Last week when Stakers’ gambling license was suspended by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) the company didn’t seem to care too much. After all, they still had their Maltese gambling license and that opened doors to all kinds of lucrative markets. The problem now is that the Maltese Gaming Authority (MGA) has suspended their license, too.
Word of the Maltese suspension came late last week, possibly at the same time as Stakers was posting meme-like announcements mocking their UK suspension. The company posted links to a Change.org petition asking for the suspension to be lifted, as well as a strange wanted poster reading, “Humpty Dumpty and Pinocchio, sought by Mr Boo and Mr Kie. Those who have seen or knows anything please report to online chat.” But that was before the MGA acted.
While the UKGC doesn’t seem to earn much respect from Stakers, it does seem to hold tremendous influence with its Maltese counterparts. All they needed to hear to throw down a suspension of Stakers’ gambling license was the fact that the UKGC had done the same. Their right to the point statement on the matter read, “Stakers Limited is thus no longer authorised to carry out any gaming operations, register new players or accept new customer deposits, but is required to retain and provide all registered players with access to their player accounts, and to refund all funds standing to the credit of players in line with the applicable law.
This sanction is being imposed upon Stakers Limited in light of the suspension of their United Kingdom licence, thus the recognition thereof for its use in/from Malta is equally suspended.”
Stakers’ options for maintaining a role in the legitimate European online gambling market seem very limited at this point, though the Maltese decision is subject to appeal.