MGA cancels watch retailer’s gaming licence

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has cancelled the gambling licence of Watch World Luxury, a Malta-based watch retailer.

World Watch Luxury may no longer carry out any gaming operations, register new players or accept new customer deposits.

The MGA said World Watch Luxury had failed to adhere to an MGA order, failed to “ensure the integrity and availability of essential regulatory data”. Furthermore, it failed to designate those who held “key function roles” within the business, with each failing amounting to a breach of MGA regulations.

World Watch Luxury held a Type 3 B2C gambling services licence, issued in 2018, giving it permission to offer peer-to-peer games on its sites WorldWatchLuxury.com and OneOnHundred.com. Neither site is currently active.

The retailer had previously offered draws for its watches on its social media pages.

World Watch Luxury may appeal the decision.

Last week, the MGA announced in its annual report that it had cancelled 14 licences in 2019, compared to 8 in 2018, and suspended 11. The report also found that the Maltese gaming industry contributed €1.56bn to the country’s economy while the number of gaming companies in operation increased by 3.9% to 294 but remained below 2017 levels.