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MGA Gaming Premises Directive Amendment Point To Healthy Expansion Plans
By Shane Addinall Apr 29, 2020 OpinionThe MGA updated its current Gaming Premises Directive in what appears to be a bid to provide the ailing gambling industry with a safe and considered way to generate gambling revenues that do not endanger public health.As many industries look to the health and safety of customers and employees in the weeks and months that lie ahead it could see drastic changes in how we interact and conduct business.
In particular, those businesses which rely on mass gatherings of people in confined spaces could find themselves needing to evolve or risk not recovering. With this in mind, the recent amendments by the Malta Gaming Authority to the Gaming Premises Directive (Directive 2 of 2019) could be driven by a need to safeguard the future of the brick and mortar casino industry.
Directive Amendments
The newly issued amendments deal with several key aspects of real-world gambling and appear to create a safer and more controlled environment which will allow business to not only resume in the near future but potentially expand.
✓Casino Cruise Permits
The MGA first approved licenses for casino cruises in its territorial waters in 2015. The amendments to the Gaming Premises Directive now allow for a casino cruise to apply for and receive such a licence within 30 days of calling at the port and may even be exempt from paying the application fee so long as it berths in Malta and Gozo for a total of 2 consecutive days.
The casino cruise operation is still however required to the MGA’s strict gambling legislation which includes the cruise being a temporary gambling stop and limits the operation of casino games to the hours of 6pm to 6am.
✓Junket Gaming Permits
The amendments outline an updated procedure by which a casino may procure a junket licence. A Junket is a travel-based event where players are brought to a specific location for a predetermined time period with the specific intent on gambling.
The outlined amendments allow for this as long as the casino can prove all players have agreed to a minimum spend of €7500 for the junket and can prove that the non-casino floor space (but which is adjacent to the current casino floor) in which the junket will be hosted meets all casino floor safety and control requirements.
✓Additional Gaming Premises
The amendment further outlines in detail requirements for getting approval for a non-adjacent gaming space, should there be no casino adjacent floor space available.
These include:
- Measures to identify all Players and Employees
- Who has access to which areas of the requested gaming space
- A process for dealing with unattended money & casino chips
- The issuance of Win Certificates
- Monitoring and surveillance of the new gaming space
- Which devices are allowed and which are restricted from the gaming space
Further installments of the amendment dealing with the procedures for opening and closing gambling tables, handling counting in these additional gaming premises (for both casino and bingo game) and how to acquire the required licences for all of the above.
Looking To The Future
By making provision for increased specialised limited participant junket events and casino cruise gambling the MGA could very well have hit on a health-conscious and very manageable way to allow the local gambling sector to begin its financial recovery without the dangers of mass gatherings at land-based casinos.
It will be interesting to see how many of these junkets and cruises are approved in the months ahead and if they provide a stable financial base for licensed operators.
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