The Malta Gaming Authority is established in the island of Malta, located south Italy. Prior to 2015, the Malta Gaming Authority was known as the Malta Lottery and Gaming Authority. Approximately 80 online casinos hold this license. Players from over 180 countries are allowed to play under this license.
Jurisdiction
Some of the restricted countries are Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Denmark, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, South Sudan, Angola, and Ethiopia.
The United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Poland, India, and Japan are among the countries which are welcome.
Basic Information
The Malta Gaming Authority team can be reached out at support.mga@mga.org.mt. You can also go through their website at http://www.mga.org.mt/. If you would rather talk to the team via phone, you can give a ring at +356 2546 9191 or +356 2546 9000.
Poker sites licensed under this authority includes Unibet Poker, Betfair Poker, Betway, StarGames, PokerStars.eu, NetBet Poker, PokerStarsCasino.eu, and Full Tilt Europe. Apart from issuing all gambling licenses, the body is also responsible for ruling on issues related to casino gaming, amusement machines, commercial bingo, online gaming, gaming devices, lotteries, commercial communication games, sports gambling, and non-profit games. Only spread betting and horse racing are outside the jurisdiction of the Malta Gaming Authority.
A company wanting to receive a gaming license must first show themselves as a corporate entity according to the Companies Act. Follow this up with a written statement containing personal and financial information, criminal history, and involvement in any other commercial activity. The software is tested for about 6 months before the site is officially launched.
The applicant will also need to pay quite a lot of fees to the body for maintaining their license. The Malta Online Gaming License costs quite a lot and it increases with the increase in the number of license holders. The whole process can take anywhere between 12 -16 weeks.
The process works in five stages, namely, ‘Fit and Proper’ Exercise, Business Planning Review, Compliance with Operational & Statutory Requirements, System Audit, and Compliance Audit. There are four types of Malta Gaming License.
Some good news
The Malta Gaming Authority is thought of highly by the UKGC. Though the UKGC does not investigate any complaints by the players themselves, they let the operators know that MGA is their choice mediator. Only casinos which have a valid UKGC license can allow UK players to play in the casino. Mr. Green, Redbet Casino, InterCasino, and Guts Casino are among the popular casinos with this license.
The Bottom Line
This organization has always been slow in responding to the complaints by the players. After 2015, this was tackled by the management by bringing in more people to deal with the issues. The team created a live chat option which let the players directly share their complaints with the team.
Class 1 license is to operate a gaming site which uses an RNG to land winners. Class 2 lets the owner allow sports betting and class 3 lets the owner advertise remote gaming from the jurisdiction of Malta. Class four lets the companies control remote gaming operations. Out of the four, class 3 is the most common one.
Regulated Casinos
The are many casinos regulated by this authority. The ones we really like are:
