Under the MoU, the Gambling Commission and MGA will exchange information and intelligence to improve regulatory efforts. This will focus on better safeguarding consumers, preventing criminal activity and protecting vulnerable players from gambling-related harm, the two parties said.

Andrew Rhodes, CEO of the Gambling Commission, said tightening the regulators’ collaborative efforts would help strengthen their respective regulatory frameworks and address common challenges more efficiently. It also paves the way for further collaboration.

“We are keen to continue strengthening our efforts to raise standards across the industry,” Rhodes said. “This includes tackling common challenges such as illegal gambling.

“We will also explore future collaboration including initiatives like shadowing and addressing key issues in areas like AML and sports betting integrity.”

MGA CEO Charles Mizzi also welcomes the new partnership between the Gambling Commission and MGA. He said it builds on the existing relationship between the regulators and will allow for further joint developments.

“Our longstanding informal collaboration with the Commission has already delivered meaningful outcomes and the formalisation of this cooperation is definitely a step in the right direction,” Mizzi said.

“In line with our regulatory objectives, we are confident that such collaboration will allow us to address common challenges more effectively, allowing us to continuously improve on the effectiveness of our processes and framework.”

Commission working to improve monitoring efforts

The MoU comes after the Commission this week announced a new study of the UK black market. The first of its kind in the UK, the study aims to improve its monitoring of illegal online gambling.

According to the Commission, the research will help improve and scale its online monitoring of the black market. It will also provide a starting point for the Commission to understand the scale of the issue.

The first iteration of the study will be released in late spring 2025.