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A leading Maltese law firm has pitched gambling licensing, fintech investment and immigration options to Taiwanese online gambling companies amid a troubled legal environment for the Taiwanese B2B sector.
WH Partners law firm partner Joseph Borg, senior regulatory and licensing executive Lisa Fino and senior associate and immigration lead Charlotte Attard presented to online gambling companies in the central city of Taichung on Monday (May 6).
Gambling companies, support services and lawyers were among the participants in Taichung, chosen over Taipei to host the event because it is Taiwan’s hub for online gambling-related operations such as software development and support services.
Taichung has also been the site of several raids on online gambling companies that have strayed from grey market B2B operations into illegal B2C activity, triggering police interest and lengthy prosecutions.
The latest of these, in March, saw 52 employees of the China-controlled Wanbo Group receive jail terms of up to six months, all of which are convertible to fines. Senior managers in that case are still being prosecuted and are more likely to face jail time.
WH Partners’ three-hour seminar marked its first sortie in Taiwan, and is part of a week-long trip concluding this Saturday that includes meetings with local legal teams and gambling interests, Borg told Vixio GamblingCompliance on the sidelines of the event.
Fino’s summary and comparison of online gambling jurisdictions covered older, more influential jurisdictions such as Malta and the United Kingdom, smaller jurisdictions such as Isle of Man and Curaçao, and the start-up jurisdictions of the Tobique First Nation in Canada, Anjouan in the Comoro Islands and East Timor.
Borg is also a member of the Virtual Gaming Association, the advisory committee to the East Timorese government on the creation of a regulated gambling space.
But the emphasis was on the Maltese licensing and certification process, followed by a rundown of fintech investment, including blockchain regulation and operations, and immigration channels requiring asset and cash investments.
Of all the online gambling jurisdictions discussed on Monday, Malta is the only territory with EU membership, therefore carrying benefits of EU mobility for interested parties.
However, the Taiwanese operators were tight-lipped on the appeal of Malta and declined to comment on the state of the Taiwanese industry.
Borg said he and his team were happy with the outcome, which was more exploratory in character, and looked forward to holding a larger event in Taiwan in 2025.
He told Vixio that the firm had been encouraged by clients and potential clients in Taiwan to undertake their first trade mission here.
“There is a massive tech community here, particularly focused on gambling software,” he said.
“The people here are very eager in trying to grow outside of Taiwan, grow even outside of Asia, but maybe have never had the opportunity to explore this further.
“They are exploring how they can change their business from more regional or local business to a global one, and obviously Malta offers an ideal foothold for the Western world.”
Borg said Malta would also encourage Taiwanese companies to consider setting up a base in Europe with ready-made talent, in addition to securing gambling licences.
Although Malta still acts as a hub for talent and operations, its role as a licensing nexus for the EU has diminished as other European nations have regulated online gambling.
Online gambling interests operate in Taiwan without clear guardrails and without consistent or coherent policing of the B2B market, likely increasing the appeal of established regulatory structures overseas.
This potential attraction can only have become more powerful with the contraction of regulated operator numbers in the Philippines, just south of Taiwan, amid damage wrought there by the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese government anger, and local crackdowns on compliance, tax delinquency and migrant labour.
In Taiwan, meanwhile, the bulk of legal representation for the industry has shifted away from policy advocacy and corporate growth to litigation and risk, further destabilising a market that was once a tolerated operations and support services oasis for the Philippine market.
Increasing military tension in the Taiwan Strait has also increased the appeal of dual citizenship for Taiwanese nationals, particularly those in online industries and information technology sectors that can relocate with little logistical difficulty.
