Malta’s gaming industry added an estimated €1.42bn to the economy in 2025, even as the number of licensed companies and gaming licences continued to decline, according to the Malta Gaming Authority’s latest annual report.
The regulator said the sector generated €1,422.0m in gross value added during the year, equal to about 6.3 per cent of Malta’s total economic output. When wider spillover effects are included, the industry’s impact on value added rises to an estimated 8.2 per cent.
The figures point to a sector that is no longer expanding through licence volume. By the end of December, the MGA had 302 licensed companies holding 311 gaming licences, down from 315 companies and 323 licences a year earlier. Yet employment and economic output both moved in the opposite direction.
The authority estimated that 15,039 people were working in Malta with MGA-licensed operators at the end of 2025, a 4.8 per cent increase on the previous year. The wider gaming ecosystem, including firms providing services to operators, supported about 19,150 jobs, or 6.5 per cent of the national workforce.
Fewer licences, bigger footprint
The annual report says the gradual reduction in entities and licences is consistent with an industry transitioning towards a more mature phase and undergoing strategic consolidation. Operators, it says, are placing greater emphasis on sustainable business models, aligning licensing strategies across multiple jurisdictions and restructuring in line with wider commercial and compliance priorities.
The MGA received 38 applications for new gaming licences during the year and issued 19. It also received 10 licence renewal applications and issued eight renewals. B2B activity accounted for the majority of the new-licence pipeline, with 24 of the 38 new applications and 12 of the 19 licences issued relating to B2B authorisations.
B2B activity has become one of the clearest signs of how Malta’s gaming sector is evolving. The report says the number of B2B licences has grown from 68 in 2018 to 171 in 2025, reflecting stronger demand for platforms, infrastructure and services rather than only consumer-facing operations.
In comments previously given to SiGMA News, an MGA spokesperson said: “The composition of the licence base reflects market behaviour.” The spokesperson added that “The 2018 overhaul of the Gaming Act and the introduction of a clearer, more streamlined authorisation framework laid the structural foundations for Malta to become a natural hub for high-value B2B suppliers.”
The same spokesperson said the reforms “created the clarity and proportionality that B2B operators needed to scale sustainably.”
B2B becomes the strategic thread
For Malta, the rise of B2B may soften the headline decline in licence numbers. Suppliers are less visible to players, but they sit deep in the industry’s infrastructure, providing technology, platforms, games, data, compliance tools and other services to operators across several markets.
The MGA’s report says Malta’s role is undergoing “strategic repositioning”, with B2B services now forming a growing share of regulatory activity. It also says the sector is moving from a licence-driven model towards an ecosystem and service-driven model, supported by regulatory evolution.
At the same time, the regulator is trying to guard the value of the Maltese licence. In 2025, it concluded 15 full-scope compliance audits and carried out 109 thematic reviews across compliance, player protection and sports betting integrity. It also issued 35 cease-and-desist letters, 22 warnings and 30 administrative penalties worth €162,520, while suspending one licence and cancelling two.
Player protection remained a large part of the workload. The authority resolved 3,718 requests for assistance, received 1,757 player funds reports and carried out 14 data extractions linked to the safeguarding of player funds. It also reviewed 109 URLs linked to unregulated gaming activity, finding 42 that contained fraudulent references to the authority or its licensees.
Sports integrity also featured prominently. The MGA received 280 suspicious betting reports from licensees, shared 192 alerts and participated in 66 investigations across the globe.
MGA chief executive Charles Mizzi said: “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.”
Stay in the loop and join the biggest iGaming Community in the world with SiGMA’s Top 10 news countdown. Subscribe HERE for weekly updates from the world’s iGaming authority and exclusive subscriber-only offers.
