Malta Signs Gambling Oversight Agreements

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

25 April 2012

Malta's Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) has announced the signing of three cooperation agreements with other regulators, the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), the sports integrity agency of global soccer association FIFA, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, to strengthen its domestic oversight capabilities and contribute towards international enforcement efforts.

The aim of the ESSA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is to provide a framework to cooperate to avoid the manipulation of sports events and competitions, whereby the LGA in collaboration with its licensed operators will assist the ESSA in its reporting relationships with other international sporting associations.

In practice, the ESSA, on the one hand, and LGA and its licensed betting operators, on the other, will cooperate to exchange betting-related information to assist the investigation of irregular betting patterns or insider betting connected with sporting events and competitions.

The MoU signed with FIFA, relates to soccer association's Early Warning System agency (EWS), with similar aims to that of the ESSA agreement. Under the agreement, the agency and the Maltese regulator will seek to avoid the manipulation of sports events and competitions by gamblers, whereby the LGA in collaboration with its licensed operators will provide the necessary assistance to ensure the effective workings of the EWS.

The Maltese Regulator said: “Such collaboration shall augment even further the existing deterrents and shall ensure that the possibility of achieving unfair winnings, (a phenomenon which is particularly present with respect to unregulated betting activities) remains shut out of the regulated markets, such as that regulated by the LGA.”

The final MoU with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario provides for the exchange of information on eligibility assessments of applications as well as compliance and regulatory assurance activities with respect to gaming. Both jurisdictions have also agreed to possible joint, cooperative and collaborative inspections, investigations and enforcement activities.