite a few additional casinos have also been closed down. For instance, they were found not to be complying with the rules. It's a good thing for online casino players. How strict the rules and checks are, and how safe it is to play at an online casino.

Malta casinos still offer no-account casinos

In the whole of Europe, the regulations are becoming stricter.

Limits or advertising bans do not seem to apply for now

While other countries add mandatory limits or introduce advertising bans, this is not an issue in Malta. Online casinos are simply allowed to advertise. Both online and in Malta itself. Limits are not enforced either. Online casinos do indeed allow players to set their limits. But this has always been an established rule at online casinos in Malta. This is a voluntary limit you can set per casino to protect yourself from financial problems. The MGA doesn't seem to be adjusting on this front for now either. In this, they are the only ones in Europe where this does not yet apply. Even in the UK, there is a new advertising ban and there are new deposit limits set.

Despite everything, the MGA is open to cooperation

Despite most countries having different rules compared to the MGA, they are simply open to cooperation. In theory, they already work intimately with the Netherlands, for example. But they have already indicated that they are open to cooperating even more in the near future. Despite their decision to start additional cooperation, they do not want to scrap the controversial BILL55 legislation. However, the EU is currently already addressing the controversial law. Of course, the EU would rather see the law disappear.

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