Malta Gaming Authority Cuts Administrative Fines by Nearly Half as Risk-Based Oversight Shapes 2025

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) significantly reduced its enforcement activity in 2025, issuing administrative fines totaling €162,520—almost 50% lower than the €306,250 recorded in 2024.

According to the regulator’s latest annual report, enforcement actions declined across multiple areas despite continued growth in the number of licensed operators under its supervision.

During 2025, the MGA imposed 30 administrative penalties, cancelled only two gaming licences, and issued 22 formal warnings. These figures represent a noticeable decline compared with the previous year, when the authority issued 35 warnings and revoked eight licences. The reduction in licence cancellations marked the most substantial year-on-year change, dropping by six compared with 2024.

While enforcement measures eased, demand for a Maltese gaming licence continued to increase. The regulator received 38 new licence applications throughout 2025, up from 28 submitted in 2024. The MGA granted 19 new licences during the year, compared with 17 in the previous reporting period. It also processed 10 licence renewal applications, approving eight renewals.

MGA Chief Executive Officer Charles Mizzi stressed that the lower enforcement figures should not be interpreted as reduced regulatory oversight but rather as the result of a more targeted supervisory approach.

“The challenge facing regulators today is not to regulate more, but to regulate better.

Throughout 2025, we refined the way we regulate: strengthening our risk-based approach to oversight, improving engagement, streamlining processes and making better use of data and technology to focus our efforts where they matter most. That is how we strengthen confidence in the Maltese licence, safeguard players and support the long-term sustainability of Malta’s gaming sector,” said Mizzi.

Having developed one of Europe's largest iGaming licensing jurisdictions over the past two decades, the MGA indicated through its 2025 performance that it is increasingly relying on risk-based supervision to oversee its expanding portfolio of licensees.

The annual report also highlighted notable changes in the composition of Malta’s regulated online gaming market. Type 1 gaming, which consists primarily of online casino products, accounted for 78.9% of total gaming revenue generated by B2C online licensees during 2025. This represented an increase of nine percentage points compared with the previous year.

Meanwhile, Type 2 gaming, which covers sports betting, saw its share of total revenue decline to 14.5%, down from 25.6% in 2024. The MGA attributed this reduction to regulatory developments in overseas jurisdictions as well as the introduction of new licensing frameworks outside Malta. Type 3 gaming, which includes pool betting, increased its contribution from 4.6% to 6.6% of total B2C online gaming revenue, although it remained the smallest of the three gaming categories.

Integrity and compliance remained key priorities throughout the year. Licensed operators submitted 280 suspicious betting reports to the MGA, which reviewed each alert before redistributing 192 of them to other licensees to help identify potentially irregular betting activity across the wider market.

The regulator also completed 15 full-scope compliance audits, examining whether operators met their obligations under the Gaming Act in areas including technical standards, financial compliance and player protection. In addition, the MGA processed 3,718 requests for regulatory assistance during the year.

As part of its efforts to combat misuse of its regulatory identity, the authority examined 109 websites suspected of falsely claiming links to either the MGA or licensed operators. Following its investigations, the regulator identified fraudulent references on 42 of those websites.

The MGA maintained a strong inspection programme across Malta’s land-based gaming sector, conducting 7,903 inspections at casinos, bingo halls, National Lottery outlets, controlled gaming premises and non-profit tombola events. During the same period, it approved 2,043 permits for non-profit tombolas, issued 22 permits for non-profit lotteries and granted 118 certificates covering commercial communication games.

The reduction in enforcement activity comes as Malta prepares to introduce broader reforms to its gambling VAT and gaming tax framework, which are scheduled to take effect in October 2026. Those changes are expected to test the effectiveness of the MGA’s risk-based supervisory model as operators adjust to a revised fiscal environment.

At the same time, the authority has also faced scrutiny over the resilience of its own systems after a German cybersecurity researcher claimed earlier this year to have breached the regulator’s infrastructure. The incident underscored that the MGA’s responsibilities extend beyond licensing and enforcement, with cybersecurity and broader regulatory oversight continuing to play an increasingly important role. How successfully the regulator balances these expanding responsibilities while maintaining a lighter enforcement footprint is likely to influence industry confidence in the Maltese gaming licence throughout 2026.

By fLEXI tEAM