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The Malta Gaming Authority said it issued 30 administrative penalties totaling €162,520 ($185,611) in 2025, alongside 35 cease-and-desist letters and 22 warnings, a regulatory activity detailed in its Annual Report and audited Financial Statements for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2025.
The Authority also suspended one license and canceled two, while one appeal was lodged during the year and remains pending. Eight appeals lodged in previous years were withdrawn.
“The challenge facing regulators today is not to regulate more, but to regulate better,” CEO Charles Mizzi said. “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.”
The Council approved 17 new gaming license applications and rejected two after completion of the “Minded Letter” process because information or submissions made to the Authority were found to be false, misleading, inaccurate or materially incomplete. It also reviewed and approved 10 renewal applications.
The report covers Malta’s land-based and online gaming sectors, the Authority’s regulatory activities and developments, and a forward-looking assessment of emerging trends, regulatory shifts and market dynamics expected to influence the sector in the years ahead.
Integrity-related work included 280 suspicious betting reports received from licensees between January and December 2025. The MGA shared 192 alerts on suspicious betting with licensees after enhanced risk-based filtering and participated in 66 investigations globally.
It also worked with enforcement agencies, sports governing bodies, integrity units and other regulatory authorities on 56 requests for information and took part in 85 data exchanges.
The Authority received 66 requests for international collaboration from other regulators and sent 12 such requests. The requests received were mainly generic cooperation requests or background checks linked to authorization processes.
It issued 58 official replies on the regulatory good standing of licensed operators to regulatory and industry stakeholders and collaborated with local regulating authorities and governing bodies on 200 information requests.
Supervision activity included 15 full-scope compliance audits and 109 thematic reviews covering compliance, player protection and sports betting integrity. The MGA resolved 3,718 requests for assistance, including cases carried forward from 2024, and received 1,757 player funds reports. It also carried out 14 data extractions to support the safeguarding of player funds.
The Authority reviewed 109 URLs to identify unauthorized URLs linked to unregulated gaming activity. It found that 42 contained fraudulent references to the Authority or its licensees and added them to its publicly available website list. The Commercial Communications Committee made six decisions regarding possible breaches of the Gaming Commercial Communications Regulations.
AML/CFT oversight included 21 compliance examinations initiated by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit or by the MGA on its behalf, and 21 examinations concluded. The Authority issued 30 closure letters to licensees to formally conclude examinations by the MGA or FIAU, or to conclude remediation processes where findings were not considered serious or systemic.
It also issued two potential breaches letters notifying licensees of possible AML/CFT non-compliance where further clarification, explanation or remediation was required before the matters could be treated as confirmed breaches.
CEO Charles Mizzi
The FIAU imposed a remediation measure and/or administrative penalty amounting to just under €26,500 ($30,265.25). The MGA also conducted 29 interviews with prospective MLROs to assess knowledge and awareness of the Maltese AML/CFT legal framework.
The Authority carried out 7,903 inspections on Gaming Premises, including Casinos and Commercial Bingo Halls, Controlled Gaming Premises, National Lottery Outlets, including National Lottery Outlets – Controlled Gaming Premises, and Non-Profit Tombola.
On authorization, the MGA received 38 applications for new gaming licenses and issued 19 licenses in 2025. It also received 10 renewal applications from operators whose gaming licenses were due to expire during the year and issued eight license renewals. For low-risk gaming activities, it issued 2,043 permits for non-profit tombola, 22 permits for non-profit lottery and 118 certificates for commercial communication games.
The application assessment process included 1,266 due diligence screening checks on authorized persons, persons holding qualifying interest, directors, key persons and third parties providing funding or otherwise exercising control over an authorized person across the land-based and online gaming sectors.
More complex applications were escalated to the Fit and Proper Committee, which assessed findings relating to 20 entities and 38 individuals. In seven cases, the Committee determined that the criteria to be considered fit and proper were not satisfied.