Malta Gaming Authority suspends Tipster’s license after company suffers same faith in Germany

The Malta Gaming Authority has suspended sports betting company Tipster's license, effective as of June 27, for violations of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations.

The decision follows a similar one taken by the German regulator last month, which revoked the company's license. Authorities raided Tipster’s office in April this year, after the State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia had reportedly been working on an undercover investigation for over two years. 

The MGA further stated that Tipster will no longer be authorized to carry out any gaming operations. However, the company is still required to provide access to all registered players to their accounts and to refund all funds standing to the credit of players in line with the applicable law.

Tipster's offices were raided in April

Earlier in April the local newspaper Bild reported that the German authorities carried out a massive raid against Tipster. As per the report, over 1000 officers from the North Rhine-Westphalia riot police and criminal investigation department searched over 100 locations simultaneously in several German cities, and also in Malta and Croatia. The investigation was reportedly related to suspicions of illegal gambling, the formation of a criminal organization, and withholding wages. 

Six suspects were arrested at the time, which were men aged between 34 and 60 and that reportedly were part of the company’s management team. They were arrested in the German cities of Cologne and Brühl.

The investigation also included police officers, prosecutors from the Central Office for Organised Crime, customs officials, and financial investigators from North Rhine-Westphalia. During the raid, the officials also got hold of the company’s servers. 

Tipster's MGA license was not operational since January

Tipster held two licenses: one from the MGA and the other from Germany’s Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL). Tipster had been non-operational since January 2023 in Malta and was only operating under its German license. 

Since Tipster had not registered any activity under its MGA license for the past four months, the MGA had been closely monitoring it and discussions were in place for the company to surrender its MGA license. The latest announcement by the Authority seems to put an end to the company's license in the jurisdiction.