The Malta Gaming Authority has confirmed the cancellation of the authorization for Arabmillionaire Limited. The development comes after the company failed to address breaches uncovered by the regulator, despite being given time to rectify its operations.
The MGA initially provided Arabmillionaire a twenty-day time period to show cause as to why it should not see its license canceled back in August 2022. At the time, the company and its consultants informed the Authority that Arabmillionaire was undergoing “a major re-structuring exercise,” and requested the MGA to “freeze” the license for the operator to finalize and settle all outstanding issues.
Despite numerous breaches, which constituted grounds for cancellation of the authorization, the Authority opted instead to suspend Arabmillionaire’s license in October 2022, providing it with an opportunity to “rectify its standing” with the MGA.
When issued the suspension, Arabmillionaire was informed that the MGA would proceed to cancel the license should it fail to remedy its breaches, settle all its outstanding payments to both the Authority and to all its registered players, and provide full assurance that it was in a position to hold the permit granted and to operate under its terms.
However, the MGA now informs that, despite being granted “ample time” to address the breaches, Arabmillionaire has failed to both rectify its position and cooperate with the Authority, with all attempts to communicate with the licensee following November 2022 rendering futile and the failures continuing to persist to date.
The licensee owes the Authority €50,000 ($53,000) in annual license fees for the license periods commencing on 13 June 2022 and 13 June 2023, respectively. Owing to these failures, the MGA has notified Arabmillionaire that its authorization is being canceled and directed it to:
- Duly notify the players, if any, of the cancellation of the authorization via website/s and email.
- Indicate said registered players how to withdraw any funds held by Arabmillionaire on their behalf.
- Provide necessary guidance and assistance to the players related to the procedures that shall be applied by Arabmillionaire further to the remittal of outstanding balances.
The licensee has the right to file an appeal before the Administrative Review Tribunal within 20 days from the date of publication of the cancellation. “The Authority reserves the right to take any other measures pertinent to it at law in order to recover the outstanding dues to it from the Authorised Person should the latter fail to rectify accordingly, and should the latter fail to settle all outstanding claims from its registered players,” the MGA added.