Malta

Malta remains Europe's most prominent online gambling hub, hosting many operators licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) to serve markets across and beyond the EU. Both remote casino and betting are regulated through two core licences - a B2C Gaming Service Licence and a B2B Critical Gaming Supply Licence - spanning Game Types 1 to 4 (casino and RNG games, fixed-odds betting, peer-to-peer poker and bingo, and controlled skill games), each granted for a ten-year term. The fiscal appeal is central to Malta's model: gaming tax is just 5% of GGR generated from Maltese players, supplemented by a tiered compliance contribution and an annual fixed licence fee (typically around EUR 25,000 for B2C), though the precise compliance-contribution tiers are reported rather than independently confirmed. The regulatory climate is evolving toward tighter oversight: from July 2025 licensees must maintain permanently positive equity under a new capital-requirements policy, and the MGA is shifting to risk-based supervision with stricter financial-reporting duties under consultation. The headline risk is external - in June 2025 the European Commission opened infringement proceedings over Malta's Bill 55 and Article 56A, which shield licensees from enforcement of foreign gambling judgments, with a possible referral to the CJEU. That dispute is the defining uncertainty for the jurisdiction, testing whether Malta's protective stance toward its licensees can survive EU legal challenge. For now Malta pairs low tax with steadily growing compliance demands.