Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Malta
A small domestic market whose importance lies in being the industry's main licensing and employment hub.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Sports betting | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Online poker | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Lottery | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
How the market works
Malta's own player base is negligible, and the licence it issues is not a point-of-consumption licence for other EU countries. Its significance is as a base: a large share of the industry's operators, suppliers, platform businesses and affiliate companies are established there, and the concentration of specialist staff, auditors, test houses and payment providers is the reason new companies continue to incorporate on the island.
The Gaming Act 2018 restructured licensing into a B2C gaming service licence and a B2B critical gaming supply licence, with activity sorted into four types. Compliance obligations include segregation of player funds, approval of key function holders, and certification of games and systems.
Malta has also been the subject of friction with other EU member states over its 2023 law shielding licensees from the enforcement of certain foreign judgments, which illustrates the wider tension in European online gambling: licensing is national, players are not, and the two have never been fully reconciled.
Who regulates it
Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), based in Birkirkara and operating under Gaming Act 2018. The licensing authority used by a large share of the industry's operators and suppliers as their primary European base.
Licence types issued
- B2C gaming service licence (Types 1-4)
- B2B critical gaming supply licence
- Material gaming supply recognition
Questions about Malta
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.