MGA Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution brief

The Malta Gaming Authority (‘MGA’) has published Directive 5 of 2018 (hereafter ‘the Directive’) which builds upon the Player Protection Framework established with the new regulations in August 2018 to enhance players’ rights to have available redress mechanisms against operators.

Effective from the 3rd of December 2018, the Directive allows operators a transitory period within which to comply with its requirements which essentially amount to offering players a redress mechanism which will be available free of charge.

As such players are to be made aware of the choices available to them in situations where they wish to resolve a dispute with the operator through a written procedure which needs to be included within the operator’s general terms and conditions.

Such written procedure must, inter alia, include a time frame within which the B2C operator must settle a dispute (in line with the applicable provisions of the Gaming Player Protection Regulations, 2018) and contain information about the potential consequences of the outcome of the ADR, highlighting the manner in which this will affect the players' rights to further legal and judicial recourse.

When choosing to collaborate with entities that provides ADR services, operators must ensure that any such entities are (i) established in the European Union (‘EU’) or in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’); (ii) competent to deal with disputes that specifically pertain to a gaming and/or gambling nature; (iii) endorsed by a relevant authority in accordance with Article 20(2) of Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of Council on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (‘ADR Directive’); and (iv) capable of providing ADR services in which an outcome is binding upon the trader and the consumer in the EU or EEA state where the licensee is established.

The MGA must be kept informed of details relating to the agreements operators have with ADR entities as well as the outcome of disputes decided upon by ADR entities.