Malta Gaming Authority launches new Suspicious betting reporting tool

Added: November 25, 2020

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has released a brand new addition to their Sports Integrity Unit: a tool that will allow their licensees to report activity that could signify suspicious betting. This newly released tool is called the Suspicious Betting Reporting Mechanism (SBRM), and is now available to all sports betting operators with MGA licenses after its initial launch on November 23.

The MGA’s aim is to allow for a silky transition over time, considering that the regulations surrounding this tool are not due to activate until the start of 2021. It is required for the operators to start using the Suspicious Betting Reporting Mechanism in 2021, seeing as it is now part of the regulator’s suspicious betting reporting requirements.

The Sports Integrity Unit was formed in August 2019, and focuses on assembling information about suspicious betting in the sports betting industry. This is backed by the MGA’s data-sharing partnerships with several high-brow national and international sporting groups, including the International Cricket Council among others.

Despite all the efforts to make SBRM a useful and helpful tool, critics have voiced some concerns. They are mainly worried that fresh disputes between operators and players could arise, especially if players felt that their winnings and bets were unfairly withheld due to an investigation. In a bid to fight against this issue, the MGA said it would start monitoring cases and start regularly publishing updates on their progress so operators could communicate clearly with their affected customers.