Malta Licensed Casinos Online

For the long time, Malta was one of a few countries in the European Union that had clear and simple gambling regulation, sometimes it’s even called “the first one”. It seemed that it couldn’t become better but recently, the new changes to the Malta gambling laws were made. Now, the process of getting the Malta casino license is faster and simpler while the player protection rules became stricter. Now let’s look at them in details.

How the Commission Works?

Malta is quite a small country with not so many people living there yet it’s highly recognized by other countries as the most reputable online gambling regulator. The casinos licensed by Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) accept thousands of bets every day and the players are glad to come back again and again. And it shows: in 2017, the casinos with MGA License brought more than 66 million euro to the MGA’s budget and the gambling industry is quickly pushing the country’s economy forward — in 2018, its share amounted to more than 13%. So it’s no wonder that MGA does everything to make sure that all the online casinos licensed in Malta meet the highest standards and continue to influence the country’s economic situation in a positive way. That’s why every casino that wants to joint a group of online casinos with MGA License should undergo the examination procedure and prove that it’s fair and safe for players. Only if the MGA considers it to be 100% ok, a website can get the Malta online gambling license. Besides, online gambling licenses in Malta don’t last forever. As soon as the casino gets under Malta Jurisdiction, it simultaneously gets under the MGA control and any sidestep can lead to huge fines or even to termination of Malta casino licence. In 2018, MGA canceled 8 online casino licenses, twice as much as they did the previous year, meaning that the rules become stricter and the control becomes even more thoughtful. Of course, nothing is perfect and even the very wise can’t see all ends. Recently, some of the Malta Gaming Authority casinos were fined by the United Kingdom Gambling commission for breaking the anti-money laundering laws — they (accidentally?) let a player bet a huge sum of money that was more likely stolen. We hope it worked as a good lesson and now the Gambling License from Malta Gaming Authority is only issued to those completely safe and legal.

Application Requirements & Compliance Highlights

To get into the list of casinos regulated by Malta Gaming Authority, the casino should undergo a 5-stage application and compliance process.

1. First of all, the Malta Gaming Authority conducts an investigation concerning all the persons involved in the financial and business activity of the casino that wants to operate under the Malta online gambling jurisdiction. This is when all the documents are checked to be sure everything is 100% clear.
2. Secondly, it’s the turn of the casino’s business plan. It’s checked in details by the professionals that need to be certain the the company can afford paying out the winnings whatever happens.
3. Next, it comes to operation and statutory requirements. Gaming system, technical documents, rules, terms & Conditions — no stone will be left unturned.
4. If everything went well during the first four stages, the casino that wants to join a group of the online casinos regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) is allowed to start technical roll-out and prepare to go live. After that, the whole system will be checked once again before the website can truly start working.
5. From time to time, the compliance reviews will be held to prove that the website still meets the standards for the best casinos with MGA License. If something goes wrong, the linced can be cancelled or at least the casino will be fined and obliged to make things right again.

Previously, there were 4 types of licenses the online casinos licensed and regulated in Malta could get.

• A remote gambling licenses for the casino games, skill games, and lotteries.
• A remote betting licenses for the fixed odds betting and sport betting.
• A license allowing to promote online gambling for gaming portals, poker networks, etc.
• A license allowing to host and manage gambling operators, like the one that was given to Pragmatic Play.

But the things have changed during the recent amendments to the Malta Gambling Act and the number of licenses that can be given to the licensed Malta Online Casinos has been reduced to just 2.

So the first type of is called “The gaming service license” and is a business-to-person license given to the regular online casinos that want to provide online gambling services in or from Malta. In contrary, the second one is a business-to-business license that is given to those who want to provide a critical gaming supply, host the online casinos, manage gaming software, etc. There are also the lists if games that can and can’t be provided by the casino sites that are licensed in Malta without the additional permission. Both the gaming service and the critical gaming supply license holders are allowed to provide the following types of gambling products:

• Games of chance with the Random Number Generators like blackjack, roulette, lotteries, etc.
• Games of chance where the winnings are not generated randomly.
• Player versus player games.
• Controlled skill games.

The separate approval is required for live casino games, pool betting, fixed-odds games, peer, bingo, and some other.

These new amendments to the Malta Gambling Act made it much clearer for the potential casino owners to understand what kind of license they need, reduced the amount of paperwork for the MGA employees and just made the whole system easier and more understandable which is a big plus. And even though some experts say that the huge success of the gambling industry in Malta may one day come to an end, right now the country is doing everything to attract new online casinos and make it easier for them to bring even more money to the country’s budget.

First and foremost, it’s the players who Malta gaming Authority is protecting by checking up the casinos, carrying out the licensing process, and making the constant compliance reviews. Thanks to the strong policies and principles of the institution, you are able to play in the safe environment without any fears and worries about the casino’s reliability and security. To stop the bits and pieces of the anxiety you have left, please read about the four columns that keep the Malta Gaming Authority casinos the best of the best.

Players Protection

As we already mentioned, players protection is the main priority of every licensing institution and MGA is not an exception. It’s protecting you and other players from frauds, data leakage, cyber-attacks, and so on. The MGA makes sure that the casino is able to protect every player and their financial and personal information, otherwise, the license can never be issued. So when you pick one of the MGA-licensed online casinos from the SlotsUp list, you can be sure you are fully protected and nothing wrong is going to happen as long as you play responsibly (which should be every player’s main principle).

Fair Gaming

What are we looking for in the online casinos? Games, games, and games. Slots, roulette, blackjack, baccarat, live-dealer products, mobile gambling games — they are all different but there is one thing that should be connecting all of them in the casino licensed by MGA and this sing is the complete fairness. MGA is double-checking the Random Number Generators and everything else that might be involved in the outcome of games to make sure there are no frauds and pitfalls and everything there is fair and random. So the games can be different, but all of them are fair in the casinos working under Malta jurisdiction.

Funds Protection

What else should be protected by the casino (with the help of MGA) is the player’s funds. First of all, they should be safe from any kinds of cyber-attacks that are not once-in-a-blue-moon event today, unfortunately. The casino should provide a full protection of the customers’ deposits and financial information. Besides, the funds should be protected from any operation risks (like bankruptcy) so the players’ money should always be kept on a separate account from the casino’s operation funds and can sever be mixed up.

Operator Responsibilities

The last but not least principle of Malta Gaming Authority as well as many other licensing institutions is that it’s the operator is responsible if something goes wrong in the casino. In case of any frauds, unfairness, misunderstandings, and any other unfortunate events, the operator can be held accountable and a player can always fill in a complaint and let the professionals deal with the issue.

To sum up, we can say that the casinos licensed by MGA is everything that a player can dream of — safety, security, the highest level of gambling service and, of course, someone there to back you up if things get out of hands. So if you were still in doubts — it’s high time to stop thinking and start making the bets in your favorite real money games in one of the MGA casinos from the SlotsUp list.