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E-gaming In Malta Is A Winner,
by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
With a steady stream of visitors coming to visit the Lotteries and Gaming Authority
(LGA) in Malta, following Malta’s highly successful stand at the main e-gaming
trade fair in London last January, Chief executive officer Reuben Portanier, appointed
only 7 weeks ago, said in an interview with Vanessa MacDonald of di-ve.com, that
Malta flew the flag (for e-gaming) and its presence was reassuring proof of its
growing market share.
There are 320 current e-gaming licences in Malta, with a slightly lower number
of operators, as some may have more than one licence. Malta’s strategy
has been to build up a solid regulatory and fiscal framework that would attract
the top players in the market – believing that once the big names went
there, many smaller ones would follow. E-gaming currently generates EUR15.5m in
tax revenue while the LGA has revenue in excess of EUR45m. Its direct share
of GDP is estimated to be around 1%.
“We opted to be a well-regulated environment with a steady income rather
than a gaming haven, because the latter is very volatile. As it is, we have
created an economic sector which is high value-added and which is creating jobs,”
Portanier said. “And it is also one which has sufficient safeguards for
society and for the economy.” E-gaming currently employs around 2,500 directly,
many of whom are EU citizens as the operators offer a full customer support
service in 24 languages. Mr Portanier estimates that the sector generates a
further 3,000 jobs through legal and financial services, real estate, hospitality
and even schools.
Individual EU countries are facing considerable pressure from the European
Commission to relax their monopolistic hold on access to e-gaming sites. A number
of countries actually face infringement procedures because restrictions on access
to foreign sites contravene the principles of freedom of establishment and freedom
of services. France has promised to liberalize its e-gaming access policy on
January 1, 2010. Malta strongly believes that restrictions only serve to drive
activity underground while opening up the market would increase competition
to the benefit of all operators. The experience garnered over the past few years
would place Malta in the ideal position to act as a hub for the passporting
of cross-border licences.
A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series
examining the new possibilities that offshore e-commerce open up for business,
and analysing the offshore jurisdictions that have led the way in offering professional
e-commerce regimes for international business, with a particular focus on e-gaming,
is available in the Lowtax Library at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp
and a description of the report can be seen at
http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report6.asp
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