Buy-side acquisition · Malta
Buy a Malta gaming licence — MGA-supervised iGaming acquisitions
Cadena Brokers represents acquirers seeking a Maltese B2C remote gaming licensee — Type 1, 2, 3 or 4 under the Gaming Act 2018. Every entity we present has been pre-vetted for regulatory standing, banking continuity, and clean qualifying-shareholder history before it reaches your diligence desk.
Why Malta
The MGA, the Gaming Act 2018, and EU passporting in one place
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) supervises every remote gaming, land-based casino, commercial bingo, controlled gaming-premises, and national-lottery operator on the island under the Gaming Act 2018 (Chapter 583 of the Laws of Malta) and Directive 3 of 2018, the Gaming Authorisations and Compliance Directive. The post-2018 framework collapsed the prior four-class regime into a single B2C licence broken into four Gaming Service Types, sharply reducing the operational tax of multi-vertical operators and turning Malta into the default jurisdiction for European-facing iGaming acquirers.
For an acquirer, three features matter more than the headline. First, MGA authorisation lets a licensee accept players from any EEA member state that does not maintain a closed monopoly, a passporting reach matched by no offshore alternative. Second, the supervisor’s published licensee register and public sanction history make pre-acquisition standing checks materially faster than in jurisdictions with opaque enforcement. Third, the corporate-tax full-imputation refund regime (effective rate widely modelled at 5% on distributed profits for non-resident shareholders, set against the 35% headline) gives the acquired structure a defensible economic shape for years to come.
Scope
What the licence permits — and what the post-2025 capital rule changed
A B2C MGA licence covers the four Gaming Service Types: Type 1 (RNG-determined casino games, lotteries, virtual sports), Type 2 (fixed-odds sports betting), Type 3 (peer-to-peer poker rooms and betting exchanges), and Type 4 (skill games and fantasy sports). Statutory minimum share capital sits at €100,000 for Type 1 and Type 2, €40,000 for Type 3 and Type 4, with a cumulative cap of €240,000 for an operator running every Type at once.
The headline number stopped telling the full story in July 2025. The MGA’s revised Capital Requirements Policy now requires licensees to maintain a continuous positive-equity position, not just hit the threshold at authorisation. A transitional grace period applies, but the policy is the quiet recapitalisation tax most first-time acquirers miss when they model only the licence fee. We surface the target’s equity trajectory and remediation plan in the data room, so the post-completion liquidity bridge isn’t a surprise.
Player-funds segregation under the MGA’s player-protection rules is mandatory: client monies sit in segregated accounts ring-fenced from operator working capital. Acquirers should expect this to be a focal item in the MGA’s qualifying-shareholder approval review, alongside fit-and-proper testing of ultimate beneficial owners and the proposed board.
What we broker
What sits in the Malta book
Our Malta inventory rotates. At any time we typically hold mandates for established Type 1 operators with active casino verticals, Type 2 sportsbook holders with mature trading desks, and the occasional multi-Type B2C licensee with a positive operating history. Every one has passed our pre-vetting: confirmed MGA standing with no open enforcement, banking relationships intact and ready to TUPE across the closing, an AML programme that has survived recent supervisory review, and a core compliance / MLRO / data-protection FTE bench that the seller commits to retain through change-of-control approval.
We do not name specific entities on the public site. Mandate-specific brochures move under NDA once we have profiled your acquirer thesis: target market, vertical mix, banking posture, and the timeline you need to be live and accepting players post-completion.
Process
Acquisition path
From mandate to completion, we present pre-vetted MGA-supervised options, structure SPA and escrow arrangements alongside your counsel, and shepherd the qualifying-shareholder change-of-control approval with the MGA. Expedited closings are the norm where the target is fully audited and the acquirer’s source-of-wealth file is in good order. See the full Cadena process.
Why Cadena
Why acquirers route Malta mandates through us
- Buy-side only. We never represent the seller. The targets you see have been vetted against your acquisition thesis, not warehoused for whoever shows up first.
- The change-of-control gate, planned upfront. Malta’s qualifying-shareholder approval is the closing event, not a formality. Our diligence pack is structured around what MGA actually asks for: fit-and-proper documentation, source-of-funds chain, proposed board composition.
- Banking continuity is the deal-breaker. A clean MGA licence at a target whose payment-processor and banking relationships have lapsed is a much harder restart than acquirers initially model. Our book filters on operating banking, not just regulatory paperwork.
FAQ
Common acquirer questions on the Malta gaming licence
What is the Malta gaming licence cost when acquiring an existing licensee?
The headline cost split has two halves. Statutory minimum share capital ranges from €40,000 (Type 3 or Type 4) to €100,000 (Type 1 or Type 2), with a cumulative cap of €240,000 for multi-Type holders. Acquisition price for an active going-concern licensee depends on the target’s banking, vertical mix, operating revenue, and the residual goodwill of the brand. We quote per mandate after profiling the acquirer thesis. The post-2025 positive-equity-maintenance rule means the model has to carry continuous capital adequacy, not a one-off injection at closing.
How does change-of-control approval work at the MGA?
Any acquirer crossing the qualifying-shareholding thresholds (10%, 20%, 33%, 50%) must be approved by the MGA before voting rights transfer. The supervisor runs fit-and-proper testing of the proposed UBOs and board, traces source-of-funds, and reviews the proposed business plan against the existing licence scope. It is the most common closing-bottleneck on Malta deals; we structure the data room around what the MGA’s licensing team has historically prioritised, so the file lands complete on the first submission.
Are MGA acquisitions a faster route than a greenfield application?
For most acquirers, yes — but the saving is in time-to-market and the bilateral banking and processor relationships the target already holds, not in regulatory effort. The MGA’s change-of-control review is rigorous; it is not a rubber-stamp on the existing licence. The genuine acquisition advantage is that the target is already live: player base, payment rails, AML programme, compliance staff and historical reporting are operational on day one, not built from scratch over twelve to eighteen months of greenfield application.
What are the four Gaming Service Types under the Gaming Act 2018?
Type 1 covers RNG-determined casino games, lotteries, and virtual sports (€100k minimum capital). Type 2 covers fixed-odds sports betting (€100k). Type 3 covers peer-to-peer formats including poker rooms and betting exchanges (€40k). Type 4 covers skill-based gaming and fantasy sports (€40k). A B2C licence may carry one or several Types; the cumulative capital cap is €240,000. Most targets in our Malta book hold Type 1 alone or Type 1 plus Type 2.
Can a Malta licensee passport into other EU member states?
MGA-authorised remote gaming operators can accept players from any EEA jurisdiction that does not maintain a closed national monopoly. Several member states (Germany, the Netherlands, France for online casino, Sweden for parts of the vertical) operate national licensing regimes that require a separate authorisation regardless of EEA passporting. The acquisition thesis should be built around the target’s actual served markets and the local-licence position in each, not the theoretical EU footprint.
Open a Malta mandate
Brief us — we present pre-vetted MGA targets within days
We work to a single-side mandate. You tell us the acquirer profile, the vertical posture, the banking position, and the timeline; we present qualified MGA-licensed targets that fit. The diligence file is built around what the supervisor’s qualifying-shareholder process actually asks for, so the closing gate is the smallest item on your critical path.
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