MGA B2C licence fees: what Malta gaming operators pay
The Malta Gaming Authority charges €5,000 to apply for a B2C licence and €25,000 a year to hold one. Share capital, gaming tax and a compliance contribution come on top.
Applying for a B2C gaming licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) costs a one-time, non-refundable €5,000. Holding the licence costs a fixed, non-refundable €25,000 a year, or €10,000 for operators that provide only Type 4 controlled skill games, according to the regulator’s remote gaming services page.
Those two numbers are where most cost estimates start, but they are not the whole bill. The same page lists a gaming tax of 5% of the gaming revenue generated from the gaming service, plus a compliance contribution whose rates are set out in the MGA’s guidance note on licence fees and taxation.
Share capital depends on the game type
The applicant company must also hold a minimum issued and paid-up share capital, which the MGA sets per game type in its FAQ.
| Game type | What it covers | Minimum share capital |
|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Casino, including live casino and virtual sports; poker against the house; lotteries and secondary lotteries | €100,000 |
| Type 2 | Fixed-odds betting, including live betting | €100,000 |
| Type 3 | Pool betting and betting exchanges, peer-to-peer poker and bingo, commission-based games | €40,000 |
| Type 4 | Controlled skill games | €40,000 |
Companies approved for several game types must meet these amounts cumulatively, up to a cap of €240,000.
A licence now runs for ten years
Once the application review is completed, the MGA issues a gaming licence valid for ten years, the authority says in its application process guidance note. Under the Gaming Act, in force since 2018, licences that were already active that year were extended by five years to align with the ten-year term, according to the MGA’s 2024 annual report.
What the fee schedule leaves out
The published figures are the regulator’s own charges. Setting up the company in Malta, appointing approved key function holders and preparing the technical systems that the application covers are separate costs, and they usually decide the real budget of a licence project.
Source: www.mga.org.mt