Malta Gaming Authority cancels Tipster’s license as business is being wound up

The Malta Gaming Authority announced on Tuesday that it has canceled the authorizations awarded to Tipster Limited, effective as of September 5, since the business is being wound up. The regulator said this move was the most "appropriate" measure.

Tipster must now notify all players of the cancellation and settle outstanding fees with the regulator. The sports betting operator is also ordered to remove any reference to MGA licensing from its websites.

The MGA stated that Tipster has the option to appeal against the decision in line with Article 43 of the Malta Gaming Act. 

In July, the Maltese regulator suspended Tipster for violations of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations. The decision followed a similar one taken by the German gambling regulator in June, which revoked the company's license. In Germany, authorities raided Tipster’s office earlier 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 investigation was into alleged criminal activities. These include offering illegal gambling and forming a criminal organization, with a total of six people being arrested during the raids.

It should be noted that Tipster has been non-operational since January 2023 in Malta. 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.

Tipster becomes the latest operator to have its license canceled or suspended in Malta in recent months. Last month, the regulator canceled EGMIT Elite Limited’s B2C gaming service license, which operated the Elite24bet site, based on specific breaches of the Gaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations.