Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority - LGA

Malta is an island situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea half way between Sicily and Italy to the north and the North African coast to the south. Malta is an independent country with close ties to the United Kingdom but unlike Gibraltar and other offshore gambling jurisdictions, Malta is completely independent.

Online gaming and gambling commenced being licensed by the Maltese authorities in 2000 with the enactment of The Public Lotto Ordnance. This led to the establishment of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) which now regulates and oversees online gaming and gambling in Malta.

2004 saw a series of reorganization of the legislation and the regulatory framework and infrastructure in Malta - the Remote Gambling Regulations were reformed to provide four categories of remote gambling licenses named Class I through to IV.

Class I licenses are for casino operators and regulate games of chance (as opposed to skill) and any game that uses a random number generator.

Class II licenses are used for operators in the online sports and betting sector.

Class III licenses are for advertisers and promoters who operate from Malta (this includes affiliate marketing operators if they are based in Malta).

Class IV licenses are for companies which host and manage the hardware required for remote gaming operations but who are not themselves actually operating as remote gaming operators themselves.

All licenses are issued for five years with an initial fee levied of MTL 1,000 with recurring annual fees charged according to preset scales and an additional gaming tax of 0.5% of turnover.

One point to note is that operators holding a Maltese license must not accept bets from those citizens living on the island.

Further development in the regulatory environment took place in 2005 with the election of the first Malta Remote Gaming Council (MRGC) which is now responsible for all remote gaming operations and support and service providers based on the island. There is now an online forum open to all of the operators and service companies which allows for open discussion of the regulatory, legal, technical and general issues which affect the remote gaming industry.
Finally, in September 2007 the UK Gambling Commission recognised that Malta had attained a standard of remote gaming regulation that justified inclusion on the UK's White List. The White List includes those jurisdictions which the UK believes to be providing adequate regulatory oversight and consumer protection and as a consequence, operators in White List jurisdictions are allowed to advertise and promote their services to UK consumers. As a direct consequence of inclusion on the White List the number of operator licenses in Malta has continued to rise.

Malta also subscribes to the free market dictum in regards to the development of the online gaming industry. A direct consequence of this is that Malta accepts players from the United States and does not recognise the unilateral US ban on online gaming and gambling. This is in keeping with the UK and the European Union stance on the encroachment by the United States on the free market development of the global remote gaming industry.