THE MIZZI MANDATE: SETTING MALTA’S REGULATORY COURSE
Since taking the helm at Malta Gaming Authority in January 2024, Charles Mizzi has overhauled processes, boosted responsiveness, and doubled down on quality. Ahead of speaking at the SBC Summit, MGA’s CEO explains how Malta intends to remain the benchmark for regulated gaming – focusing on quality over scale in an era of fierce jurisdictional competition.
At ICE Barcelona 2025, you highlighted MGA’s ambition to position Malta as a premier hub. What strategic elements are you prioritising to maintain this position amid growing global jurisdictional competition?
Our ambition is to solidify Malta’s standing as a high-value jurisdiction – one that continues to offer regulatory certainty, operational depth, and forward-looking governance. With more countries entering the regulatory fold, our response is not to chase scale, but to double down on quality, efficiency, and long-term relevance.
One clear area of focus is our B2B offering. Malta’s mature regulatory framework has created a thriving ecosystem where most of the leading B2C operators are already established. Tis gives us a natural advantage to further develop Malta as a B2B hub – enticing technology providers, platform developers, and content creators to base their operations here.
Tat said, we recognise the need to streamline our processes further. Internally, we’ve launched a series of workshops aimed at simplifying and accelerating our licensing workflows, particularly for B2B applicants. While it’s early days, we are already seeing some improvement in application volumes and operator feedback. It’s a signal that our direction of travel is the right one, even if there’s more to do.
More broadly, we’re focused on enhancing regulatory agility through smarter, risk-based oversight, and investing in digital tools to strengthen our technological capacity.
After taking up the reins in January 2024, you conducted a review of MGA’s internal processes. What improvements have been implemented, and what has been their impact on operator responsiveness?
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We undertook a methodical assessment of our internal workflows with a view to streamlining operations, reducing bottlenecks, and improving accountability. Key improvements include the restructuring of our authorisations process to allow for better triaging and prioritisation of licence applications, as well as digitising more of our compliance reporting mechanisms.
As a result, operators are now benefiting from greater clarity in communication, shorter turnaround times in procedural steps, and a more responsive, solutions-oriented Authority. While regulatory robustness remains non-negotiable, we believe that efficiency and high standards can – and must – coexist.
MGA has renewed and expanded Memoranda of Understanding with regulators like UK Gambling Commission, Alderney, and engaged with organisations like INTERPOL and UNODC. What is the significance of these relationships? How do they enhance regulatory efficacy and global alignment?
In a sector where regulatory approaches remain largely fragmented, it’s never been more important to foster meaningful, structured cooperation. Gaming may not be harmonised at EU level, but the risks we face are increasingly cross-border: whether it’s financial crime, match-fixing, or unlicensed activity. Tat makes collaboration not optional, but essential.
Renewing and expanding MoUs with other jurisdictions enhances our ability to share not just intelligence, but also best practices. Tese relationships allow us to align supervisory approaches where appropriate, learn from one another’s experiences, and strengthen the overall quality and consistency of regulation across markets.
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