MGA, Kumar Oynamaktan Kendini Hariç Tutma ve Sorumlu Kumar Araçlarındaki Eksiklikleri Ortaya Koyuyor

The Malta Gaming Authority is one of the most influential gambling regulators in the world, and is responsible for regulating 300 B2B and B2C gambling operators. The MGA iGaming license is recognized across most European countries, and it has a massive international presence, serving players all over the world. The authority released a Thematic Report on its licensed platforms on February 17, and found some worrying gaps in the player protection services.

Last year, the gambling authority underwent one of its largest legislative changes in recent years, completely reinventing its licensing structure. This year, Malta has its eyes set on tightening operator supervision, introducing new technological requirements, and overhauling its license system. The report, while mostly positive, did point out some loopholes in the Maltese approach to player protection, and will no doubt prompt action from one of the world’s most recognized iGaming authorities.

MGA’s Thematic Report Findings

Thematic Reports and analyses are nothing new to the Malta Gaming Authority. In addition to regulating the Malta iGaming landscape, they also continuously analyze it, and go public with any important findings or notices. This also helps boost the MGA’s reputation as a transparent and informative regulator. The Thematic Review on Self-Exclusion Practices brought up many intriguing points for discussion, exposing rare loopholes in the Maltese iGaming legislation. Carried out in 2025, the report examined the player protection tools across 20 licensees and 58 active gaming platform domains.

The point of the report was to test the efficiency of responsible gambling tools, as well as cross brand account controls and how well the tools were displayed to users. The assessment looked at 3 brands from each of the 20 licensees – so it included any skin sites or sister sites of main gambling domains. The main points of the review included:

• Self-exclusion activation speeds: How quickly the account was blocked after request
• Cayma süreleri: Whether the players were prevented from returning too soon
• Limit setting prompts: Whether players were encouraged to set deposit limits at sign up
• Cross brand blocking: If sites (under the same license) recognized self exclusion at sister/skin sites
• Reactivation safeguards: How and if checking players was done before reactivating excluded accounts
• Visibility of responsible gambling tools: How the RG tools were displayed, whether it was enough or not
• Identity matching systems: How efficient the KYC protocols were, and whether they would flag up multiple accounts with similar personal data or not

Shortcomings at MGA Licensed Brands

The official statement on the findings of the Thematic Report suggested the review was mostly positive, with a good level of compliance held across licensees that broadly matched the industry standards and expectations. However, the Review also highlighted areas in which player protection measures could be strengthened. While most MGA licensed platforms do have and present sorumlu kumar araçları to their users, there were some omissions in the service, which the MGA is looking into bolstering.

The delays in self exclusion, automated exclusion lifting without mandatory cooling off periods, and challenges in detecting potential duplicated accounts. The big issue here is that the Malta Gaming Authority licenses serve international online casinos. That is, online casinos that target audiences outside Malta, and they don’t actually use the nationwide self-exclusion registers in those countries. Malta doesn’t have one either. The UKGC has a self exclusion register, GamStop, as does Avustralya, Ontario, Hollanda ve İsveç, diğer ülkeler arasında.

But the Maltese self-exclusion registers are left to the operators to handle. So if you self-exclude from one site, then any other brands owned by the same parent company have to comply with the brand’s register. On top of that, they must apply cooling off periods to players who are returning from self exclusions, and encourage gamers to set deposit limits. If these are not controlled more tightly, then it leaves openings for problem gamers to just make another account and keep pumping money into their games.

While there are no rules against signing up at multiple online casinos, you are not allowed to make duplicate accounts – and if you have a known Kumar sorunu – there should be safeguards to ensure you don’t continue any risky gambling activities at another site. These are areas the Maltese gaming regulator has to tighten.

MGA Responses

Malta made a complete overhaul on its multi-license system back in 2025, to make compliance easier to track, and bolster the quality of the sites that run with an MGA license. They made a 2 license system, for B2C and B2B licenses. They also increased the license period from 5 years to 10, streamlined taxation into one system with two layers, and changed the regulation for introducing new games and advertising lotteries. A lot of jurisdictions that historically served offshore/international online casinos went through similar processes. Curacao also reformed its master license system to increase quality across the board and ensure no operators take advantage.

For players, Malta rolled out a free self-assessment service. The 9 question form is designed to recognize any problematic behaviors and rate these using the Problem Gambling Severity Index. It is fully confidential and gives players a point of reference to perform checks on themselves. MGA sites may also offer these, but they are independent studies that may not be as comprehensive as the official MGA-released self assessment tool.

Complaince Issues – Tech Shortcomings?

The areas that need improvement don’t seem to be deliberate attempts to keep players, or weaken the efficiency of self exclusion and cooling off periods. It is more likely a technological oversight, in that operators are not implementing the right tools to maintain robust responsible gambling tools. Cross brand syncing, more concrete duplicate detection and stricter audit reporting requirements are areas that can be done with a low error margin and at speed using AI tools or powerful compliance software.

For instance, in Spain, the DGOJ is testing an AI problem gambling detection system, which will use data inputs from player deposits and gameplay habits to pinpoint any problem gaming. The technology is definitely out there, and having an operator perform checks would feel far less intrusive than a nationwide campaign that covers all licensed iGaming platforms. Many European countries are also increasing pressure on cross border operations, emphasizing the need to pool data together to identify black market operators more easily. The MGA-licensed operators would not necessarily need to work together or enforce deposit limits on their users. Far from it, but if the compliance requirements factored in technologically stable solutions that can manage these small oversights better, it would result in a far more reliable and trustworthy system for all involved.

How MGA Licensed Platforms May Change in the Future

The MGA strives to keep to the highest standards of player protection and safety, without creating a system that is too restrictive or loses customers because of intrusive enforced actions. They do not have mandatory deposit limits, no affordability checks, and don’t cap maximum win limits or restrict any specific types of games/activities. But they do have high KYC ID verification requirements, AML policies and mandate that all licensees provide players with responsible gambling tools.

While the MGA are most likely not going to break this flexibility for players, as they are some of the most important aspects that make MGA sites more attractive than local alternatives (in countries where compliance requirements are enforced on players). But Malta will have to make changes, subtle if needed, to tweak its final product and retain its status as one of the world’s most established iGaming regulators.