A judge has declared bankrupt a gaming firm that laid off its 140 remaining employees just days before last Christmas.

Mr Justice Ian Spiteri Bailey upheld a request by Genesis Global Limited to wind down its operations in Malta due to bankruptcy.

He heard how the applicant company presented an extraordinary resolution by its board, taken on December 14, 2022, where it resolved that the company should be wound up by the court. The company’s liabilities had exceeded its assets, so the company was insolvent. The company board, therefore, decided to cease its operations due to its situation.

The judge declared the company as bankrupt and appointed a liquidator to oversee the company’s winding down.

Despite its December 14 decision, the company’s employees were only informed just a few days before Christmas that it had filed for insolvency and that they were being made redundant after it had decided to permanently close its operation in Malta.

Employees told they could not be promised their December salary

Employees received an e-mail informing them that the company had started proceedings in court for it to be declared insolvent after it faced “serious financial difficulties”. They were told they could not be promised their December salary and neither any other payments they were due. They were also told to take any pending vacation leave.

The news came just weeks after co-founder and CEO Ariel Reem announced on LinkedIn that he had left the business. According to the Malta Business Registry, more directors had resigned from the company in the preceding weeks, including the company secretary.

The news about the company’s uncertain future was first broken by iGamingnext.com.

Genesis Global Limited employed some 200 people in Malta, but had already started shedding workers in November, laying off between 30 and 40 people after it became evident that it was running into the ground.

iGaming Malta had immediately intervened to assist the workers who had been made redundant and sources said that since then all had found alternative employment. At the time there were around 700 vacancies in the iGaming sector.