The Malta Gaming Authority has abandoned several of its proposed amendments to the island’s Recognition Notice framework, after operators and industry representatives argued the regulator was overstepping its powers. The climbdown affects companies that run gambling businesses from Malta while holding a licence issued by another EEA regulator, a structure used by well over a hundred firms.
What happened
The reform effort was launched as part of Malta’s National AML/CFT Strategy 2024–2026, with a consultation issued to industry stakeholders in April.
The target was the Recognition Notice, or RN, mechanism.
These notices permit both B2C and B2B companies to work from the island without obtaining a formal licence from the Malta Gaming Authority.
In practice, this has meant many gambling businesses based on the island operate under licences from elsewhere, Romania being one example.
The scale of the arrangement is not trivial.
Figures cited by the regulator showed that by 2021, 111 Malta-incorporated gaming companies were operating under RNs, including 46 B2C operators.
The MGA’s original proposals had included more extensive corporate disclosures, more detailed financial information, and a standardised legal opinion requirement for foreign licence applications.
Industry pushback centred on two issues.
The system had already faced scrutiny over concerns that some companies may be operating with insufficient oversight, with a major point of contention being that some firms may operate under foreign licences without informing the MGA.
At the same time,
some stakeholders questioned whether the MGA even has the statutory authority to ask for some of the information it had requested.
Faced with that resistance, the regulator has retreated from much of its original plan.
The Authority said it had “reconsidered and refined a number of its original proposals to address concerns relating to proportionality, operational implementation, commercial sensitivity and potential duplication with the oversight exercised by foreign licensing authorities.”
The Malta Gaming Authority still wants to strengthen supervision, but its ability to do so may depend on the Maltese government’s willingness to amend the legislation underpinning the system.
The MGA had committed to begin collecting information from foreign licence-holders under the new regime this year, despite it already being October.
Why it matters
For operators and suppliers structured through Malta’s RN framework, the immediate practical burden has eased.
The MGA has abandoned several of its proposed amendments, and while it will still consult foreign licence holders and gather further suggestions, this marks a stark departure from the authority’s earlier ambitions and may set back vital reforms.
Companies that had been bracing for heavier disclosure requirements, additional legal opinions and closer financial reporting now face a lighter near-term compliance path.
The episode also exposes a structural weakness in how Malta polices cross-border licensing. A regulator that wants tighter AML oversight but lacks the clear statutory basis to demand it is constrained until national lawmakers act. That matters for any operator weighing Malta as a base of operations against alternative EU hubs, since the credibility of the island’s supervisory model depends partly on whether the MGA can actually enforce what it proposes.
The bigger picture
The retreat lands at a sensitive moment for Malta’s gambling sector, which has spent much of 2026 defending its cross-border licensing model on other fronts, including European Commission infringement proceedings and court challenges over the recognition of foreign judgments against Maltese-licensed operators. A regulator seen as unable to tighten its own foreign-licence oversight adds to the pressure on Malta to demonstrate its framework still meets EU anti-money-laundering expectations, even as it tries to protect the commercial model that has made the island a hub for remote gaming.
For more on how regulators across Europe are tightening the rules operators work under, see our industry news section.
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