Malta ended 2025 with 302 licensed gaming companies and 311 gaming licences, down from 315 companies and 323 licences a year earlier and from 316 and 326 in 2023. Output moved the other way. Gross value added rose to €1.42 million ($1.64 million) from €1.32 million, a gain of 3.5% between 2024 and 2025.
The sector now accounts for about 6.3% of the Maltese economy. Counting the effect on adjacent industries, the Malta Gaming Authority puts the contribution at 8.2%, calculated on National Statistics Office data.
Employment grew with output. Licensed operators employed 15,039 people at the end of 2025, up 4.8% on a full-time equivalent basis from 2024 and well above 13,404 in 2023. Of that total, 950 positions sit in land-based establishments, 10,115 in activity covered by an MGA licence, and 3,974 with licensees holding permits from other jurisdictions or in service roles for Maltese companies.
New licences go to B2B
Applications reached 38 in 2025 against 28 the year before, and 24 of them were for B2B authorisations. Of 19 new licences issued, 12 were B2B. Four of the eight renewals covered existing B2B permits. The register is growing through platform, game and service suppliers rather than new consumer-facing brands.
Revocations rose to 28 from 20 in 2024, while rejected, withdrawn and cancelled licences fell to 11 from 20. Compliance contributions, licence fees, levies and consumer tax brought in €82.4 million even as the licensee base narrowed. Enforcement produced 35 cease-and-desist letters, 22 warnings and 30 administrative fines worth €162,520, with one licence suspended and two annulled. Five cases accounted for €81,400 of the fines, the other 25 for €81,120.
The MGA attributes the smaller register to the industry's shift to 'a more mature phase': operators are consolidating, aligning licensing strategies across jurisdictions and reworking compliance priorities. For affiliates and media buyers, Malta is now less a market for new B2C brands and more a market for suppliers, and that is where offers and integrations are to be found.
