Malta scales back foreign gambling license reforms after industry pushback

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has dropped several planned changes to its Recognition Notice (RN) framework after pushback from the industry, leaving the regulator with a narrower reform package than it originally wanted. For gambling groups operating in Malta under foreign licences, the immediate question is simple: what the MGA can actually require without changes to the law.

1. The RN system lets Malta-based gambling companies operate under licences issued by regulators in other EU and EEA countries, as well as certain other jurisdictions with broadly equivalent AML (anti-money laundering) standards. It covers both B2C (business-to-consumer) operators and B2B (business-to-business) suppliers, and it allows them to avoid applying for a separate MGA licence.
2. That structure has drawn scrutiny because some companies may be running under foreign licences without notifying the MGA. The concern is not abstract: if supervision sits with another regulator, the quality of AML and CTF (counter-terrorist financing) controls depends heavily on that jurisdiction’s own standards and enforcement.
3. According to a recent Next.io report, the MGA has abandoned several of its proposed amendments to the RN framework. It will still consult foreign licence holders and collect additional suggestions, but the shift marks a clear retreat from the authority’s earlier plan to tighten oversight more aggressively.
4. The regulator launched a consultation in April as part of Malta’s National AML/CFT Strategy for 2024–2026. The original package included broader corporate disclosures, more detailed financial information, and a standardized legal opinion for foreign licence applications, but the MGA has acknowledged that some of those requirements may not be enforceable without amendments to the existing framework.
5. Malta is still working through the reputational fallout from being placed on the Financial Action Task Force gray list in 2021, before being removed the following year. The MGA says its final approach will distinguish clearly between B2B and B2C businesses and rely on targeted, risk-based information gathering, with information collection set to begin this year and B2C Recognition Notice holders in the 2025 reporting period in focus.

For PSPs, acquirers, and banking partners, the useful takeaway is that Malta’s supervision model is still in flux: the regulator wants more visibility, but the scope of that visibility now depends on what the Maltese government is willing to change in the law.