The market
Malta is the base licence of the European online gambling industry rather than a domestic market. The MGA held 147 B2C and 164 B2B licensees at the end of 2024, and its licence is the credential operators use to access multiple markets and to secure banking and payment relationships. The domestic Maltese player market is tiny; the value is the hub.
The commercial logic is fees and tax. A B2C Gaming Service licence carries a EUR 5,000 application fee and a EUR 25,000 fixed annual fee, and the gaming tax of 5% applies only to revenue from players located in Malta, not to an operator’s global book. That combination, with a corporate structure that can bring the effective corporate rate low, is why so many operators domicile here.
Enforcement is active but not disproportionate. The MGA issued 30 administrative penalties totalling EUR 162,520 in 2025, down from EUR 306,250 in 2024, with one licence suspended and two cancelled, alongside 35 cease-and-desist letters and 22 warnings. The MGA supervises closely, but the headline penalty burden remains modest.
Regulation and licensing
The MGA licenses under the Gaming Act 2018. A single B2C Gaming Service licence covers Type 1 and Type 2 for most operators, with Type 4 skill games on a lower fee and contribution scale. On top of the fixed fees sits a compliance contribution that scales with gross gaming revenue, from EUR 15,000 to EUR 375,000 for Type 1 and EUR 25,000 to EUR 600,000 for Type 2, paid monthly; for large operators this is the dominant cost. B2B suppliers pay an annual fee of EUR 25,000 to EUR 35,000 and no gaming tax.
The real cost is substance and compliance, not the licence fee: minimum share capital by type, key-function roles, an MLRO and audit push a realistic year-one budget into six figures. Malta’s Bill 55 continues to shield MGA licensees from the enforcement of certain foreign judgments, which is central to the Austria and Malta dispute.
Marketing and player rules
Advertising and player rules follow the Gaming Act and MGA directives, with responsible-gaming requirements, key-function roles and self-exclusion for Malta-facing play. Because the domestic market is small, the marketing that matters is in the target markets each operator serves under its Malta base, so local Maltese marketing rules are secondary to those of the countries of custom.
What this means for your plan
I would use Malta as the base, which is exactly what it is for. If you are building a multi-market operation and want one credible EU licence, strong banking access and a 5% tax that only touches Malta-sourced revenue, this is the default choice and I would enter. Do not mistake it for a domestic market: the money is made in the countries you serve, not in Malta. Budget honestly for substance and enforcement, because a suspended MGA licence costs you everything downstream. First move: scope the substance and compliance build, not just the fees.
Sources
- Malta Gaming Authority, remote gaming services fees and taxation, checked 4 September 2026
- gamingcompliance.io, MGA licence requirements 2026, checked 4 September 2026
- Accreda, MGA fees and taxation, checked 4 September 2026