Smart Operations’ B2C gaming licence has been withdrawn after the authority found the company had breached Malta’s gaming regulations.
Effective from April 30, the cancellation was imposed after the company breached regulation 9 (1); the Authority has highlighted three areas where it failed to meet regulatory standards.
According to the regulator, Smart Operations failed to comply with one or more obligations; it also failed to discharge financial commitments to the Authority and failed to pay all amounts due in a timely manner.
Regulation 10 allows the MGA to cancel any licences if a company breaches regulation 9; therefore, the Authority was free to proceed with its decision.
Now the company can not carry out any gaming operations, register new players or accept new customer deposits as it previously could under its MGA licence.
However, the firm is still required to retain and provide all registered players with access to their accounts; the Authority has additionally instructed Smart Operations’ to refund any necessary amounts back to its players.
Just last month, the Authority announced it could cancel the authorisation handed to Magic Services. The MGA gave Magic Services 20 days to defend itself as to why its licence should not be withdrawn.
Magic Services was accused of breaching regulation 3 of the Gaming Licence Fees Regulation and was handed the warning under Regulation 12 of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations.
In February, the MGA announced it had revoked seven licences in the first half of 2020.
