Malta has tripled gambling taxes from October 1, 2026.

[Julien_Olynpic]

Starting October 1, 2026, licensed gambling establishments in Malta will no longer pay a flat tax on gambling and will pay new taxes, which will vary depending on the product the establishment offers to consumers.

However, the second tax increase does not apply to all categories of games.
Until October 1, Malta had a flat 5% tax on profits. Now, taxes are 15% for casinos and lotteries, and 10% for betting, poker, bingo, and stock exchanges.
https://betstarters.com/maltas-gaming-tax-overhaul-what-changes-for-operators-from-october-1-2026/
This shows that regulators are restricting games of chance the most. However, there's an important nuance that's easy to miss: the tax is now calculated on player revenue, but only for those physically located in Malta. This effectively penalizes visitors to brick-and-mortar casinos.

[mikel_012]

As always the government will try to make more money with taxes and see a decline in volume

I searched and found that in Malta there are 19k jobs created by the gambling industry and €714.4 million of economic value was generated by the industry just in the first half of 2025. Source: https://www.mga.org.mt/app/uploads/MGA-Interim-Report-2025.pdf

And now they want to make more money increasing taxes. But we know many people travel there to gamble and will choose a different country with lower taxes

Like in France and the taxes to rich people, this will backfire

[Natalim]

However, the second tax increase does not apply to all categories of games.
Until October 1, Malta had a flat 5% tax on profits. Now, taxes are 15% for casinos and lotteries, and 10% for betting, poker, bingo, and stock exchanges.

I think it's still not high compared to other countries like.

USA = New Jersey 20% while in the United Kingdom the tax is 40% on casinos and 15% for sports betting.

So they are kinda just trying to increase it based on the standards in other countries, nothing wrong with that, and it's good because it will help the country increase its revenue. and also as the regulations are gambling-friendly that increase is not a big deal.

[Russlenat]

15% tax on casinos that's very generous because casinos have a house edge so their revenue could easily grow especially if people in that country love to play casino games. Last year Malta's gambling industry contributed over €1 billion to the economy, so if they could maintain that level or increase it, the tax collections by the Maltese government could significantly increase. Possibly even doubling from €82.4 million.

[Smartvirus]

USA = New Jersey 20% while in the United Kingdom the tax is 40% on casinos and 15% for sports betting.

So they are kinda just trying to increase it based on the standards in other countries, nothing wrong with that, and it's good because it will help the country increase its revenue. and also as the regulations are gambling-friendly that increase is not a big deal.

It is high enough alright, considering the fact that, you would be introducing to a people, the sort of taxes they are not used to and it does has the ability to isolate and consider individual earnings and on games favored. That would in some way make gamblers to try other options for gaming and gambling.

The UK would always be high as, they are a string gambling country where gambling basically moves their economy amongst other activities like banking and all.

The OP did speak of brick and mortar casinos, how would these apply to the online casinos as it concerns customer winnings and the games played.

[Nwada001]

Tried to access the link on the op but error msg said website owner denied me access  “ The owner of this website (betstarters.com) has banned the autonomous system number (ASN) your IP address is in (29465) from accessing this website”

As always the government will try to make more money with taxes and see a decline in volume

Governments are just the same all over; they are more concerned about how to raise revenue, which is not something bad as long as they do it right and also put it in good use; there should be fewer problems.

And now they want to make more money increasing taxes. But we know many people travel there to gamble and will choose a different country with lower taxes

Lovers of physical casinos are the ones who will be mostly affected instead of flying around looking for a country with favorable gambling tax laws while not changing to online temporarily, which is what I believed most of them would do.

[DanWalker]

However, there's an important nuance that's easy to miss: the tax is now calculated on player revenue, but only for those physically located in Malta. This effectively penalizes visitors to brick-and-mortar casinos.

Regarding whether tax applies only to visitor who are physically present in Malta,
Actually, this tax reform in Malta has brought about major shift for both B2B and B2C operators, whether they are online or land based.
Along with this, scope of tax treatment and VAT exemption for visitor to local brick and mortar casino has also been significantly narrowed down.

Imposing flat 15% tax on casinos and lotteries would deal significant blow to operators profit margin. I think operators will be quite unhappy about this, as their overhead cost are already very high.

[Japinat]

Imposing flat 15% tax on casinos and lotteries would deal significant blow to operators profit margin. I think operators will be quite unhappy about this, as their overhead cost are already very high.

You never know unless there are figures presented. Because if gambling taxes in other countries are high and casinos are still operating there until now, that means they are still profitable despite that. And I don't think Malta would impose this significant change if they had not conducted a thorough study, surely this will not result in casinos stopping their operations.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Did I read it up correctly? 15% tax which was 5% before on remote gaming gambling games which was specified to virtual sports and poker against house? But retain the 5% on all land based casino? I wonder why theres a premium increase on this but remain for their landbased casino.

Was there a difference on taxes mandated on online and landbased operators?

Honestly it sounded like a hike but other countries have a higher taxes when it comes to gambling like our lottery here in our country wimh a fixed 20% tax when you win.

[stompix]

Malta has tripled gambling taxes from October 1, 2026.

Funny how the article says:

Correcting a Common Shorthand

Much of the coverage since April has shortened this to “Malta raises its remote gaming tax to 15%.” That is close enough for a headline but misses two things operators need for planning. First, 15% is the ceiling, not the rate: it applies specifically to Type 1, RNG-based casino content, virtual sports, house-banked poker and lotteries. A sportsbook-only operator, or one running mostly peer-to-peer poker or bingo, is looking at 10%, and a land-based venue is looking at 5% with one levy removed rather than added.

So the exact article that OP links says headlines claiming that the taxes have rippled are misleading.
Meanwhile, OP: Malta triples the taxes!

Seriously, you can't make this up!  

[danherbias07]

Careful for those who will play there. More taxes mean a lower chance to win, so expect to just play for entertainment and never for a win.

Higher taxes don't mean it is just bad news for customers. It's also bad news for the companies in the industries that were stated. It could mean that many of them will not survive if they cannot even reach a profit that would tell them they can continue their business. Maybe that way it could control the number of gamblers who would play, and it could also reduce gambling addiction in their locality.

[yahoo62278]

However, the second tax increase does not apply to all categories of games.
Until October 1, Malta had a flat 5% tax on profits. Now, taxes are 15% for casinos and lotteries, and 10% for betting, poker, bingo, and stock exchanges.

I think it's still not high compared to other countries like.

USA = New Jersey 20% while in the United Kingdom the tax is 40% on casinos and 15% for sports betting.

So they are kinda just trying to increase it based on the standards in other countries, nothing wrong with that, and it's good because it will help the country increase its revenue. and also as the regulations are gambling-friendly that increase is not a big deal.

This is just the start though, expect more increases on the taxes as the next few years pass. Right now they are just testing the waters to see how much they bring in with the new taxes. There will be another change next year I am guessing and depending on the difference between the 2 years there might be another change in 2 years.

It's all about how much money they can grab. Governments are nothing but greedy IMO.

[qwertyup23]

In the Philippines, a prominent Justice of the Supreme Court stated that the power to tax includes the power to destroy.

I do think that this embodies the situation happening in Malta. When the government increases tax liabilities and burden on a certain sector, they are most likely regulating such activity primarily other than the revenue aspect. Given that an additional tax burden significantly prejudices these gambling establishments, it would most necessarily affect the number of these businesses on their operations.

With that being said, power comes with regulation. With regulation, expect a lower number of business establishments (in this case gambling platforms) to continue their operations given that their margins would be affected.

Will this bring a positive effect on the part of the citizens of Malta? Perhaps? However, expect that this could potentially be a double-edged sword in the long run.

[Cointxz]

there's an important nuance that's easy to miss: the tax is now calculated on player revenue, but only for those physically located in Malta. This effectively penalizes visitors to brick-and-mortar casinos.

This nuance makes the online casino more appealing for operators. IIRC, there’s a lot of brick n mortar casino closing already in the US even if they don’t have a tax system like this that favors online casinos.

I’m not familiar with their law regarding their acceptance with online casino but I’m interested to know if have separate tax system dedicated already for it.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Now, taxes are 15% for casinos and lotteries, and 10% for betting, poker, bingo, and stock exchanges.
~
This shows that regulators are restricting games of chance the most.

This 15% versus 10% tax differential does not indicate that regulator intend to impose stricter restriction on games of chance than sports betting. This 5% difference does not prove their policy intention.

I noticed that there used to be separate levy on gaming devices in Malta. However, in new framework, tax and device levy have been combined. So claiming that total tax burden has tripled based solely on shift from 5% to 15% is misleading.

Actual impact varies according to the operator's activity and category.

[fighter2627]

I think the 15% taxes they will collect are still low compared to other countries which are even higher. Although 15% can still be considered a lot. That's just how the government
is because they will really find a way to raise funds from their constituents.

In our country, they will really do everything they can to collect taxes and they don't care if the citizens they are subject to are poor, the government has something to collect
and then they just steal from corrupt government officials.

[freedomgo]

I think the 15% taxes they will collect are still low compared to other countries which are even higher. Although 15% can still be considered a lot. That's just how the government
is because they will really find a way to raise funds from their constituents.

15% is not high,... actually gambling taxes should even be higher than income taxes since this business is very profitable due to its wide reach through online gambling,
So they deserve to pay more to help the people who are losing as well, since it's gambling and a country with growing revenue because of gambling especially if most gamblers are locals, that means other people's lives are being ruined.

In our country, they will really do everything they can to collect taxes and they don't care if the citizens they are subject to are poor, the government has something to collect
and then they just steal from corrupt government officials.

I guess this country is Philippines?

[Ziskinberg]

This 15% versus 10% tax differential does not indicate that regulator intend to impose stricter restriction on games of chance than sports betting. This 5% difference does not prove their policy intention.

Based on the news it was just the tax increase that changed, but in terms of policy, I think that could change anytime because eventually a country that is not yet strict now could become stricter as they follow industry standards, particularly on anti-money laundering regulations. As long as it's not hard to comply for legitimate operators, there's no problem with that because with the systems we have now, AI can already help them with compliance so I don't see stricter regulations as a major problem, all they care about is their profit, now it's reduced due to higher taxes but they can still operate profitably and survive.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

15% tax on casinos that's very generous because casinos have a house edge so their revenue could easily grow especially if people in that country love to play casino games. Last year Malta's gambling industry contributed over €1 billion to the economy, so if they could maintain that level or increase it, the tax collections by the Maltese government could significantly increase. Possibly even doubling from €82.4 million.

It doesn’t work like that – haven’t you heard of the Laffer curve?

Imposing flat 15% tax on casinos and lotteries would deal significant blow to operators profit margin. I think operators will be quite unhappy about this, as their overhead cost are already very high.

And the customers too. Don’t go thinking the casinos are going to absorb the tax. They’ll pass it on to the customer as much as they can, by raising the house edge, scrapping or scaling back promotions, and so on. Ultimately, this leads to a worse experience for the customer, who will end up betting less.

This is just the start though, expect more increases on the taxes as the next few years pass. Right now they are just testing the waters to see how much they bring in with the new taxes. There will be another change next year I am guessing and depending on the difference between the 2 years there might be another change in 2 years.

It's all about how much money they can grab. Governments are nothing but greedy IMO.

That is, until the point comes when, after several tax rises, they end up collecting less than they did before the first tax rise.

[Betwrong]

~This shows that regulators are restricting games of chance the most. However, there's an important nuance that's easy to miss: the tax is now calculated on player revenue, but only for those physically located in Malta. This effectively penalizes visitors to brick-and-mortar casinos.

Well, it to me it means only one thing - people will be abandoning brick-and-mortar casinos more and more. I can understand gamblers that want to play in land-based casinos, I mean I can see what they like there, but to me they are dinosaurs. People increasingly dislike the atmosphere inside those casinos, and if they want to gamble, they gamble online. I am one of those people myself. I don't want to spend in casino all day, which is often happens if you go to a land-based casino. I want to be able to play for half an hour, when I feel like it, and that's the time you only spend on driving to a brick-and-mortar casino.