Malta regulator suspends Arabillionaire's license due to unpaid fees and compliance issues

The Malta Gaming Authority announced on Thursday that it has decided to suspend the authorization awarded to Arabmillionaire Limited, which now trades under the Playfooz.com brand, for breaching a wide range of the Authority's regulations.

As of October 12, the UAE-based online lottery's B2C - Gaming Service Licence is suspended. Therefore the business is no longer authorized to carry out any gaming operations, register new players, or accept new customer deposits. 

The company is however required to retain and provide access to all registered players to their player accounts and to refund all funds standing to the credit of players in line with the applicable law.

According to the Authority, the operator breached five provisions emanating from reg. 9 of its regulations, including failing to complete its regulatory obligations, failing to discharge financial commitments for its operations, breaching the regulator’s rules on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, as well as failing to pay "in a timely manner all amount due to the Authority."

The MGA stated that this decision may be subject to an appeal. The company may exercise its right to show cause why the MGA should not proceed with the imposition of the enforcement measure within 20 days starting October 12. 

In its 2021 report, the Authority said it is now seeking to take a different approach to regulation, issuing fewer licence cancellations and suspensions, and making better use of administrative penalties and warnings to discipline licence holders. The MGA cancelled seven licences and did not suspend a single licence in the 2021 period, compared to the 14 cancelled and 11 suspended in 2019.