Malta regulator suspends trio of gaming licences

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) suspended a trio of remote gaming licences this week, just days after suspending the licences of Betuniq and Betsolution4U, as the investigation into an Italian mafia gambling money-laundering operation using firms on the island continues.

Licences for Fenplay, Soft Bet and Soft Casino were suspended on Tuesday and the operators were instructed by the regulator to suspend all gaming transactions, cease registering new players and submit all relevant data to the regulator.

The MGA said it was unable to comment on the reason for the licence suspensions when contacted by eGaming Review this morning and did not confirm they was linked to last week’s licence suspensions.

“There’s not much we can say at the moment because the reasons for the suspension are confidential and cannot be disclosed,” a spokesperson at the MGA said.

“Accounts for players have been frozen but the MGA is keeping it all under review and the licensees are free to speak to us and come forward with anything of relevance,” he added.

However according to local reports, the Fenplay director Vincenzo Giuliano is one of a number of Italian nationals based in Malta who are under investigation over connections to the crime syndicate, which is alleged to have used a number of betting operations to launder around €1.4bn.

Last week the MGA suspended the licences of Malta-registered companies Betuniq and Betsolution4U which are also alleged to have been used by the criminal ring to illegally offer online gambling in Italy.