The MGA report for 2019 marks an increase in gaming revenue raised on year-to-year basis. Some €1.56 billion were raised towards Malta’s economy by the gaming industry. At the same time, the authority issued new licenses and increased control.
Gaming Industry Raised €1.56 Billion Towards Malta’s Economy, Latest MGA Report Says
The latest report by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) marks a 9.6% year-on-year increase in gaming contributions toward the economy. This is some €1.56 billion which was contributed by the gaming industry towards the country’s economy. According to the MGA report, this placed the gaming industry in third place when it comes to private companies contributing towards Malta’s economy. The first two places are taken by food, accommodation and retail and the professional services providers. The Authority said:
Furthermore, gaming contributes to the generation of value added through linkages to other major sectors, including professional services, financial and ICT activities, hospitality and catering services, distributive trades and real estate.”
Based on the report, some 7,417 jobs were provided by the gaming industry in 2019. This marks a 9.2% year-on-year increase. Some 6,593 of the total jobs which the gaming industry offered were related to online gaming.
MGA’s Report Marks More Cancelled and Suspended Licenses
The Authority did not miss to say that it ranked up the security measures in 2019. This led to the cancellation of 14 licenses and in addition, the suspension of 11 more. Looking at numbers from 2018, this marks an increase as the Authority cancelled only 8 licenses back then. Focusing on numbers from 2017 the gap widens even further, as back then, only three licenses were cancelled by the Authority.
Heathcliff Faruggia, MGA chief executive, commented on the subject by saying: “In 2019, a great focus was placed on ensuring that the Authority’s governance and structure reflected the increased focus on compliance and enforcement.” He continued by saying that increased resources allocated towards compliance led to more efficient regulation.
Focusing on the total number of licensed companies in Malta we observe another increase. In 2018, the licensed operators were a total of 283, while in 2019 this number increased to 294. However, this number is still behind the data from 2017 which showed 296 operators. When it comes to new gaming licenses, the MGA noted that out of 89 applications, it granted 53 new licenses.
More Active Players as Well as More Player-Versus-Casino Games
The MGA paper did not disclose the total revenue which was raised by the gaming industry. However, the Authority shared a revenue categorization based on the game type. Some 56% of the total revenue raised in 2019 was brought in by player-versus-casino games. This marks a modest increase from the 55.4% reported in 2018. Table games accounted for 21.5% of the total revenue. Slots proved the most popular games bringing in 74.4% of the total game revenue.
Another 36.3% of the total revenue was raised by sports betting, down from 39.0% in 2018. From this amount, 76.4% of the revenue was raised by football games, while basketball and tennis raised only 5.9% and 7.7% respectively.
Only 7.7% of the revenue was raised by player-versus-player games. Of that total, 81.9% was raised from poker games. Some 10.3% were raised from betting exchanges. The report further outlined that in 2019, there were 20.4 million players that turned to operators which are licensed by Malta. This marked a 12.7% increase.