Copyright : Marian Vejcik / 123RF Stock Photo

The Malta Gaming Authority has issued a €2.34m penalty charge to Blackrock Media Limited for the operation of “a gaming service through a Maltese legal entity without being in possession of the necessary authorisation”.

Undertaken via a joint investigation by the regulator and the country’s Executive Police, it led to the discovery that the company was processing payments to and from players as part of a gaming service which was not duly authorised.

The MGA confirmed that the aforementioned financial penalty has been paid in terms of a settlement which has been reached with the Authority in terms of article 25 of the Gaming Act. 

Blackrock Media is a subsidiary brand of Netherlands based Blackrock Entertainment, which operates the Wild Sultan online casino brand under a Curaçao licence.

The MGA previously revealed that it had suspended 11 operator licences and refused a further thirteen licence applications during the period of January-June 2019.

In a bid to strengthen its regulatory oversight the MGA stated that its licence refusals had been sanctioned on the basis that individuals connected to the operators had been deemed unfit to operate an online gambling enterprise.