The MGA licence in 2026: what it costs, what it requires and how the application runs

MGA licence at a glance

An MGA licence is a ten-year authorisation granted to an EU/EEA company after a fit-and-proper review, a funding review, a business plan review and a technical system audit. It comes in two families (B2C gaming service and B2B critical gaming supply) and is priced per game type, so a casino-only brand and a casino-plus-sportsbook brand pay very different amounts.

Headline figures, checked 24 September 2026

Which MGA licence do you need: B2C, B2B or a recognition notice?

If you take bets or run games for players, you need a B2C gaming service licence. If you supply the software that generates, records or controls regulated play, or the material elements of a game, to a licensee, you need a B2B critical gaming supply licence. A company already authorised in another EU/EEA state, or in a jurisdiction the MGA considers largely equivalent, can instead request a recognition notice, which carries a €5,000 annual fee.

The MGA defines a critical gaming supply in two parts: the supply and management of material elements of a game, and the supply and management of software that generates, captures, controls or processes an essential regulatory record, including the control system on which that software sits. Game studios and remote gaming platforms usually fall into this category; payment processors and affiliates normally do not. Corporate groups can hold one group licence when the parent controls more than 90% of the other entities.

The four game types

Everything in the MGA fee model is calculated per game type, so it is worth being precise about which verticals you will launch. The MGA lists them as follows on its Remote Gaming Services page:

MGA game types and share capital (Guidance Note on the Application Process, v1 February 2023)

Share capital requirements add up across types but are capped at €240,000. A casino with a sportsbook (Types 1 and 2) therefore needs €200,000 of issued and paid-up capital; a B2B licence needs €40,000 according to the MGA Fact Sheets 2026/2027.

The real cost of an MGA licence, line by line

For a new Type 1 casino, the first-year cash outlay to the MGA is €30,000 in fixed fees plus a compliance contribution that starts at €15,000 a year and grows with revenue. Share capital is not a fee, but €100,000 must be paid up before the licence is issued, and professional costs (audits, key function holders, local office) usually exceed the regulator's own charges.

Compliance contribution: the variable part

The compliance contribution is paid monthly, by the 20th of the following month, on the gaming revenue of each month. Each game type has its own band table. Type 1 is the gentlest; Type 2 (betting) is the steepest at low volumes.

Compliance contribution bands, MGA Guidance Note on Licence Fees and Taxation (v2, February 2023)

Worked example: a casino with €5 million of annual gaming revenue pays 1.25% on the first €3 million (€37,500) and 1% on the next €2 million (€20,000), so €57,500 in compliance contribution, on top of the €25,000 licence fee. The same €5 million earned from sports betting would cost €180,000 under the Type 2 table.

Two reliefs matter for new entrants. Under Directive 4 of 2018 the full minimum is not due until a complete licence period has elapsed, and start-ups that qualify under the MGA's start-up directive get a 12-month moratorium on compliance contributions.

Gaming tax after 1 October 2026

Malta only taxes gaming revenue from players located in Malta. Until 30 September 2026 the rate is 5%. Legal Notice 84 of 2026, published on 1 April 2026 by the MGA and the Malta Tax and Customs Administration, replaces it from 1 October 2026 with 15% for Type 1 games and 10% for Types 2, 3 and 4 when players are established in Malta, hold a permanent address there or are habitual residents. Legal Notice 86 of 2026 changes the VAT treatment of gaming services from the same date. For an operator whose players are mostly outside Malta, the tax line stays small; the compliance contribution remains the main variable cost.

MGA licence requirements: people, capital and systems

The MGA wants to see a real company with named, approved people in key roles, traceable money behind it and a control system that has been audited before it goes live. Most refusals and delays come from weak source-of-funds files or unclear ownership rather than from the technology.

• Ownership and funding. Every ultimate beneficial owner, director and key person files a Personal Declaration Form. The MGA reviews the source of funds of the applicant and the source of wealth of each UBO.
• Key function holders. Key functions (compliance, anti-money laundering, responsible gaming, risk, internal audit, finance, technology and security among them, as listed in Directive 3 of 2018) must be held by natural persons with an MGA key function certificate, €50 per role. Some combinations of roles are incompatible, and the MLRO must also meet FIAU requirements.
• Business plan. Three-year forecasts, marketing and distribution strategy, target markets and operating policies, all checked against the System Documentation Checklist.
• Technical set-up. Documentation of the gaming and control system, then a staged environment reviewed by an independent auditor from the MGA's list of approved service providers.
• AML and sanctions. Malta applies the EU AML directives; gaming licensees are supervised jointly by the MGA and the FIAU, with sanctions screening overseen by the Sanctions Monitoring Board.
• Player protection. Self-exclusion across brands, deposit and session limits, reality checks and age verification, which the MGA has made the subject of thematic reviews.

How to get an MGA licence, step by step

You submit a complete file through the MGA Licensee Portal, the Authority runs four reviews in parallel, then gives you 60 days to deploy your system in a staged environment and pass an external system audit. The licence is issued once every review is closed. Incomplete files are set to "Incomplete" once, for 60 days, and draft applications inactive for 90 days are rejected automatically.

MGA application stages (Guidance Note on the Application Process; Fact Sheets 2026/2027)

How long does it take in total? The MGA does not publish an overall service standard. Law firms and consultants in Malta commonly quote four to six months for a well-prepared B2C file and longer when ownership is complex. Treat anything shorter as optimistic.

Is an MGA licence valid across the EU?

No. An MGA licence lets you operate from Malta and serve markets that do not require a local licence, but it is not an EU passport. Countries that license online gambling themselves, such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden or the Netherlands, require their own authorisation.

This point is under active litigation. Article 56A of the Gaming Act, added in 2023 and widely known as Bill 55, instructs Maltese courts to refuse enforcement of certain foreign judgments against MGA licensees. In an opinion delivered on 23 April 2026, Advocate General Emiliou of the Court of Justice of the EU stated that EU law contains no mutual recognition of gaming licences and that the provision is incompatible with the rules on enforcing judgments. For a new operator, the practical conclusion is simple: plan your market list country by country and use the MGA licence for what it does well, a respected EU base with a predictable fee model.

What this means for the games in your lobby

Under an MGA licence, the content you offer must come from a supply chain the Authority accepts. In practice that means studios holding an MGA critical gaming supply licence or a recognition notice, with games certified by an independent test laboratory. The question to ask any content supplier is therefore direct: how is each studio in your catalogue authorised for MGA licensees, and can you produce the certificates on request?

Testing laboratories such as GLI, BMM Testlabs, iTech Labs and eCOGRA are the names that appear most often in MGA technical files, and studios like Pragmatic Play, Evolution, Hacksaw Gaming, NetEnt, Play'n GO or Nolimit City are used to answering these requests. Live dealer content has its own audit checklist at the MGA (the Live Studio Audit Checklist), so ask how each live studio is covered as well.

On the technical side, the MGA audit looks at how your platform records every bet and win. A casino game aggregator API simplifies that picture: one integration, one seamless wallet where each debit and credit reaches your own ledger, and per-game metadata (studio, category, currencies, market) that lets you publish only the titles cleared for the countries you serve. A country parameter at launch enforces studio territory rules, and demo play runs on a separate getGameDemo call so free sessions never touch real-money balances or regulatory reports.

Most Type 1 plus Type 2 licensees also want betting on the same balance. SoftAggregator delivers casino, live casino tables and a sportsbook API through the same integration, with 40,000+ games from 200+ providers, EUR and GBP among the native currencies, and wallets either per player currency or locked to one currency per site. The public API documentation shows the full call set before you sign anything.

Is Malta the right first licence?

Malta suits operators who want an EU-regulated base, a licence that covers casino, live casino and betting under one entity, and banks and payment providers that recognise the brand. It suits less well a small team testing a market with limited capital: €100,000 to €200,000 of paid-up share capital plus local key function holders is a real commitment.

Compare it with the Isle of Man guide if you need a UK-adjacent regulator with low duty, or browse the licence hub for the other regimes. This guide is general information, not legal advice; use Maltese counsel for your own structure.

Questions operators ask before applying to the MGA

Sources and last update

Every figure on this page comes from documents published by the Malta Gaming Authority or the Maltese government, or from the Court of Justice of the EU. Where the MGA publishes no figure, as for total processing time, we say so and cite the range used in the market.

• Malta Gaming Authority, Guidance Note "Licence Fees and Taxation", version 2, February 2023 (fees, compliance contribution bands, share capital).
• Malta Gaming Authority, Guidance Note "Application Process", version 1, February 2023 (review stages, 60-day windows, 10-year validity).
• Malta Gaming Authority, Fact Sheets 2026/2027 (new gaming tax rates, key function certificates, recognition notice fee, compliance audits).
• Malta Gaming Authority, Remote Gaming Services and Game Providers and Back Office pages, consulted September 2026 (game types, B2B fee bands).
• MGA and Malta Tax and Customs Administration announcement of 1 April 2026 on Legal Notices 84 and 86 of 2026, effective 1 October 2026.
• Gaming Act (Cap. 583), Gaming Authorisations Regulations and Directive 3 of 2018 on gaming authorisations and compliance.
• Court of Justice of the EU, Opinion of Advocate General Emiliou of 23 April 2026 on Article 56A of the Gaming Act.

Last reviewed: 24 September 2026.