On the 11th of November, Dr Maria Chetcuti Cauchi, partner in charge of the firm's Regulated Business Practice Group encompassing the Financial Services PG and the IP, Gaming & ICT PG and Dr Silvana Zammit, Head of Online Gaming , Digital Gaming and ICT, attended the 6th edition of The Malta iGaming Seminar 2014. The Goal of the The Malta iGaming Seminar 2014 is to provide a platform to the iGaming Industry to discuss trending topics, network amongst peers and explore Malta as an ideal jurisdiction to set up shop.
One of the Keynote Speakers at the The Malta iGaming Seminar 2014 is Mr Joseph Cuschieri, who is the Executive Chairman at The Lotteries and Gambling Authority, presented the various opportunities and challenges the Authority is currently facing.
During his presentation at The Malta iGaming Seminar 2014, he emphasised that the Authority put forward to the Government new VAT recommendations due to the new VAT directive, a shift from place of supply to place of service. In the past year the Authority reduced the igaming licensing process by 50% and reduced the ticket closure by 48% for a smoother process. The Authority analysed the administrative processes and implemented various quick wins to enhance the Authority’s performance. Meanwhile there was a restructuring exercise throughout the year.
The main challenges that The Malta Lotteries and Gambling Authority is facing includes VAT directive, developing EU trends, player protection, regulatory challenges and updating laws in line to the current changes. To overcome these challenges the authority is working on three main areas: Policy, Organisational and Strategic lines while keeping the main focus on Social gaming, Certification of standards, Disaster recovery, One stop shop, Payment systems, Highly qualified persons schemes, customer experience and intermediaries which includes banking.
The policy agenda includes regulatory overhaul, regulatory entrepreneurship and player protection. The organisational agenda comprises of knowledge management, market repositioning and centre of excellence whereas the strategic agenda seeks to launch a Gaming Academy to train locals and ensure growth within this industry.
The next presentation during The Malta iGaming Seminar 2014 tackled Innovations in Payment Options. This tackled issues faced by industry with regards to payment Solutions and the manner in which industry is tackling them and proposed solutions. Malta as a jurisdictional solution was then discussed.
An interesting part of the discussion tackled the potential use of Bitcoin as a potential payment solution for gaming or otherwise. Advantages were presented. Issues discussed were the problems that Bitcoin Cld create for gaming.
Responsible Gaming was the next panel discussion.
