Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/984659
19 COMMERCIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 MAY 2018 FOR the past 26 years, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAS- PA) has widely prohibited sports betting in the US. In repealing PASPA, the US Su- preme Court has opened up a vast business opportunity for companies focused on grow- ing in regulated markets. GiG embraced the repeal of the federal sports betting ban. The repeal enables all states to decide on their re- spective regulation of sports betting. The market expects some states to move quickly with several being ready to open up to sports betting this year. This decision further sup- ported GIG's focus on growth in regulated markets, integ- rity in sports and respon- sible gaming. The repeal is perfectly timed with the ad- vanced preparations made with GiG´s partner Hard Rock International, the ap- plication for the New Jersey license and the launch of the Company's new proprietary and cutting edge sports bet- ting services this month. GiG has been planning for this change and is well un- derway in its preparations to capitalise on the Company´s unique position. This market opportunity will be top pri- ority for GiG. The Company will continue to invest and add resource to further devel- op and position its B2B prod- uct for what will be a highly competitive US market. "We are very excited about this news and the long term potential it creates for GiG. We have been positioning the Company for a regulated US market and have a full eco-system of unique prod- ucts and services to support the iGaming industry, in- cluding a cutting edge sports betting service," GiG CEO, Robin Reed said. "We are confident we will have a fair and fun product to thrill and engage the US con- sumer and will be very well placed for future opportuni- ties in this massive market. We have already proven our ability in signing a big brand in this region and there are several interesting RFP´s in the US in which we are ac- tively interested." GiG embraces the repeal of the US sports betting ban DataByte sponsors Mdina Knights' player of the month award DATABYTE was recently the sponsoring company of Mdina Knights' Player of the Month Award when it pre- sented right-sided midfielder Matthew Grech with a trophy and a token bottle of cham- pagne. The presentation of the award took place at Data- Byte's premises in Birkirkara and was presented by Data- Byte CEO Frederick Micallef who commended the player for his efforts and thanked the club for its ongoing commit- ment to 'ethical' football. "DataByte's commitment is to provide dynamic solutions to its clients however, we also recognise the dynamic activ- ity and the great work of sport organisations such as Mdina Knights whose commitment is purely towards promoting the core value that amateur footballers should play for the love of the game and not for any financial remunera- tion. These core values which we also endorsed in our own youth are very much eroded in present sporting days un- fortunately, so we applaud organisations who strive to revive these values in our younger generations. Data- Byte is delighted to be able to support such an award as a form of encouragement and appreciation towards the players' and the club's perfor- mance," said Frederick Mi- callef during the presentation. Thanking DataByte for their commitment to the Club, Mdina Knights FC's President Joe Vella explained how the Club's Team Player of The Month scheme has been run- ning for several years whereby every month, the Technical Team chooses that player who would have contributed most to the team's ethical conduct in a particular month. "The award is sponsored by a different company each month and DataByte has been yet again generous in spon- soring one of the months over a number of seasons. Mdina Knights FC's vision is to give back to the community by instilling genuine values of sports through the develop- ment of social, educational and sporting activities. We are proud that a company like DataByte is helping us fulfil this mission," said Vella. Formed in 2006, Mdina Knights FC is a football Club started by a group of Univer- sity of Malta students who wished to participate in the MFA league. The club, com- peting in the MFA's 3rd Divi- sion league representing the locality of Mdina, just moved to its new training facilities at St Agatha school in Rabat last December, the result of a joint MSSP and MFA project. New Executive appointment at BNF Bank BNF Bank plc announces the appointment of Mark Micallef as Chief Financial Officer of the Bank. Prior to joining BNF Bank, Micallef was Deloitte Malta's Banking Advisory Leader, his specialist areas being banking risk, regulation, strategy and finance. Throughout his career, Mark has assisted banks and pru- dential regulators on vari- ous exercises ranging from risk governance and business strategy to supervisory credit risk and asset quality reviews. Mark's auditing experience extends from Malta across international borders within the European market, such as the UK, Germany, Slovenia, and Bulgaria. An auditor by profession, Mark is a Malta CPA warrant holder and a fellow member of the Asso- ciation of Chartered Certified Accountants. In the role of Chief Finance Officer, Mark shall be in con- trol of the financial govern- ance of BNF Bank together with statutory and regulatory reporting, management re- porting, budgets and forecasts, investment appraisal, taxation and investment operations. Mark Micallef joins Michael Collis, BNF Bank's Chief Ex- ecutive Officer and Manag- ing Director, Adrian Coppini - Chief Operating Officer and Maruska Buttiġieġ Gili - Chief Risk Officer, as members of the BNF Bank's Executive Management team.