MGA Licence

An MGA licence is an authorization issued by the Malta Gaming Authority permitting a company to operate gambling services (B2C licence) or supply gaming software and services to operators (B2B licence) from Malta.

The MGA regime is one of the most established in Europe and distinguishes two core licence classes:

• Gaming Service licence (B2C) — for operators offering games of chance, fixed-odds betting and similar verticals to players;
• Critical Gaming Supply licence (B2B) — for platform providers, game studios and aggregators supplying operators.

Licences are typically issued for ten-year terms, with requirements spanning fit-and-proper checks on key persons, technical audits of the gaming system, ongoing compliance reviews, and gaming tax on revenue generated from Malta-based players.

The essential caveat: an MGA licence covers markets that accept it — it does not grant access to locally regulated markets such as the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands or Germany, each of which requires its own national licence. Its practical role today is as a reputable base licence for .com operations and as the B2B credential suppliers hold.

Why it matters: for operators, MGA licensing signals credibility to banks, PSPs and partners; for suppliers, the B2B licence is a market-entry document. See our full MGA licensing guide for costs, timelines and process.