Malta’s shift to B2B gaming activities bears fruit

The number of iGaming employees in Malta reached 13,929 by June 2025, marking a 11.7 per cent jump year-on-year.

The increase is large by any standards, but when seen against the context of the Maltese industry over the preceding years, it stands out as a major shift.

June 2024 saw a 3.9 per cent decrease in employment over June 2023, which had itself seen employment in the sector grow by under 1 per cent.

The trend, then, was of anaemic growth if not outright decline in the number of employees engaged in iGaming in Malta – although it should be noted that GVA has increased significantly and consistently over the same period.

Now, Malta’s iGaming sector now seems to have turned a corner and begun a new cycle of growth.

In fact, while total employment increased, employees working with MGA-licensed gaming companies on activities licensed by the MGA actually declined, while the number of employees working with MGA-licensed gaming companies on activities not licensed by the MGA jumped by a remarkable 41 per cent in just one year.

These changes reflect ongoing changes to the global regulatory landscape for online gaming, which has seen most national markets introduce local licences. Gaming operators therefore need to obtain a licence in a given jurisdiction before offering services to customers – making the MGA licence far less attractive when it comes to the B2C segment.

The number of active player accounts registered on MGA-licensed websites has plummeted accordingly, falling from 20.5 million in the first half of 2024 to 7.49 million a year later. The same can be said for new active player accounts, which dropped from 8.85 million to 2.17 million over the same timeframe.

This has also resulted in a decline in the compliance contribution paid by Malta-licensed gaming companies, from €25.2 million for the first six months of 2022 to €20.8 million for the same period of 2025.

On the B2B front, on the other hand, Malta is booming, with 64.3 per cent of new gaming licence applications being for B2B licences.

By the end of June 2025, the B2B segment accounts for 55.5 per cent of the total licence base, with the MGA noting that this is “indicative of an important trend change whereby the jurisdictional business model under the Maltese gaming licence is progressively evolving towards activities with a lower risk profile.”

The MGA added that the shift “offers opportunities for the engagement of a more diversified skills base consistent with B2B activities, in line with the objectives of the regulatory reform introduced in 2018.”