MGA licensing activity rises in 2025

• MGA issued 19 new gaming licences in 2025, up from 17 the previous year.
• Administrative penalties dropped to €162,520, down from €306,250 in 2024.
• The regulator reviewed 109 suspicious URLs and flagged 42 for fraudulent MGA references.

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) published its Annual Report and audited Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2025 this week, recording a sharp fall in enforcement penalties alongside a rise in new licensing activity.

The report covers Malta’s land-based and online gaming sectors, setting out the regulator’s supervisory, enforcement and international cooperation work over the year.

Licensing activity climbs

The MGA received 38 applications for new gaming licences during 2025, up from 28 the year before, and issued 19, compared with 17 in 2024. A further 10 renewal applications were submitted, of which 8 were approved.

Online casino games, classed by the MGA as Type 1 gaming, accounted for 78.9% of B2C gross gaming revenue in 2025, up 9% points year-on-year. Sports betting’s share fell to 14.5%, down from 25.6% in 2024.

Readers considering Malta as a jurisdiction can find the full breakdown of costs and timelines in iGaming Republic’s MGA licence guide.

Enforcement and player protection

The regulator issued 35 cease and desist letters, 22 warnings, and 30 administrative penalties totalling €162,520 in 2025, with the penalty figure down from €306,250 the previous year, a fall of roughly 47%. Warnings also declined, from 35 in 2024 to 22 last year, and the MGA suspended one licence while cancelling 2 others, against 8 cancellations in 2024.

That marks a lighter enforcement year than 2026 has already produced elsewhere. Earlier this year the regulator moved to cancel Winzon Group’s licence with immediate effect, issuing more than €193,000 in fees and penalties in a single case.

The MGA resolved 3,718 player assistance requests during 2025 and reviewed 1,757 player funds reports across 14 data extractions. It also examined 109 suspicious websites, finding 42 that fraudulently referenced the Authority or its licensees, which were added to its public unauthorised URLs list.

On sports betting integrity, the regulator received 280 suspicious betting reports from licensees and shared 192 alerts in response. It also handled 66 requests for international collaboration from foreign regulators, forwarding 12 of its own, and issued 58 official replies confirming licensees’ regulatory standing.

AI policy, crypto shift

The MGA has been active on AI policy separately from the annual report. In May 2026, the Authority launched a targeted consultation on a proposed AI Gaming Charter, developed with the Malta Digital Innovation Authority, designed to sit alongside the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

On crypto, the more significant Malta story sits outside the gaming regulator entirely. The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), Malta’s financial crimes watchdog, reported that Virtual Financial Asset service providers overtook remote gaming operators as the country’s top suspicious-transaction-reporting sector for the first time in 2025, driven by the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.

Charles Mizzi, chief executive officer, Malta Gaming Authority, 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.”

The Authority carried out 7,903 inspections across casinos, bingo halls, lottery outlets and tombola events during the year.

Mizzi’s “regulate better, not more” line is becoming the Authority’s actual operating model, not just a soundbite. Fewer penalties issued alongside a lighter enforcement footprint suggests the MGA is betting on catching problems earlier rather than punishing them after the fact. That bet gets tested in real time as licensing volumes keep climbing into 2026.