A gaming company based in Malta has filed for bankruptcy, leaving some 150 people jobless, The Malta Independent can confirm.

Employees were on Friday told that their employers Genesis Global Limited had filed for insolvency in Malta’s courts and that they were therefore being made redundant.

The company, which was established in 2014 and which is based in Malta besides having offices in Poland and Gibraltar, specialised in mobile-first global gaming, having had a 20 brand-strong casino portfolio.

Workers at Genesis received an email, seen by The Malta Independent, on Friday that the company had initiated proceedings in court in Malta for it to be declared insolvent, owing to the company “facing serious financial difficulties.”

As a result, the company said in the email that it may not be able to fulfil payments it is owed to its employees, including any outstanding salaries for the month of December or other sums which may have been due.

“We are currently trying our best to find a solution to this issue by trying to raise some funds, and in addition we hope to liaise with the authorities concerned in order to ease the burden and find alternative solutions in order for you to be paid at least some of the money due to you,” the email read.

Workers were told that they would be made redundant as from 23 January, with their last day of being employed with the company being the day prior. This, the company said, is in line with the Collectives Redundancies (Protection of Employment) Regulations.

The Malta Independent is informed that a number of the company’s employees have already opened a case with the Department For Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) over the redundancies, while others are planning to do the same as well.

One of those who was laid off by the company told The Malta Independent on condition of anonymity that the writing had been on the wall for the company for some time, but that Friday was the first time that they had been told that there was the possibility that it would not be able to fulfil its payments to them.

Genesis Global Limited employed some 200 people in Malta, but in the past weeks had already begun laying off some of its workforce as it became apparent that it was facing financial difficulties.

The company was slapped with a £3.8m fine at the start of the year by the UK Gambling Commission after enquiries revealed significant social responsibility and money laundering failures at the firm.

Genesis’ co-founder and CEO Ariel Reem announced on LinkedIn that he had stepped down from the company on 6 December, while other long-time employees also took to the popular social media platform to share that they were not working with the company anymore.

In a statement late Friday, the government said that it had commissioned Gaming Malta to find alternative employment for the affected workers. Some of them have already found a job, the government said.

The government is seeking to make contact with other workers to help them secure alternatibve employment.

The government said that there are 700 vacancies in igaming.