FEATURES MGA
“Regulation based on cooperation” During the recent Sustainable Gambling Conference, Isabella Aslam spoke to Yanica Sant, General Counsel for the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) on the state of today’s regulated industry You spoke to Gambling Insider last year on the pandemic not justifying emergency measures to stop problem gambling. So, a year on from that interview, do you think regulators have adhered to the same steps originally made from the outset, and do you think responsible gambling regulations have slipped? It’s not that they have slipped, I think that many regulations were introduced based on emergency legislation and the fact that no one knew what we were entering into. Regulations were centred around data collected at the time (which I would imagine to be very different by jurisdiction).We didn’t feel the need to introduce such emergency measures. It’s been around a year and a half since the pandemic, I think everyone has understood that it’s here to stay and Covid isn’t likely to be over soon, but hopefully we won’t be calling it a pandemic anymore. The good thing now is that the 6
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public can travel again and restrictions have eased globally. The fact that these restrictions have eased, in my opinion, no longer justifies the maintenance of emergency regulation. It may not be necessary soon to justify every restrictive measure; however, I believe in striking a balance between regulating the sector to have and maintain a safe environment for the players. This also means still regulating the industry, but not in a way that stifles it to a point where it no longer remains attractive. The whole purpose of gambling is entertainment. If the regulated activity is no longer entertaining to the player, the industry runs the risk of players seeking entertainment in unregulated areas, or the black market. I am using the word regulated specifically because if a market is regulated by a reputable jurisdiction, that offer is safe for the consumers. We want consumers to remain in that market, we don’t want to lose them to the black market.
Otherwise, the objective of keeping gambling safe and fair isn’t being maintained. The essence of a regulator is to keep a gambler safe, among other things, but also to optimise a market and an industry. Is there anything else involved in the role of a regulator that perhaps people don’t know? The number of checks that are entered when a licence is issued is something that not many people know. The checks relate to the sustainability of the company and the people behind it. Once the licence is issued, the checks are continuous, including ones of the offering itself, how fair it is and technical analysis. Which again, most people don’t know. It is not just about safety promotion. The technical examination of each offer makes sure players will not be cheated, or that the random number generators work the way
