The gaming sector’s contribution to the economy grew to more than €1.3 billion last year while the number of new gaming licenses halved, according to an annual report from the industry watchdog.
Drawing on National Statistics Office (NSO) figures, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) said the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the sector grew by €55 million, a rise of 4%.
GVA measures the economic value that each individual sector contributes to a country’s economy.
But while the sector’s revenue increased, the number of new gaming licenses dropped by half while the number of terminated licenses almost doubled.
While 31 new licenses were issued in 2022, last year this dropped to 15 as the number of licenses revoked by the MGA jumped from six to 11.
The authority said it issued 28 warnings against gaming operators last year and almost €173,000 in administrative penalties, including one settlement of €66,500 from a company offering unlicensed gaming services.
Meanwhile, administrative penalties issued by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) - which carried out almost half of the anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) checks on gaming operators - reached almost €1 million.
The MGA said seven operators were discovered to be in breach of AML/CFT compliance following 28 interviews conducted by the authority and the financial intelligence agency.
Inspections of land-based gaming establishments totalled more than 9,500 but fell by a fifth when compared to the year before, with the biggest drop seen in the number of inspections of controlled gaming premises hosting electronic gambling devices, such as slot machines.
The MGA carried out 1,661 inspections of controlled gaming premises last year, a drop of 15% from the year before and the lowest number of inspections since 2021, when the authority inspected more than 2,200 such premises.
Meanwhile, 49 websites were found to have “misleading references” to the MGA, with 23 failing to remove the references despite being notified by the authority, which reiterated it regularly published details of such websites to stop consumers falling for “scams”.
Responsible gaming
Gaming establishments in Malta continued to see a rise in popularity last year, with Maltese casinos registering over 225,000 new players, an increase of more than 50,000 from the year before.
Casinos were also visited more last year, with the number of visits to such establishments increasing by more than 130,000 to reach over 925,000.
Turning to ‘responsible gaming’ – tasked with making sure players gamble for entertainment rather than as a source of income – the authority said it assisted almost 4,500 players last year who reached out for assistance, a drop of around 700 from the year before.
The MGA said it carried out checks on 72 responsible gaming-themed websites and sent out 41 letters to operators identifying issues and areas they could improve.
Meanwhile, the authority said it received 255 suspicious betting reports from operators and collaborated with law enforcement and sporting bodies on 34 requests for information related to “manipulation of sporting events or violations of sporting regulations.”
It said it dealt with 45 requests for information from international organisations within the EU and 32 from outside the bloc while making a total of 42 international requests to other organisations.
Outlook
Citing an EY study, the authority said almost three-quarters of gaming operators expected to see their revenue increase next year, with more than half saying they expected employment to increase over the next two years.
Gaming companies also expect to spend more on legal and professional services, technology, communications and marketing services, however.