The Malta Gaming Authority has announced that daily fantasy sports is a skill-based offering and exempt from the requirement of a gambling license in the island nation.
The authority said in a press release that fantasy sports should be regulated and licensed differently than online gambling sites.
The authority said fantasy sports is a contest “whereby the winning outcome is determined predominantly through the skill or knowledge of the player, and where the results are determined by the accumulation of statistical results of the performance of a number of individuals in sporting events, but shall not include the forecast of the score, point spread or any other future occurrence of one or multiple events, and for the avoidance of doubt, the definition of a ‘bet’ ’ as defined in the Act shall not be applicable”.
The gaming regulator has been developing a licensing framework to regulate skill-based games, including fantasy sports, which will also set the rules for determining whether a game is a ”Skill Game” or a ”Controlled Skill Game”. The framework is expected to be passed by the end of this year.
