Malta gaming industry buoyant in H1 2017 amid rising figures

The Maltese Gaming Authority (MGA) has published its latest performance report for the first half of 2017, revealing that the gaming industry contributed almost 12% of its total economic revenue.

In the report the MGA revealed that the gaming industry added €556m to the Maltese economy, rising year-on-year from the 11.8% figure reported during the same period in 2016, with the gaming industry being the third most productive sector in the island’s economy.

As an industry, the gaming sector directly generated in excess of 6,400 full time jobs at the end of June 2017, generating gaming taxation revenues of €29m during the first half of 2017, or 5.5% of the total tax revenue received by the Maltese Government during this period.

The number of gaming companies licensed in Malta grew by 6% year-on-year during the first half of 2017 to 282 companies, while visits to land-based gaming casinos and gaming parlours increased by 13.8% year-on-year.

2017 has been a busy period for the MGA, which has overhauled its existing regulatory framework with the aim of streamlining and future proofing all of its various gaming sectors. The MGA has also introduced a licensing and regulatory regime for skill games and has become one of the first jurisdictions in Europe to consider the legalisation of digital currencies at its casinos.

In a statement accompanying the report, Joseph Cuschieri, Executive Chairman of the Malta Gaming Authority said: “Our operations continued to develop steadily. We constantly seek to enhance our regulatory efficiency and efficacy, improving compliance systems and strengthening the player protection mechanisms, aiming at exceeding the established regulatory standards of practice and retaining Malta’s global leadership and standing as a world-class regulator.”