One of the salient changes which shall be brought about by the new Gaming Act, as of 1st July 2018, is that licensees are required to identify the persons responsible for the key functions as defined at law. Such persons are, in turn, required to undergo the MGA’s scrutiny in order for the Authority to assess their fitness and propriety. The persons who fulfil the necessary criteria shall then be issued with a key function certificate for the relevant function or functions.
The implementation of such change shall be as follows:
1) Compliance-based roles are incompatible with roles centred around the growth of the business. In particular, the Chief Executive role, responsibility for the licensee’s finances (except responsibility for the payment of tax and fees due in terms of law) and responsibility for marketing and advertising are incompatible with the following roles:
(i) Compliance with the licensee’s obligations emanating from the MGA licence/s;
(ii) Player support;
(iii) Responsible gaming.
For the avoidance of doubt, the above is meant as prima facie guidance and is without prejudice to requirements stemming from other applicable legislation regarding certain functions, including but not limited to requirements relating to the Money Laundering Reporting Officer and the Data Protection Officer. The operational structure of each licensee is different, and therefore it is the responsibility of each licensee to ensure that conflicting functions are not exercised by the same person.
Notwithstanding the above, in light of the fact that this segregation of roles is necessarily burdensome from a resources perspective, start-up undertakings as defined in the Gaming Licence Fees Regulations, and recognised as such by the Authority in line with the Start-Up Undertakings Directive, may be allowed to have a single person conduct roles which may prima facie appear conflicting, during the first year of operation, if the Authority is satisfied that the integrity of the licensed operation will not be negatively affected.
Furthermore, such undertaking shall not be required to have a person responsible for the key function of internal audit, during such first year of operation. This is without prejudice to requirements stemming from other applicable laws.
Source: Press Releases Published on European Gaming Media Network…
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