Best Online Casinos Licensed by MGA in Malta (2024)

Information about MGA casinos

Online casino players should always look out for safe and reliable sites to play on; ones they can trust to give quality customer support and pay out winnings as quickly and reliably as possible.

To ensure that online casinos do this, there are a number of internationally recognized authorities who hand out certificates confirming a casino's commitment to high standards. The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is one of the most prominent bodies that do this, and many online casinos strive to obtain a Malta license to show that they are transparent and incorrupt, as well as to be able to operate in countries that require it.

This page will show you how to find the best Malta-licensed casinos out there by using Casino Guru's rating and review system. You will also find out what the MGA does and what its license entails.

Table of contents:

The Malta Gaming Authority license

The Malta Gaming Authority is Malta's gaming control board and was created in 2001 to cater to the growing online casino industry. With many countries failing to regulate, or even recognize, gambling sites, it was one of the first authorities to offer legislation to offshore casinos, providing official regulations and the guarantee of a safe environment for players.

Many companies have applied for the license, seeing it as a way of validating their activity and attracting new players as a result. By 2017, the online gambling sector generated over 12% of Malta's GDP, according to a KPMG report, with 270 gaming operators under its jurisdiction.

As well as online casinos, the MGA regulates land-based gambling on the island, so local casinos, slot machines, betting offices and lotteries also fall under its control. The authority keeps a comprehensive register of all licensees on its website, which it updates whenever there is a change.

To deal with such a wide network of legislation, the authority is divided into different entities:

• An Executive Management Committee, overseeing the authority's major functions
• An Audit Committee that takes care of corporate government and ensures fair accounting
• A Supervisory Council responsible for MGA's regulatory objectives, and reviewing and updating them when necessary
• A Fit and Proper Committee which decides who qualifies for a license by analyzing previous conduct.

The Authority is known for its strictness, which is why the license is so coveted in the gaming industry. Any business applying for it need to adhere to a series of specific regulations, which we summarize in the next section.

The terms of the MGA license

The MGA license is based on its holders following the regulatory framework in line with the Malta Gaming Act of 2018 (Chapter 583), and is generally the same for both land-based and online applicants, with some exceptions.

The parent tier is the Act itself, which recognizes gaming as an activity and the MGA as the regulatory authority. The license is granted via a Maltese government concession upon the company meeting the criteria below:

Regulations

• Eligibility – The owners of the betting company are subject to a strict fit and proper test which ensures that they are suitable to offer gambling business in line with Maltese law.
• Application procedure – typically lasting between four to six months, in which time the MGA will examine whether the applicant has a strong business strategy, completes all regulatory requirements and has the required infrastructure.
• Cost – a ten-year license normally costs between €30,000 and €50,000, but this excludes functionary and salary costs. It might also increase for complex applications.
• Changes in corporate control – if the company changes owners during the license term, then they must repeat the process.

Once the license is obtained, then there are operational requirements they must meet, such as having each game approved by the MGA and strictly forbidding underage gambling.

Restrictions

One area which does vary according to the nature of the entity are the restrictions the license puts in place.

Land-based venues are required to follow certain distance protocols, too, such as being at least 75 meters away from schools and places of worship, and 50 metres from other gambling premises. They must also keep gaming devices down to a maximum of one per two square meters, and a maximum of ten devices in total.

Online operators, on the other hand, must make sure they return winnings promptly to the user's preferred bank account, have appropriate gambling policies to protect players, and advertise fully in line with MGA guidelines.

It's important to note that the license may also be subject to directives during the license term. In cases of important legislative changes, license holders are expected to update any relevant aspect of their business to keep in line with Maltese regulation.

Types of games

The MGA classifies the games it covers into four categories — although some games may contain elements of more than one — and govern them accordingly.

• Type one – games of chance determined by a random number generator, so all slots games, lottery games, virtual sports games and other RNG-based online casino games such as roulette, blackjack and poker played against the house.
• Type two – games of chance but with outcomes that are not generated by a random number generator but by an external event, i.e. sports betting.
• Type three — games of chance in which the operator generates revenue by taking a commission based on the stakes or prize, such as bingo and other commission-based games.
• Type four – controlled skill games.

Making a complaint via the MGA

If you feel badly treated by an MGA gaming authority casino then you shouldn't suffer in silence. To start with, contact the casino directly to file a complaint. If that doesn't work, it's best to submit a complaint via an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) service or via our complaint resolution center. In cases where neither of these actions are successful and you still want to pursue action, you can submit a complaint to the Authority directly and they will decide whether to take action on your behalf.

To do this, you simply go directly to the MGA website and fill out a form specifying your complaint. The form comes with a privacy policy explaining your rights and how they are protected under MGA rules.

How to find the best Malta casino

Any MGA-licensed casino that you find has to meet very high standards, however just having the license isn't concrete proof that a casino is great. You might want to find one meeting other criteria, and this is where Casino Guru can help you.

First of all, our team of experts have reviewed each site and given it a rating out of ten based on its size of the casino and its ability to handle complaints, to name just two things. To see the best of these, click on the 'Recommended' tab – there you'll find those casinos licensed in Malta that impressed us the most. Next, the 'Newly opened' tab will show you those sites that have most recently entered our database, while clicking 'All' will take you to the full list of relevant sites.

There are other filters you can use to refine your search further. If you're a mobile casino fan, then selecting the 'Mobile-friendly casino' box in the 'Popular filters' section will lead you to the Malta sites with that option. You can also choose your favored currency and payment method, among other things, in the other filters there.