The Malta Gaming Authority has cancelled the gaming licence of Genesis Global Limited and called on the company to settle all outstanding fees it was due.
Genesis Global had its Malta licence suspended in January last year, days after it announced, just before Christmas 2022, that it was going to be wound up and laid off all its staff.
The operator had been running 23 gaming websites using the licence.
Employees had 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.
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 all were provided with alternative employment. At the time, there were around 700 vacancies in the iGaming sector.
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.
Full cancellation means it is no longer to offer gambling under the permit.
In a decision posted on its website, the MGA called on Genesis to settle all outstanding fees that are due to the authority within seven working days as well as submit a transaction report extracted from their back-end system together with the supporting bank statements, attesting that all player funds have been duly remitted to the registered players.
It also ordered it to remove any reference to the MGA. It said it was collaborating with the appointed liquidator, assisting it where necessary in its endeavour to remit all player funds under the MGA licence.