The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions is a treaty that was signed by 17 member states of the EU in September 2014. The treaty aims to detect, prevent and punish match fixing in sports, and to prevent conflicts of interest between sports betting operators and sports organisations. Malta did not sign the treaty.
Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera said now that this treaty can be harmful to Malta’s gaming industry, as it could disallow operators with a gaming licence from Malta to offer their services in other EU member states. He further stated in a meeting with EU Sport Commissioner Tibor Navracsics that Malta will take necessary steps to protect their national interest in the remote gaming industry.
The reason why Malta did not sign the treaty is because of the definition of “illegal sports betting” in the treaty. According to the text betting is illegal if the operator or betting type is not allowed under the consumer laws of the country in which they offer their services. This would mean that the operators with a Maltese licence would be illegal in the country where they offer their services, regardless of the country they are based in and what licence they have. Malta now asked the EU Court of Justice to assess as to whether the treaty is compatible with the treaties for freedom of services and establishments.
At the moment is appears that the EU will need approval from all member states in order for the treaty to become effective. Since the treaty is not beneficial for Malta, the country will keep their stance and continue to refuse signing it. The gaming industry is Malta’s second strongest contributor to the GDP, and the sector, which includes online casinos, sports betting and other remote games contributes 10% to the GDP. The popularity of Malta as a gaming jurisdiction is rising as well, and the Malta Gaming Authority had issued 25% more gaming licences in 2014 than they did in 2013. The licence from Malta is becoming more popular, not just because of the favourable taxation, but also because of the good reputation the country has with regards to player protection.
