Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1171482
26.09.19 11 INTERVIEW losing gaming edge a contract comes up for renewal. is situation has happened to me personally, with a landlord having asked me for a 53% in- crease to renew my contract for the same property. And, unfor- tunately, the new law does not address this. e law proposes to introduce year-on-year caps for increases in a multi-year ten- ancy, but this is decided at the beginning of a contract, and ap- plies to increases from one year to the next within the same con- tract period. It does not regulate the increase requested to renew a contract. Tenants are at the weaker part of the negotiation process when it comes to renewing contracts, because not renewing means having to move, which can be a significant upheaval. For the landlord, however, it is essentially only a financial exer- cise. Most other EU countries have in place stronger protec- tion for the tenant than there currently is in Malta and more than is being proposed by the Bill. is is the biggest thing which I think can be improved in the law which is being dis- cussed. Is the government being receptive to iGen's concerns? e government is listening to the input from everyone during the consultation, and of course every stakeholder has their own angle. I am sure the government is taking into consideration all the points being made. Ulti- mately, it is the committee re- sponsible for finalising the law which will make the decisions on what amendments will be included. e government is definitely listening and has been very open and pro-actively en- gaging with iGen. Of course, we will know when the Bill is final- ised what the outcome is. Are you confident the situation will be addressed? I am an optimist, so I am con- fident it will be addressed. […] Otherwise the industry would lose its competitiveness… Malta risks losing its competitiveness. is is an economic argument, the prices can't continue to rise at this rate, outpacing the rise in salaries within the gaming in- dustry Do you know of companies which are considering leaving Malta because of the rent issue? To date, I do not know of any company which is planning to leave because of the rent situ- ation. However, a number of companies have already decid- ed to grow less or stop growing in Malta, and to instead expand their other offices elsewhere, be- cause of the general high cost of living. A number of executives, CEOs and so on have decided to leave and join their companies' offices in other countries. So, I can defi- nitely see the early signs of this inflection point being reached. I don't think the companies will leave Malta altogether, but there are certain departments which companies might feel it makes sense to host in a lower-cost ju- risdiction. Do you encounter problems in finding people with the right skills for gaming jobs? Yes, it is an issue. is is the reason why the gaming industry needs so many foreign employ- ees. From a company perspec- tive, it would be much easier to hire locals who are already es- tablished and usually don't have to find property to rent, and so on. ings are starting to move in this area however. MCAST has launched a one-year gaming course, and over 50 people will be graduating this year. is is a start, and we have to start some- where. Another issue which foreign companies, not only gaming ones, often complain about is the reluctance of local banks to open accounts. Have there been any improvements in the attitude of the banks in recent months? e short answer is: yes, I've seen improvements. But this improvement is not coming from the local banks – these are by and large continuing on the same path, and, if anything, they are increasingly de-risking the portfolio of companies and sectors which they service. ere is a demand in Malta for corporate banking servic- es, and, in my experience, it is practically impossible to open a bank account in Malta as a start-up company in areas such as cryptocurrency, despite the extensive due diligence process. is, of course, prevents com- panies from starting to trade. I find this to be a paradox, be- cause while the government is pushing Malta to become, for instance, the blockchain island and to attract companies in this area with its legal framework and entrepreneurial spirit, the reality is that once these firms come to the island, they cannot open a bank account. In the past 12 months, how- ever, there have been a num- ber of FinTech start-ups which have come to Malta and start- ed to offer banking services to these companies. e most well-known example of this is Revolut, which has solved the problem of opening individ- ual bank accounts for foreign employees who were finding it hard to open an account with a local bank, having to wait for three months or more. But Revolut has not solved the problem of issuing corpo- rate bank accounts, because al- though Revolut offers business accounts, it does not accept gaming companies. Fortunately, there are other foreign companies which are willing to take on companies such as Maverick Gaming. Moreover, there will soon be Maltese start-up companies which are going to offer such services. I know of at least four or five companies which will start op- erating these kinds of services in the next six months. What about issues related to other services, such as the availability of places in schools and the road infrastructure. Is Malta really geared to cater for the needs of the gaming industry in this sense? School places' availability is a huge problem. Just a few months ago I was assisting the CEO of a big gaming compa- ny, who came to Malta with her family, to find a place for her two children. She ended up finding a place for one of them, but at the time couldn't find one for her second child. ese are real problems which are hap- pening now. Every school, as I understand it, is full, and the international schools catering for the expat community have a waiting list. I also experienced this myself – I have three daughters, and they were on the waiting list for the first two years we were in Mal- ta, until they got into the school we wished for them. In fact, I would say this is be- coming an even bigger prob- lem, because the industry is not only continuing to grow, but also maturing. ere are now people who came here when they were single, but are now getting married, and having children. I believe this is an issue not only for the expat community, but a general problem which affects the Maltese too, since many locals register their chil- dren in school shortly after they are born, to ensure they have a place available by the time they reach school age. e government has started to ad- dress this through the building of a new international school, Haileybury, in Mtarfa. As far as I know, however, the school will be ready for the 2021 scho- lastic year. Two years is a long time, and there will be plenty of children who require places between now and then, but, of course, I acknowledge that in- frastructural projects take time. When it comes to the road infrastructure, I realise that all the ongoing road works are a headache for everyone, since they temporarily cause traffic build-up. But the gaming in- dustry is very happy that these infrastructural projects – such as the Kappara and Marsa flyo- vers – have been and are being undertaken, because they will improve the traffic problem for years to come. In terms of the transport sit- uation, I've had a number of meetings with Transport Malta and there are ongoing discus- sions about the current projects and initiatives to improve the issue. I think this is an example of good engagement between the gaming industry and the government. Looking towards the future, how do you see the iGaming scenario in Malta developing in the next five years? What opportunities and challenges do you envisage? I think some of the sector's mega-trends will continue. One of these trends is that Europe- an countries are increasingly having their own gaming reg- ulatory regime, which means that the value of an MGA li- cense will decrease, because other countries will be covered by their own legislation. On the other hand, I don't see any other geographical area – with one exception – which can rival Malta as the gaming hub. e exception is the south of Spain, the area between Gibraltar, Malaga and Marbella. ere are also some companies moving to Barcelona. is is a growing area when it comes to gaming, with companies going there and finding the needed local- ly skilled talent. Moreover, the cost of living and salaries are lower there. is said, I don't think this location will grow to the level that it will challenge Malta as a gaming jurisdiction. However, unless the cost of living in Malta starts to be reined in, it is going to consti- tute a bigger threat. I can see companies making decisions to move their call centres and live casino studios away from the island. e re- ality of this industry is that it is very mobile. Maverick Gaming has staff in Malta, Asia, North America and the UK, so it's a distributed environment, and collaboration tools allow us to be equally productive when it comes to software develop- ment through working remote- ly without having a big physical office. Of course, there will always be advantages to having a physi- cal presence, and offering em- ployees a great environment to work in has its pros.