The Malta Gaming Authority recently welcomed a delegation from the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection of Latvia at its premises at SmartCity.

The Latvian delegation was provided with an overview of the MGA’s organisational structure, the role and responsibilities of the various functions, and how they work together to contribute to the Authority’s overall strategy.

Heading the Latvian delegation, Jānis Ungurs, Director of Legal, described the visit as being a “very useful exchange of experiences”.

He went on to hail the MGA team as being very professional, and lauded the Authority’s openness to cooperation and training.

“The workshop exposed us to many initiatives that can be undertaken in Latvia,” he said.

The Latvian delegation was given an appreciation of the importance of data and analytics in decision-making and in policy-making, and of how the Authority collated data from its licensees and made use of it.

The MGA underscored the importance of monitoring the sector’s performance and how regulators should remain abreast of any developments and trends within the gaming industry.

The workshop went on to explore the MGA’s licensing process, criminal probity screening, the different types of approvals and the regulatory supervision function.

The Authority’s Finance Department provided a snapshot of the processes related to the collection of compliance contribution, as well as the revenue assurance function.

The Authority’s Anti-Money Laundering Unit, meanwhile, expounded upon the AML/CFT obligations at law, the examination process and post-examinations procedures.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, high energy costs and huge uncertainty regarding Germany’s economic development – in spite of the numerous problems, game companies in Germany are feeling confident about the year ahead. This is the conclusion of the game association’s industry barometer based on a survey of its members and published on the occasion of the general meeting of game – the German Games Industry Association. According to the barometer, around half of all game companies (48 per cent) are expecting the German game industry to develop positively or even very positively over the next twelve months, while just 16 per cent are assuming that the opposite will be the case. The companies have an even more positive view of their own prospects, with just under two thirds of the companies surveyed (64 per cent) saying they are expecting their own development to be positive or very positive in the year to come. A mere 9 per cent are anticipating a negative development. This optimism is also reflected in workforce developments – more than half of all game companies (52 per cent) say they expect their employee headcount to develop positively in the year to come. Only approximately 6 per cent are anticipating a negative development. A look at positions that currently remain unfilled suggests that finding skilled workers is not easy, with just under one in two game companies (49 per cent) saying they currently have vacancies. The number of vacancies illustrates how high demand is for skilled workers in the German game industry – 10 to 20 per cent of vacancies remain unfilled at almost one in four game companies (23 per cent), with a further 7 per cent of companies even having over 20 per cent unfilled vacancies.

‘The various economic challenges are leaving their mark on the game industry too. The generally uncertain economic environment or the rising costs are weighing heavily on game companies’ plans. game association’s industry barometer nevertheless indicates a general sense of optimism looking ahead to 2023 and clearly shows that the German game industry has really thrown itself into the race to catch up with other game locations around the world,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – the German Games Industry Association. ‘Overall, we can therefore expect further growth in the global game market in the years to come. The parameters for game development in Germany, which have finally been improving for a few years, will be decisive here. The German government’s promotion of games remains an important foundation, and the temporary stoppage of this fortunately did not bring this positive development to an end after all. To enable the industry to remain competitive globally, the funding provided must be based on the actual needs and be increased to 100 million euros. At the same time, further steps need to be taken, as already outlined in the federal government’s strategy for the game industry.’

Online gambling affiliate business Acroud has announced that Roderick Attard has resigned from his position as Chief Financial Officer, in order to pursue another career opportunity.

“On behalf of everyone at Acroud, I thank Roderick for his work during his tenure as CFO. He leaves behind a strong finance team that is well-positioned to continue supporting the Company moving forward. Roderick will stay on until early March 2023 to ensure a smooth transition. We wish Roderick success in his future endeavors,” Robert Andersson, CEO of Acroud, said.

Acroud said it expects to announce the appointment of a new CFO in the near future.