Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Depending on how you use MaltaTrotRacing.com, we may collect the following information.

Account Information

If you create an account, we may collect:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Account login information
• Authentication information
• Your account preferences

Passwords are stored securely using appropriate password hashing and are not stored in plain text.

If you choose to sign in using Google, we may receive basic account information from Google, such as your name, email address and account identifier.

Favourite Horses and Drivers

Registered users may be able to select horses and drivers as favourites.

We may store:

• Horses you follow
• Drivers you follow
• Notification preferences
• Notifications generated for your account
• Whether notifications have been read or dismissed

This information is used to provide personalised features and notifications.

Technical Information

When you use the website, certain technical information may be collected automatically, including:

• IP address
• Browser type
• Device type
• Operating system
• Pages visited
• Date and time of visits
• Referring website
• General usage and diagnostic information

This information may be collected through server logs, cookies and analytics services.

2. Google Analytics

We currently use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors use MaltaTrotRacing.com.

Google Analytics may collect information such as:

• Pages visited
• Approximate geographic location
• Device and browser information
• Referral source
• Session activity
• Interaction with the website

Where required by law, analytics cookies or similar tracking technologies will only be used after you provide consent.

You can change or withdraw your cookie preferences through the cookie controls available on the website.

3. Advertising

MaltaTrotRacing.com may display advertising, including advertising provided by services such as Google AdSense.

Advertising providers may use cookies or similar technologies to:

• Display advertisements
• Measure advertising performance
• Prevent fraud
• Personalise advertising where you have consented to this

Where legally required, advertising and personalised advertising technologies will not be activated until you have provided the appropriate consent.

The advertising services used on the website may change from time to time.

4. Payments and Paid Services

MaltaTrotRacing.com may provide paid services, including subscriptions and paid website features.

Payments are processed by third-party payment providers such as Stripe.

We do not receive or store your complete credit or debit card details.

Stripe may process information including:

• Name
• Email address
• Billing information
• Payment method information
• Transaction details

We may receive limited information from Stripe, such as whether a payment was successful, your subscription status and transaction identifiers.

Stripe processes payment information according to its own privacy policies and legal obligations.

5. Facebook and Meta Integration

MaltaTrotRacing.com uses an internal integration with Meta/Facebook to allow authorised Malta Trot Racing administrators to publish content, including race summaries and news articles, to Malta Trot Racing's Facebook Page.

This integration is intended for internal administrative use.

Depending on the permissions provided by Meta, the integration may access limited information necessary to operate the publishing functionality, such as:

• Facebook Page identifiers
• Page access permissions
• Page access tokens
• Information necessary to publish and manage Page posts

We do not use this integration to collect Facebook users' personal profiles, private messages or unrelated personal information.

Information obtained through Meta's services is used only to provide and maintain the Facebook publishing functionality.

6. How We Use Personal Data

We may use personal information to:

• Create and manage user accounts
• Authenticate users
• Provide favourite horse and driver features
• Send and display website notifications
• Process subscriptions and payments
• Maintain subscription status
• Provide customer support
• Improve the website
• Analyse website usage
• Detect abuse, fraud or technical problems
• Maintain website security
• Publish content to our Facebook Page through authorised administrative tools
• Comply with legal obligations

7. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the GDPR, we rely on different legal bases depending on the processing activity.

These may include:

• Performance of a contract, such as providing an account, subscription or paid service
• Legitimate interests, such as maintaining security, preventing abuse and improving the website
• Consent, including where consent is required for analytics, advertising or certain cookies
• Legal obligations, where we are required to retain or process information by law

Consent is not necessarily the legal basis for every processing activity under the GDPR; organisations must choose the appropriate basis for each purpose.

8. Cookies

MaltaTrotRacing.com may use cookies and similar technologies.

These may include:

• Essential cookies required for the website to function
• Authentication cookies
• Preference cookies
• Analytics cookies
• Advertising cookies

Essential cookies may be used without consent where legally permitted.

Non-essential cookies, including analytics and advertising cookies, will be subject to consent where required by applicable law.

9. Sharing of Information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share limited information with service providers necessary to operate the website, including providers of:

• Website hosting
• Database services
• Authentication services
• Analytics
• Payment processing
• Email or notification services
• Advertising
• Cloud infrastructure
• Meta/Facebook services

These providers may process information only as necessary to provide their services and are subject to their own legal and contractual obligations.

10. International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers may process data outside Malta or outside the European Economic Area.

Where required, appropriate legal safeguards are used for international transfers of personal data in accordance with applicable data protection law.

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

For example:

• Account information may be retained while your account remains active
• Subscription and transaction information may be retained where required for accounting, tax or legal purposes
• Technical logs may be retained for security and troubleshooting
• Analytics information is retained according to the configuration of the relevant analytics service

Information may be deleted or anonymised when it is no longer required.

12. Your Rights

Depending on applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Access personal data we hold about you
• Correct inaccurate information
• Request deletion of your information
• Restrict certain processing
• Object to certain processing
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Request a copy of certain information in a portable format
• Lodge a complaint with a data protection authority

Requests can be sent to:

maltatrotracing@gmail.com

Users in Malta may also contact the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC).

13. Account and Data Deletion

You may request deletion of your MaltaTrotRacing.com account and associated personal information by contacting:

maltatrotracing@gmail.com

We will delete or anonymise applicable information unless retention is required for legal, accounting, security or other legitimate purposes.

For data connected with our Meta/Facebook integration, users may also contact us at the same email address to request information or deletion where applicable.

14. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

15. Third-Party Websites

MaltaTrotRacing.com may contain links to external websites.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of third-party websites. You should review the privacy policies of those services before providing them with personal information.

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the website, our services, legal requirements or third-party providers.

The date at the top of this page indicates when the Privacy Policy was last updated.

17. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal data, contact: