European Gaming Lawyer magazine Spring 2014 | Page 14

Malta Remote Gaming:
Looking Ahead
By Robert Zammit, Senior Associate at WH Partners

W

Robert Zammit

hile various European
jurisdictions are moving towards
regulating remote gaming for
the first time, the Malta Remote
Gaming Regulations (SL 438.04)
(“Regulations”) have reached the ten year milestone.
The Regulations underwent very few changes through
the years.
In fact some players in the industry have been
wondering whether it is time for an overhaul to take
place to accommodate changes in the business, both
from a commercial and technological perspective.
The new Executive Chairman of the Lotteries and
Gaming Authority of Malta has been reported in the
Maltese press as emphasising the need to improve the
Regulations in order to keep up with the continuous
developments in the industry.
Although a complete overhaul may not be
required the need to update the Regulations
clearly exists if Malta is to continue being a leading
jurisdiction in the industry.
From a technology perspective, operators face new
opportunities which could help improve their offer,
starting from virtualised computing.
Although it is somewhat understandable for
a regulator to take a cautious approach towards
cloud or virtualised computing due to the
shared element, and the perceived higher security
risk, there are various ways that such concern
can be reduced to the satisfaction of all parties
involved. As a start, rather than outright
prohibiting cloud computing, the LGA could
focus on creating a standard for the use of this
technology with the help of the operators and the
service providers.

14 | European Gaming Lawyer | Spring Issue | 2014

As a result of permitting the use of cloud
computing and embracing a more modern and
practical approach, the LGA would consequently
move away from physical inspection of hardware,
which does not provide any additional safeguards.
The paper trail currently in place for hardware
inventories creates unnecessary red-tape and timewasting. To really achieve this, the LGA should focus
on creating an online reporting system both for
hardware inventory and for reporting of key events,
whereby licensed operators will be required to submit
necessary information with regards to their technical
setup, and also report any changes and incidents
occurring on their system.
Another area which could do with a regulatory
revamp is mobile. In 2004, a mobile was merely a
mobile telephone – nowadays a mobile is much more
than that. Very few imagined back then that we would
be browsing the internet and installing apps on our
mobiles in ten years’ time, but this is today’s real ]B