EDITORIAL
A place in the sun
W elcome to the Q3/2026 issue of the IMGL Magazine. One of the delights of serving as Editor-in-Chief is to peruse a broad range of submissions for review, from industry greybeard practitioners to talented law students starting out in gaming law. They contribute manuscripts of all different kinds that are relating to gaming laws and policies. Over the years, I have certainly developed personal preferences and enjoy seeing articles published on topics of a transnational nature, with thought applied to a perspective that does not stop at national or regional borders. Yet, in this issue, it is my pleasure to put an editorial focus on gaming jurisdictions that are in competition. Three of the classic international remote gaming hubs that have undergone significant overhauls of their regulatory frameworks in recent years. This IMGL Magazine issue is leaning in with articles from Gibraltar, Malta and Curaçao. Gibraltar recently regulated prediction markets. Its move was bold and counter cultural amid a generally hostile regulatory atmosphere towards prediction markets among European regulators and US courts.
Curaçao’s LOK review is designed to position the Caribbean island under the Dutch crown firmly as a regulator rather than just a licenser of gaming companies. It aims to tighten its regulatory regime whilst remaining accessible to startup and smaller players. Finally, Malta, with over two decades of regulatory experience, infrastructure and access to the European internal market, has made the Mediterranean island a favorite online hub. Reading the three articles in parallel you will find interesting differences, and I have invited authors to highlight some of them prominently in their submissions. I trust that those with particular interest in online gaming matters will find this comparative reading highly interesting. Culture and history play an often-unrecognized part in regulation, and authors from Hungary and India explore this aspect in these pages. They provide us with insights into the factors shaping gaming policies in these two markets and what the future is likely to bring. The addition of 1-on-1 interviews to the IMGL Magazine has quickly become an eye catcher for our readers. We have featured personalities at the top of the gaming industry and gained personal insights from general counsels of some of the largest
SIMON PLANZER PHD Editor in Chief IMGL MAGAZINE
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The inertia of monopoly: regime changes & the legal roadblocks to liberalization in Hungary 12 Keep building connections: one-on-one interview with SBC's Ras Sojmark 16 Could Europe’s Digital Services Act be used to curb promotion of black market gambling? 22 Minor players, major stakes: a guide for developers offering their games in the Indian market 28 A category of its own: why Gibraltar built a bespoke regulatory framework for prediction markets 36 Curaçao’s LOK reform: from licensing jurisdiction to regulatory jurisdiction 44 Malta as a B2B gaming jurisdiction: regulatory foundations, commercial realities & the road ahead 50 The Legality of the 2021 Seminole Gaming Compact
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IMGL MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2026
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