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Maltese gambling authorities throw down on DFS operator


Small countries like Malta that collect big money from gambling licenses are sometimes viewed as being less stringent in their enforcement of gaming law than their larger counterparts. The recent case of Maltese-license daily fantasy sports operator, the Daily Fantasy Football Company (DFFC) proves that the Maltese Gaming Authority (MGA) is every bit as tight as its counterparts anywhere in the world.

According to a report on iGamingBusiness.com, the MGA recently cancelled DFFC’s Maltese-issued gaming license after the company was found to be in violation of the country’s gambling laws. What, exactly, DFFC did hasn’t been revealed but our colleagues over at CalvinAyre.com did some conjecturing and, based on the report from the MGA made a pretty educated guess. Their conclusion is that DFFC may not have been paying its customers – which is just about the closest thing to a cardinal sin you’ll find in the gambling world.

The devil is in details and, in this case, the details are also clearly spelled out in the Maltese gaming regulations DFFC apparently violated. In particular, the MGA says, “The authorised person has failed to meet commitments to players in a timely manner, or the Authority has reason to believe that such failure is imminent following the €3,483.89 liabilities incurred by the Authorised Person towards player funds;

“The Authorised Person has failed to pay in a timely manner all amounts due to the Authority – specifically the Authorised Person failed to pay the relevant tax, compliance and true-up alignment contributions.”

While DFFC’s main sites, Playthesix.com and Thefantasyfootball.com have remained online, they are not allowed to accept new players or take deposits from existing players. For now, the sites’ sole purpose is to sort out whatever claims aggrieved players are making to them.

Bottom line here is don’t mess with the MGA.