Magic Guardians

What is Magic Guardians?

Rodano spent almost ten years spearheading policy at Playtech as the supplier’s chief policy officer. Then between January last year and August 2026, he led its global player-protection efforts as chief sustainable gambling officer.

During his tenure, Rodano was instrumental in deploying an AI-powered behavioural analytics platform, BetBuddy, which is designed to identify and intervene in potentially harmful gambling behaviours. 

Before moving to the private sector, Rodano served as the director of remote gaming at Italy’s regulator, Agenzia Dogane e Monopoli, for almost a decade.

What is Magic Guardians?

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), working alongside the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA), drafted the voluntary charter following extensive surveys and interviews with industry licensees.

That study found that AI adoption across the gambling industry remained uneven. It highlighted customer support, data analytics, fraud detection, and responsible gaming as areas where the technology was already being heavily used.

However, it also found that formal governance of AI was struggling to keep pace with its growing usage. Only a minority of organizations surveyed reported having a formal AI strategy or roadmap. Many said one remained in development.

What is Magic Guardians?

The first audience eruption during our visit came from a pair of Paris Hilton night-vision goggles. When he looked through them, everything turned grainy green as he struck the stiff, awkward posture recognizable from her leaked sex tape. No explanation. No setup. Just the goggles and the pose. The joke was perfectly timed to the cultural moment—the exact kind of gag Letterman would have killed for.

He also showcased a “Tom Cruise Scientology Starter Kit,” featuring a tiny spring-loaded couch so he could reenact the famous Oprah moment.

Throughout the performance, he skewered himself. With the confidence of a headliner who understood his public perception and chose to weaponize it, he held up a Wendy’s sign with a hole cut through the center, poked his face through, and announced: “This is what I look like when I’m trying to get recognized.”