Malta Gaming Licence Explained

Malta is the licensing home of European online gambling. A large share of the operators and suppliers serving European players hold a licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), and "MGA licensed" has been the industry's shorthand for a properly regulated business for two decades. This guide explains what the licence is, who needs which type, what it costs, how the application works, what an operator must maintain to keep it, and, just as important, what it does not permit.

Why Malta

Malta licensed remote gambling in 2004, earlier than any other EU member state, and built a regulator, a legal framework, a professional-services industry and a workforce around it. The Gaming Act of 2018 consolidated the regime into one law with a single licence covering multiple game types for a ten-year term. The draws are legal certainty inside the EU, a regulator that publishes its rules and expectations, a deep pool of compliance, legal, payments and technical staff, and a tax structure that charges the 5 per cent gaming tax only on revenue from players in Malta while a compliance contribution and licence fee apply to the whole licensed business.

The limits are equally important. A Malta licence authorises an operator to offer gambling from Malta; it does not authorise offering gambling into a country that regulates online gambling itself. Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Italy, France, Ontario, the American states, Brazil and a lengthening list of others require their own licence. The Malta licence is a base for markets that do not have a local regime and a reputational anchor for the group; it is not a passport.

The two licence types

B2C Gaming Service Licence. For operators offering games to players: casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms, lottery-style products, fantasy and skill games with a stake. One licence covers all the game types the operator is approved for.

B2B Critical Gaming Supply Licence. For suppliers of critical components: game content (studios and aggregators), platforms and the management of material elements of the gaming supply. A B2B licensee holds no Malta player revenue and is outside the gaming tax and the compliance contribution; it pays a fixed annual fee that scales with its revenue.

A group commonly holds both: a B2C licence for its brands and a B2B licence for its platform or content arm supplying other operators.

The four game types

The 2018 framework classifies games by their risk characteristics rather than by product name, and the compliance contribution is banded by type.

Type 1: games of chance played against the house whose outcome is determined by a random number generator: slots, table games, virtual sports, lotteries operated by the licensee. The casino licence in ordinary language.

Type 2: games of chance played against the house whose outcome is not generated randomly but determined by an event outside the game: fixed-odds sports betting and similar.

Type 3: games of chance not played against the house, where the operator takes a commission: peer-to-peer poker, betting exchanges, bingo, tournaments.

Type 4: controlled skill games: fantasy sports and similar.

An operator declares the types it will offer and is licensed for those; adding a type is an application.

What it costs

Figures below are from the MGA's Gaming Licence Fees Regulations as published; the Authority amends the schedule from time to time and its website is the source for the current position.

Application fee: a one-off, non-refundable fee of roughly 5,000 euros.

Fixed annual licence fee (B2C): 25,000 euros, or 10,000 euros for a licence limited to Type 4 games.

Compliance contribution (B2C): a percentage of gaming revenue, banded and tapering, with an annual minimum and maximum per game type. In broad terms: Type 1 starts at 1.25 per cent on the first band and tapers to 0.4 per cent, with a minimum of 15,000 euros and a maximum of 375,000 euros; Types 2 and 3 start at 4 per cent and taper to 0.4 per cent, with minimums of 25,000 euros and maximums of 600,000 and 500,000 euros respectively; Type 4 runs the other way, starting at 0.5 per cent and rising, with a minimum of 5,000 euros and a maximum of 500,000 euros. Qualifying start-ups have had a moratorium on the contribution for their first year. Advisers have reported 2026 amendments to the fee regulations; check the current legal notice before budgeting.

Gaming tax: 5 per cent of gaming revenue generated from players physically located in Malta, paid monthly. For most licensees, whose players are elsewhere, this is a small number.

B2B fixed fees: for suppliers of material gaming components, 25,000 to 35,000 euros a year depending on revenue; for software suppliers, 3,000 to 5,000 euros; for a Type 4 supply, 10,000 euros.

Everything else: corporate tax (Malta's 35 per cent headline rate with the shareholder refund system that reduces the effective rate for many structures; take advice), professional fees for the application (tens of thousands of euros is typical), key-function staff, system audits, and the compliance operation itself.

The application process

The MGA's process has five stages and is document-heavy.

Fit and proper. Every director, shareholder above 10 per cent, beneficial owner and key-function holder is assessed: identification, criminal record, source of wealth, source of funds, financial standing, and probity. This stage decides most rejections.

Business planning. A business plan with financial projections, the corporate structure, the target markets, the marketing plan and the funding. The Authority is looking for a viable business run by people who understand it.

Operational and statutory requirements. The company's incorporation, the policies and procedures (anti-money-laundering, responsible gambling, data protection, complaints, player funds, information security), the game and system descriptions, and the third-party suppliers.

System review. The technical set-up (platform, games, RNG, wallet, reporting) is documented and, after the licence is granted in principle, audited by an approved service provider against the MGA's technical requirements before go-live.

Compliance review. Within a period after launch, an audit of the live operation against what was approved.

Timeline: the MGA has published targets of a few months for a complete application, but in practice six to twelve months from first submission to go-live is common, with incomplete fit-and-proper files the usual cause of delay.

What an operator must maintain

The licence is a ten-year authorisation conditional on continuing compliance.

Key functions. Named individuals, approved by the Authority, responsible for the CEO role, compliance, anti-money-laundering (the MLRO), responsible gambling, data protection, technology, finance, legal, internal audit and other functions the rules list. Individuals can hold more than one function and can be outsourced within limits.

Substance. A Maltese company (or an EU or EEA company with a Maltese establishment), a registered office, and enough presence in Malta for the key functions to be real.

Player funds. Segregation of player money from operating money, with reporting.

Anti-money-laundering. Malta transposes EU anti-money-laundering directives and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit supervises gaming licensees jointly with the MGA; customer due diligence, risk assessment, record-keeping and reporting are examined in inspections.

Responsible gambling. Self-exclusion (Malta operates a national scheme for its licensees), limits, reality checks and safer-gambling messaging.

Reporting. Monthly gaming revenue and tax returns, annual audited financial statements, incident reports, and change notifications for anything material: new games, new suppliers, changes of control, new markets.

Advertising. Malta's commercial communications regulations apply to the licensee's marketing everywhere, alongside the rules of each target market.

Enforcement. The MGA publishes its enforcement actions: warnings, fines, licence suspensions and cancellations. Fit-and-proper failures, anti-money-laundering findings and player-fund breaches are the most common causes.

Malta and the European markets

The important legal question for a Malta licensee is what the licence permits in each European country, and the answer has changed. In the 2000s the argument that an EU licence carried the freedom to provide services across the single market was contested in the Court of Justice, which allowed member states to restrict gambling for public-interest reasons provided the restrictions were consistent and proportionate. Since then most large European markets have introduced their own licensing, and a Malta licensee serving their residents without a local licence is unlicensed in that market, with the blocking, payment-blocking and enforcement consequences that follow.

Malta's Bill 55, enacted in 2023, provides that Maltese courts will not enforce foreign judgments against Maltese licensees that relate to their licensed activity, a measure aimed at player-refund claims from countries such as Austria and Germany. The provision has been questioned by other member states and the European Commission and is contested; a licensee should not rely on it as a strategy.

The practical position in 2026: a Malta licence is the right base for a European group, and the group holds local licences wherever the market requires one.

Malta compared

Against the Isle of Man and Gibraltar, Malta offers EU membership and a larger talent pool; the other two offer lower tax structures and smaller, faster regulators. Against Curaçao, Malta offers reputation, payments access and legal certainty at several times the cost and time. Against a local licence in a regulated market, Malta offers none of that market's rights; it is a complement, not a substitute. The Gambling Licensing Jurisdictions Compared guide sets the options side by side.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Malta gaming licence cost? An application fee of about 5,000 euros, a fixed annual fee of 25,000 euros for a B2C licence, a compliance contribution on gaming revenue with a minimum of 15,000 to 25,000 euros depending on game type, and 5 per cent gaming tax on Malta-based players' revenue, plus professional and operating costs. Check the MGA's current fee regulations.

How long does it take to get an MGA licence? Six to twelve months from a complete application to launch is realistic. Fit-and-proper checks on owners and key people are the usual delay.

Can I serve British or German players with a Malta licence? No. Both countries license online gambling themselves and require their own licence. The same applies to most large European markets.

What is the difference between B2C and B2B? B2C licenses an operator offering games to players; B2B licenses a supplier of games, platforms or critical components to operators. B2B licensees do not pay gaming tax or the compliance contribution.

Does Malta tax player winnings? No. Malta does not tax gambling winnings in the hands of players.

Is the MGA licence still worth having? For a European-facing group, yes, as the base licence and reputational anchor. It is not sufficient on its own for any market that regulates locally.

Related on iGaming Times

Market Entry and Licensing is the full course on choosing a jurisdiction and applying. Curaçao Gambling Licence Explained covers the main offshore alternative. Gambling Tax Rates by Country sets Malta's 5 per cent alongside the rates in the markets a Malta licensee serves, and How to Start an Online Casino puts the licence in the context of the whole launch.

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Regulation, tax and market figures move quickly, sometimes mid-year. Where this guide gives a number, treat it as a starting point and confirm the current position with the named primary source before you rely on it.