Guest: Heathcliff Farrugia, International Relations, SiGMA
Host: Jack Crabtree
Heathcliff Farrugia of SiGMA, formerly of the Malta Gaming Authority, joins episode 11 of the Gamecheck Insider podcast to explain who is actually checking the sites nobody licensed.
Heathcliff spent seven years at the MGA before moving into consultancy and then to SiGMA, where he leads the international relations team. His job now is bringing governments, regulators and trade associations into the room with the industry across eight summits on five continents.
Episode 11 covers how SiGMA gets dozens of regulators onto the same stage, why prohibition of a digital product cannot work, the enforcement gap around unlicensed operators, whether harmonisation is realistic, crypto casinos moving towards regulation, and why falling channelisation should worry everyone.
SiGMA runs eight summits across five continents, and Heathcliff's team reaches out to regulators, governments and trade associations in each region to get them on stage rather than in the audience. Rome in November is the one summit where everyone comes together, with more than 60 regulators confirmed from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.
The approach that worked best was partnering with GRAF, the Gaming Regulators Africa Forum, and hosting its annual meeting inside the Cape Town summit. Every regulator was already there, so the conference content became genuinely regulatory and the industry got access at the same time. The same model now runs with IBIA, IMGL, IAGA, GREF and regional bodies in Latin America.
Heathcliff cannot see how a country bans something digital by nature. Gambling has existed for hundreds of years, with records in Malta going back to the Knights betting on fights between themselves, so a ban does not stop the activity. It hides it. Unregulated growth goes unchecked, and everyone knows where that leads. The majority of countries now accept that regulation is the way forward.
This is the sore point. Regulators focus on their own licensees, making sure RTP and RNG are certified and player protection mechanisms are in place, and in many countries they do that job properly.
The problem is everyone else. Who checks operators without a licence, or the ones structured so they cannot easily be traced? Who confirms their games run the RNG and RTP they claim? A handful of regulators have remit over unlicensed activity. Most do not, so a player reporting an illegal site is directed to the police, who have other priorities. That void is widening. Some European countries that started with channelisation above 80 per cent now admit their illegal market is larger than their regulated one.
Heathcliff still backs harmonisation, pointing to passporting rights in financial services, while accepting there is little appetite for it and no realistic route on tax. Tax will stay on consumption, paid where the player lives, and he thinks that is fair given where the harm lands. Harmonisation is more likely to arrive sideways, through instruments like AML rules and GDPR.
On crypto, regulation is arriving bit by bit. Serious operators want to be inside the framework, and regulators are increasingly comfortable with crypto in gaming provided it is properly regulated.
Asked which regulation he would remove, he would not remove any. He would make regulation something operators want to be part of, without the burdens and the over taxation that currently make it easier not to bother. If a market is only channelling 40 per cent of its activity properly, 60 per cent is going unchecked, on sites that may be running fake games, fake RNG and fake RTP with no player protection at all.
00:00 Introduction
00:10 Heathcliff Farrugia's background
01:33 Bridging regulators and the gaming industry
02:45 Bringing regulators together through SiGMA
03:47 What happens when regulators meet?
04:19 Working with gaming regulators across Africa
06:58 Shared regulatory priorities and policy differences
08:12 Regulation and prohibition in online gambling
10:15 The history of gambling
11:12 Oversight, game integrity and unlicensed activity
12:02 Who oversees activity outside licensed markets?
14:31 The challenges surrounding unregulated activity
15:11 Why gambling regulation remains fragmented
17:34 Could greater regulatory harmonisation work?
18:41 AML, GDPR and wider regulatory standards
19:24 Player protection, taxation and point-of-consumption
21:56 Crypto casinos and the future of regulation
24:06 What could improve gambling regulation?
24:15 Building effective and sustainable regulated markets
26:39 Closing thoughts.
Who is checking unlicensed casino sites?
In most countries, nobody with a clear remit. Regulators supervise their own licensees, and only a few have powers over unlicensed activity. Reports usually go to the police, who have other priorities.
Why does prohibition not work for online gambling?
Online gambling is digital and cross border, so banning it removes oversight rather than the activity. Players still find sites, and those sites sit outside any framework.
What is channelisation and why does it matter?
Channelisation is the share of a market's activity going through licensed operators. Where it falls to 40 per cent, 60 per cent of the money is flowing through sites running fake games with no player protection.
Is harmonisation of gambling regulation likely?
Not soon. There is limited appetite, and tax will continue to be paid on consumption in the player's own country. Some harmonisation is happening indirectly through AML rules and GDPR.
How do I check whether an online casino is running real games?
The Gamecheck app, Search Tool and Chrome Extension are all free to download and use, and players should also look out for the Gamecheck SEAL, a domain-linked trust badge displayed on an online casino's site. Visit Gamecheck.com and use the Gamecheck Search Tool to check any online casino before you play.
