MGA Clarifies Its Stance on Gaming Devices and Amusement Machines

One of the best tricks an online gambling authority learn is how to create a set of laws and rulings which both effectively regulate their jurisdiction but also have enough room left for amendments and additions which don’t cause them to then contradict the rest of the laws.

From time to time it is necessary to apply more specific guidelines to address grey areas which unscrupulous operations attempt to use to skirt the intent of the law, even if they are abiding by its letter.

 What Constitutes an Amusement Machine?

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) recently published a paper named “Guidance Note on Gaming Devices and Amusement Machines” which clarifies what types of games, machines and devices qualify as gambling under the Gaming Act (CAP. 583 of the Laws of Malta).

The paper clarifies the meaning of the following four terms which appear in Gaming Definitions Regulations (S.L 583.04 of the Laws of Malta):

• Gaming Device: Any device albeit “electrical, electronic, or mechanical device, any gaming table, ticket or any other thing” used to facilitate a wager is considered a gaming device regardless of its original intended use. An example is given of buttons being used as tokens rather than casino chips, these are then considered ‘gaming devices’ as they facilitate gambling.
• Gaming Service: Any individual or group of people allowing players to access a venue for the purpose of using a gaming device to gamble is operating a gaming service.
• Gaming Premises: Any premises where gambling services are offered, irrespective of whether or not there are players actively gambling when the venue is viewed or not will still be deemed for legal purposes a ‘gaming premises’.
• Amusement Machine: The primary directive for a machine to meet this requirement is that it “may be played via an electronic display, made available for use by players in a gaming premises by an operator on a consistent basis” albeit operated via money or token. Any physical “machines” such as a pool table, or where there is a combination of stake and prize, where the outcome is solely based on chance does not qualify as an amusement machine but a gaming device.

These definitions are clearly aimed at bringing to a close to the activities of gambling operations which have been trying to use non-standard items for gambling purposes and arguing that since no-one was present when a gambling hall was discovered there is no legal recourse under the existing regulations.

 And Now It Is Law

These clarified definitions and guides have been shown to specifically support regulation 19 of the Gaming Act which reads:

“No person shall service, place on the market, distribute, supply, sell, lease, transfer, host, operate or in any other manner make available for use any gaming device or gaming system in the territory of Malta, unless such gaming device or system, as the case may be, has been approved or exempted from approval by the Authority.”

It also supports reg. 31 which further clarifies that no unauthorised Amusement Machines are allowed to be placed in recognised Gaming Premises without the approval and oversight of the MGA. This is to avoid a scenario where an amusement machine is used as an object of a wager, at which time it ceases to be an Amusement Machine and becomes a Gaming Device.

These enhanced legal definitions will stand legitimate suppliers of pure entertainment in good stead while stopping those looking to abuse the law from obfuscating their actions behind vague legalese.