While the Italian authorities continue to investigate the relations between online betting companies and organized crime, doubts have been raised as to how the Maltese laws are enough, wrote Giovanni Angioni on a recent post of Pokeronline.

Considered as an ideal location to set up an online gaming business, because of its advantageous fiscal regime, and an advanced legislative framework, Malta has seen an exponential growth these past years of online gaming businesses setting up on the island.

According to the report 2014: the Year of Transformation, published by the Malta Gaming Authority on 23 June, the island is now home to 283 companies which are authorized to offer online gaming, an 8% increase over 2010 when the number of licenced companies was 262.

Online gaming licences rose from 358 in 2010 to 419 in 2014. The industry has contributed strongly to Malta's revenue. Revenue from taxes amounted to  €25.8 million last year, a 21.7% increase over the €21.2 million received in 2012.

While part of the industry believes this substantial increase can grow further in the coming years, others are asking MGA to reflect on whether the Maltese industry can grow further, risking not having the necessary resources to carry out the necessary controls.

According to the lawyer and founder of the Gaming Legal Group, the international expert on gaming Bas Jongmans, the Maltese system may have reached the utmost growth it can have given that the Italian police operation, which led to the arrest of 41 persons and the shutting of some gambling companies show that the checks were not as rigorous as the law requires.

To open an online gaming business in Malta, Jongmans told PokerNews, one must fill in many papers and furnish a lot of information, including possible political connections and sources of profits. But many of the companies that manage these data do not carry out checks after a licence is awarded, many times because they do not have the necessary means. Put simply, they have too many clients."

According to Jongmans, the limitations of the Maltese system have been exposed by the Italian Antimafia and they now risk to undo all the work done by the Maltese authorities to attract foreign investors to Malta.

"Malta's image is at risk," Jongmans said. "Malta must act and correct what is not working well and this can reflect on the Maltese economy as a whole especially if the way in which online gaming companies operate will be changed.

"People think that Malta has rigid laws on gambling, seeing that one has to pass through numerous procedures but the truth is that checks are not as rigorous as they seem. Online gaming in Malta has grown so much that it is impossible for a few companies to ask the questions that must be made and above all to check the replies. The legal professionals and the fiduciary companies who accept hundreds of clients do not have the means to do so, nor would it be convenient for them."

Even if some Maltese companies may not be in agreement with Jongmans, the problem of the impossibility of accurately checking the clients by the companies which provide legal or fiduciary services is real. This is what led the Italian authorities to include the Maltese company GVM Holdings and the son of the former prime minister, David Gonzi, in the investigation on the relations between Mafia and gambling.

Gonzi, as shareholder and director of GVM Holdings, is responsible for the company that provided fiduciary services to Uniq Group Limited, which is accused of collusion with the 'Ndrangheta.

"The role of David Gonzi, son of the former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, must be strongly condemned, given that his involvement surfaces more than once, even though further investigations must be carried out," said the report by the investigators.

"David Gonzi is at the top of the pyramid of multinational companies operating in Malta and having a Maltese licence that acted as covers for the criminal activity regarding which he is being investigated. Given that more investigations must be carried out, it is plausible to put him at the centre of a triangular network of international criminal business."

Notwithstanding the charges, Gonzi firmly denied any involvement in any illegal activity conducted by his clients. He said: "One should expect that a statement that I am at the centre of a network is supported by some proof which evidently does not exist. In all honesty, the report says in conclusion that further investigations are necessary and that the report depends on what these further investigations will provide."

According to Gonzi, GVM Holdings carried out all the checks ordered by the law on its clients and Uniq Group was perfectly in line with requirements when it applied for a licence in Malta. But despite offering fiduciary services to the Uniq Group, Gonzi said that neither himself nor GVM can be held responsible for any crime committed by Uniq after it obtained the licence.

But to complicate further Gonzi's position is his relations with BetSolutions4U Limited, one of the companies which was investigated and whose licence was suspended by MGA on 22 July.

Asked about this, Gonzi admitted having offered legal services to BetSolutions4U Ltd between 2014 and 2015 but added that GVM "has cut off its contracts with the mentioned companies" including BetSoolutions4U Ltd.