MGA Enforcement Fines Drop Nearly 50% as Malta Issues Just Two Licence Cancellations in 2025
Regulatory penalties across Malta’s gambling industry fell sharply in 2025, with the Malta Gaming Authority imposing just €162,520 in administrative fines despite continuing oversight of one of Europe’s largest iGaming licensing hubs.
The regulator’s latest annual report shows 30 administrative penalties were issued during the year, almost halving the €306,250 recorded in 2024. Formal warnings also became less frequent, dropping from 35 to 22, while licence cancellations fell even more dramatically. Only two operators lost their licences in 2025, compared with eight a year earlier.
The figures suggest a quieter year for enforcement, even as the authority maintained broad supervision across both online and land-based gambling.
More Applications, More Licences
Interest in Malta’s gaming licence continued to grow.
The MGA received 38 new licence applications during 2025, up from 28 the previous year, and granted 19 licences compared with 17 in 2024. It also renewed eight licences after reviewing 10 renewal requests.
Rather than pointing to lighter oversight, the regulator described its approach as increasingly targeted. CEO Charles Mizzi outlined a strategy focused on improving regulatory quality instead of expanding enforcement activity, with greater use of risk assessments, data analysis and technology to direct resources toward higher-risk areas while supporting confidence in the Maltese licence.
Online Casino Revenue Continues to Expand
The report also highlights another shift inside Malta’s licensed online market.
Casino products strengthened their dominance during 2025, accounting for 78.9% of total gaming revenue generated by B2C online licensees. That represents a nine-percentage-point increase from the previous year.
Sports betting moved in the opposite direction. Its share of revenue declined to 14.5%, down from 25.6% in 2024. The authority linked much of that decline to regulatory changes in overseas markets and the introduction of new licensing models outside Malta.
Pool betting increased its share of gaming revenue from 4.6% to 6.6%, although it remained a relatively small segment of the market.
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Hundreds of Suspicious Betting Reports Reviewed
Integrity monitoring remained a significant part of the regulator’s work.
Licensed operators submitted 280 suspicious betting alerts during the year. Following its own assessments, the MGA circulated 192 alerts back to licensees to help identify potentially irregular betting activity across the market.
Elsewhere, the authority completed 15 full-scope compliance audits and handled 3,718 requests for regulatory assistance.
Its efforts also extended online, where officials examined 109 websites suspected of misusing the authority’s identity or that of licensed operators. Forty-two were found to contain fraudulent references.
Thousands of Land-Based Inspections
Away from online gambling, compliance activity remained extensive across Malta’s retail sector.
Inspectors carried out 7,903 visits covering casinos, bingo halls, National Lottery outlets, controlled gaming premises and non-profit tombola events.
The authority also approved 2,043 permits for non-profit tombola during the year, alongside 22 permits for non-profit lotteries and 118 certificates covering commercial communication games.
While enforcement penalties declined noticeably in 2025, the annual report suggests the regulator shifted its attention toward targeted supervision, market monitoring and compliance work rather than increasing punitive action.
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Source: www.intergameonline.com
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