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http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=62458
Gaming Authority defends seriousness of its operations
by NOEL GRIMA
Malta has been here before.
When Erika broke up in the stormy seas off the Brittany coast, the French papers were full of “Malta is a flag of convenience country” and, on the eve of crucial EU accession negotiations Malta had a hard time arguing it was serious in the way its ship registration procedures were handled and to bring them up to EU levels.
Then, when Malta started on its first steps in financial services, French and other news stories tried very hard to portray Malta as a rogue country where offshore funds could hide anything, from money laundering to drugs money.
But Malta, and the MFSA, right from the very beginning worked hard to prove to the world that Maltese legislation was top-notch and that law enforcement was tight and secure.
Now, the latest target is online betting, a sector that was non-existent six years ago and has since grown to today’s four per cent of GDP, earning Lm14 million a year (tourism brings in Lm16 million) and employing around 1,000 people.
Last week, this paper highlighted a report which appeared on the French website Sportvox.fr.
Down at the Malta Gaming Authority they still think the article was not negative at all about Malta. But what about the following excerpt: “Depuis 2000, l’estimation des gains engrangés par les jeux en ligne sur Internet est estimé à plusieurs dizaines de millards de dollars. Problème, ces sites internet ne sont pas forcément légaux et sont soupçonnées d’appartenir à des mafieux. Par exemple, en France, de nombreux sites sont en désaccord avec la législation française et c’est pour cela qu’ils s’installent dans des pays qui autorisent ces activités comme Malte. L’Etat français ne peut pas agir. Surtout que l’Union Européenne est pour une libre activité des services et maintenant, la France s’est engagé depuis le 6 novembre dernier à ouvrir son système de paris sportifs en ligne à la concurrence, mettant fin à l’hégémonie de “la Française des Jeux” dans ce domaine. Cependant, les doutes persistent quant à la légitimité de ces sites, toujours soupçonnés d’appartenir à des personnes dont les activités ne sont pas très nettes”.
(After 2000, the profits made by online gaming are estimated to be many dozens of billions of dollars. But these Internet sites are not at all legal and they are suspected of belonging to the Mafia. For instance, in France, many sites are not in line with French legislation and it is for this reason they relocate to countries that authorize such activities, such as Malta. The French State cannot act. Since the European Union is for the free movement of services, France has, as from 6 November, committed itself to opening its online betting systems to competition, bringing to an end the monopoly of la Française des Jeux. Still, doubts persist as to the legitimacy of such sites, which are still suspected of belonging to persons whose activities are not too clear.)
The heading given to the article may have been somewhat overdramatic but neither the original story, nor the article carried in The Malta Independent on Sunday, limited themselves to state that Mafia money is becoming interested in football (or in sports in general). Why was only Malta singled out for mention?
Nor was the mention in the Sportvox.fr article and in The Malta Independent on Sunday of betting sites such as Bwin, BET365 and MrBookmaker any hint that such sites are involved with the Mafia. Bwin is not registered in Malta but in Austria, and MrBookmaker does not even exist, according to MGA. In any case, it is clear that any such mention of these betting sites refers to the fact they have greatly increased in business, not that they are close to the Mafia.
Mario Galea, MGA’s CEO said that its handling of online betting companies registered in Malta is thorough and clean. Malta is the only country in the EU to have included online gaming as part of the areas regulated by the EU directive against money laundering and terrorism, which came into effect yesterday week.
Malta begins its strict monitoring of online companies that want to relocate to Malta right from the registration period. It asks for personal details of the ultimate beneficiaries of the business and verifies the information given to it. A temporary licence is then granted and for six months all machines have to be in place and kept sealed.
At the end of each month, each operator has to provide information about each player and MGA monitors on a 24x7 basis all the gaming that is going on.
Bookmakers have to operate on a Know Your Client basis and, when wins are registered (of Lm1,000 against the Lm2,000 level as enforced by the EU), the client must provide credit card numbers, passport and also a copy of a utility bill.
MGA has always had people who doubted its credibility: a delegation from the French Parliament was here recently and allowed to see all the MGA operations, as was a programme on TFI.
“We do not say,” Mr Galea told me, “that the Mafia are not increasingly interested in online gaming, but we try very hard to make it non-feasible for the Mafia to use online gaming for its money-laundering purposes. Everything in the Malta-based online companies is fully traceable, and that is exactly what the Mafia does not want.” |
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发表于 2007-12-25 10:13
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