Malta gaming licence: requirements, fees, timing and register check

Quick facts

What does a Malta licence cover, and what does it not?

Malta is a hub licence: operators and suppliers use it to run their business from Malta under one regulator. It is not a permit for other countries' players. EU member states license gambling nationally, so an operator serving Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain or France needs a licence there as well, and Great Britain requires a UK Gambling Commission licence whatever else the operator holds.

The Authority reported 302 licensed companies holding 311 licences at the end of 2025, down from 316 companies and 326 licences in 2023 (MGA annual report 2025).

Which licence do you need?

• Gaming service licence (B2C). For operators taking bets or wagers from players. Fees, contribution and tax depend on the game type, Type 1 to Type 4, defined in Malta's gaming regulations.
• Critical gaming supply licence (B2B). For suppliers of critical components: material elements of games, or software that generates, captures, controls or processes essential regulatory records and the system it runs on.
• No separate licence for material supplies. A supplier of material (non-critical) gaming supplies can apply for a certificate of approval, and the licensee buying from it must make sure the supplier holds one or that the Authority has approved the supply case by case (Directive 3 of 2018, arts 25(1) and 27(3)).

What does a Malta licence cost in regulator fees?

The application fee is €5,000, paid once, and is not split between the two licences. Annual fees under the Gaming Licence Fees Regulations (S.L. 583.03):

B2C licensees also pay a compliance contribution to the Authority, calculated on revenue. It is licence-fee revenue, not a player-compensation fund, and it is often misreported as a flat 5%.

• First period. The minimum does not apply in the financial year the licence is first acquired; the maximum does.
• Start-ups. A start-up confirmed by the Authority pays no compliance contribution on its first twelve months of operations, though it still reports revenue. The criteria include fewer than five years in the sector, no profits distributed and under €10 million of sector revenue over the previous 36 months, for the company and its group; the applicant carries the burden of proof.

How is gaming taxed in Malta from October 2026?

From 1 October 2026 gaming tax is charged by game type: 15% for Type 1 and 10% for Types 2, 3 and 4 (Legal Notice 84 of 2026). For remote gaming the base moved from players physically present in Malta to players established or resident in Malta, so an operator whose players are abroad may owe little gaming tax while still paying the compliance contribution on all its revenue.

From the same date most remote gaming lost its VAT exemption, with the right to recover input VAT in exchange (Legal Notice 86 of 2026). Corporate tax is outside this page.

How long does a Malta licence take?

Neither the Gaming Act nor the Authority publishes a period within which an application must be decided, so any timeline you are quoted is an estimate. What is fixed comes after the grant: there is no temporary licence, the licensee has 90 days to go live, and a compliance audit is due within 90 days of going live. Missing the go-live date is handled by asking for a voluntary suspension of up to nine months.

What capital does Malta require?

The Authority's Capital Requirements Policy sets minimum issued and paid-up share capital: €100,000 for a Type 1 or Type 2 gaming service, €40,000 for Type 3 or Type 4, and €40,000 for a critical gaming supply licence, capped at €240,000 for a licensee holding several. A positive equity position must be kept throughout. Local presence rules are not summarised yet.

What else does the licence require?

Player protection, AML, technical and reporting duties sit in the Authority's directives. This page links to them but does not summarise them before a lawyer has reviewed the summary. One point is factual and often misstated: Malta has no central self-exclusion register. Each licensee runs self-exclusion across its own brands, and a unified system was only at consultation stage (Player Protection Directive, art. 14(4)).

How do you verify a Malta licence?

1. Search the MGA licensee register by company name or licence number, or paste a website address into its URL checker.
2. Check which licence the company holds: a gaming service licence for a site taking bets, a critical gaming supply licence for a supplier.
3. Look the company up in the enforcement register, which lists suspensions, cancellations and penalties by year.
4. Remember what a Malta record cannot tell you: whether the operator may serve players in your country.

How does Malta compare with other licences?

What this page does not cover yet

Local company and staff requirements, technical certification, AML and reporting duties, advertising rules and payment restrictions. They are added after review; until then use the Authority's Licensee Hub.

Sources

• Gaming Authorisations Regulations (S.L. 583.05): licence types and term, read 26 October 2026.
• Gaming Licence Fees Regulations (S.L. 583.03): fees, compliance contribution, start-up exemption, read 26 October 2026.
• Legal Notice 84 of 2026: gaming tax from 1 October 2026, read 27 October 2026; MGA announcement.
• Legal Notice 86 of 2026: VAT exemption for gaming, read 16 September 2026.
• Gaming Authorisations and Compliance Directive, Capital Requirements Policy and Player Protection Directive, read 16 September 2026.
• MGA licensee register and enforcement register, read 27 October 2026.

Next review: monthly, and whenever Malta amends its fee or tax regulations. Found an error? Report a correction.