Malta Gaming Authority (MGA): what the licence means for players

At a glance

Jurisdiction

Malta

Legal basis

Gaming Act, Chapter 583 of the laws of Malta (Act XVI of 2018)

Tier in our method

Tier A · quality score 100 of 100 · how we rate regulators

Public register

Licensee register and URL checker

Domain-level check

Yes: the regulator’s tool or seal page lists the websites covered

Researched

5 Oct 2026 from primary sources; confidence high

Casinos we profile

5 of 15

What the authority is and does

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is the gambling regulator of Malta, an EU member state. Its legal basis is the Gaming Act (Chapter 583, Act XVI of 2018, in force since 1 August 2018), supported by regulations on authorisations and on compliance and enforcement and by directives on player protection (Directive 2 of 2018), authorisations and compliance (Directive 3 of 2018) and alternative dispute resolution (Directive 5 of 2018).

A licence is refused unless the applicant and all relevant persons, including anyone with a qualifying interest of at least 10%, are fit and proper. That disclosure goes to the regulator; the public register does not show owners. Licensees are subject persons under Malta’s anti-money-laundering rules, supervised together with the FIAU.

Directive 2 of 2018 requires self-exclusion and player limits. Directive 3 of 2018 treats player funds as a separate patrimony and requires B2C licensees to submit a monthly player-funds report. RNG games need certification before going live. The MGA reported 311 licences at the end of 2025 (326 in 2023, 323 in 2024).

Our tier: A, and why

We rate each licensing regulator, not the casino, on five factors scored 0 to 4. Tier A needs a quality score of 80 or more, verifiability 4 and oversight of at least 3. The tier describes how strong and verifiable the framework is. It is not a rating of any casino, and it does not predict how a casino treats its players; read the licensing section of the methodology for the weights and the tier table.

What the public register shows, and how to check an entry

The licensee register and the URL checker are web applications. Each licensee also has a seal page that lists its licence number, licence type, status, approved game types, B2B suppliers, approved ADR provider and website URLs. That makes the MGA the strongest example of domain-level verification among the regulators we cover.

The enforcement register can be filtered by year from 2013 to 2026. It mainly lists suspensions, cancellations and revocations; individual administrative penalties are reported in aggregate in the annual report.

Register: Licensee register and URL checker. The steps we follow:

1. Click the MGA seal on the casino site. It must open a page on authorisation.mga.org.mt. Check that the status reads “Licensed”, that the licence is a B2C licence and that your domain appears under “Website Urls”.
2. Cross-check the exact domain in the MGA URL checker and the entity in the licensee register.
3. Search the MGA enforcement register, current and prior year, for the entity name and the licence number.
4. Note the approved ADR provider named on the seal page: it is where a dispute goes after the casino’s own complaint process.
5. Keep the date and a screenshot, and re-check at each review.

The same procedure, for every regulator, is in how to check a licence yourself. How Malta Gaming Authority compares with the other tiers is summarised in the licence guide’s regulator section.

If something goes wrong: complaints and recourse

The MGA has a complaint form for players against MGA licensees, and approved ADR is mandatory under Directive 5 of 2018. In its 2025 annual report the MGA counts 3,643 player requests for assistance in 2025 (4,011 in 2023, 3,066 in 2024), of which 1,886 were referred to ADR (2,509 and 1,608 in the earlier years).

Decisions of the authority can be appealed to the Administrative Review Tribunal (Art. 43 Gaming Act).

Limits and caveats

• Article 56A of the Gaming Act, added in 2023, declares as public policy that no action lies against licence holders where it conflicts with the legality of Malta-licensed gaming services. It limits the enforcement of foreign judgments against licensees. Developments at EU level are known to us only from secondary sources and are not confirmed here.
• The MGA’s published enforcement statistics for 2025 are 22 warnings, 30 administrative penalties, 1 suspended and 2 cancelled licences; committee penalties totalled €81,400 and other penalties €81,120.
• The register applications themselves are not machine-readable, so our checks rely on the seal pages, which are.

Casinos we profile under this licence

5 of the 15 casinos we profile name this licensing authority in their terms. The columns are the register finding for the exact domain at our last check, not an assessment of the casino; each profile shows the sources and dates. The same fields for all casinos are in the licence register check dataset.

Questions

What does an MGA seal page show?

Licensee, address, licence number and type, status, approved game types and B2B suppliers, the approved ADR provider and the website URLs the licence covers. The page must sit on authorisation.mga.org.mt.

Can I complain to the MGA about a casino?

Yes. The MGA has a complaint form for players against its licensees, and every licensee must name an approved ADR provider, which the seal page shows.

Does Tier A mean an MGA casino is the right choice?

No. The tier rates how verifiable, enforced and transparent the regulatory framework is, not the casino. A Tier A licence does not make a casino good; each casino’s terms and conduct are assessed on its profile.

What is Article 56A?

A 2023 provision of the Gaming Act that declares, as public policy, that no action lies against licence holders where it conflicts with the legality of Malta-licensed gaming services. It limits the enforcement of foreign judgments against licensees; it does not remove the MGA complaint and ADR route.

Sources

Primary sources read on the dates shown; official and issuer pages open in a new tab and are not endorsements.

• MGA: licensee register · read 5 Oct 2026
• MGA: URL checker · read 5 Oct 2026
• MGA: enforcement register · read 5 Oct 2026
• MGA: lodge a complaint · read 5 Oct 2026
• MGA: Annual Report 2025 · read 5 Oct 2026
• Gaming Act, Cap. 583 (official text) · read 5 Oct 2026