A dramatic and long-running case in Malta has ended with Domenico Lagrotteria and Alessandro Ciaffi, the owners of Betsolution, being cleared of having any links to Italian mafia operations.
The case centred on allegations of money laundering through the gambling sector, but concluded with the firm being acquitted of the charges by a Maltese court.
The case has been running since 2015, with a myriad of arrests being made in relation to the investigation. A freeze was also implemented on the B2B licence of Betsolution.
Charges of illegal betting and tax irregularities were also dismissed during the case, as a result of the statute of limitations expiring.
Betsolutions is also linked to the son of former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, David Gonzi, who owns GVM Holdings, which has spearheaded the management of Betsolutions.
Out of a total of 23 defendants in the case, Antonino Alvaro received a 10-year sentence and Cristian Fortunato was sentenced to seven years in prison. They were the only two to be issued with any sanctions as a result of the case.
It’s a case that may well have interesting connotations for the Maltese gambling sector as a whole, as it helps to distance the industry from any allegations of links to the mafia.
Nonetheless, after the investigation initially came to light, the MGA suspended Betsolution’s licence. The ball is now very much in the regulator’s court as to whether the company’s long period of being ostracised from the market comes to an end.
Fears over the mafia’s presence in Malta’s gambling sector had been elevated by a 2023 study commissioned by Martin Schirdewan, a German member of the European Parliament. This warned that the EU state had become a hotbed for money laundering of mafia funds.
He emphasised that murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was ahead of the times when she described online gambling as the “ideal solution” for laundering illicit funds.
There were stark warnings in the report about data confusion, as it stated that shortcomings in the supervisory culture in Malta had led to inadequate data collection.
MGA’s 2025 outlook
The lingering risk of criminality affecting Malta’s gaming and financial services industries has not been lost on the government, which likely still has bad memories of the island nation’s brief tenure on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist between 2021-2022.
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) recently underpinned its commitment to shaping the iGaming industry as a key element of the country’s economy, accounting for more than one-tenth of national GDP each year.
Publishing its Annual Report of 2024, the MGA detailed major strides in regulatory governance, workforce development, and international cooperation to enhance Malta’s role as the catalyst for raising global iGaming industry standards.
2024 saw Charles Mizzi complete his first year as MGA CEO, during which he prioritised a strategic focus on proactive measures to improve workforce skills, investment and development.
“Resilience also lies in our people,” Mizzi said of the MGA”s approach. “We invested in ensuring that the authority is equipped with the right skills and talent to support operators and meet the evolving demands of the gaming landscape.”
Another area of progressive oversight was the expansion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. In 2024, 14 operators voluntarily disclosed ESG metrics, receiving the MGA’s first-ever ESG Code Approval Seals.
“This is a forward step in aligning the gaming industry with Malta’s broader sustainability goals,” said Pace. “As the 2025 ESG reporting cycle approaches, the Authority expects more operators to join the initiative, strengthening the social licence of the industry as a whole.”
