Gambling adds 12 percent to Malta’s economy

According to the MGA, gambling has added over US$655.6 million to the domestic economy this year between January and June.

Malta.- Gambling has a presence in Malta that it doesn’t in many other countries around the world and financial reports confirm its importance for the Mediterranean island. According to the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the industry has added over US$655.6 million to the domestic economy during the first half of 2017 and represents 12 percent of its total value.

The amount of money gambling added was up 10 percent from last year, when its contribution meant 11.8 percent of the total economy. According to the MGA, the segment has also generated more jobs (9k full-time jobs) than it was projected (6.4k full-time jobs).

Tax revenue has hit US$34.1 million during said period, representing a 5.5 percent of indirect tax intake. In addition, there was 6 percent more licensed companies by June 30th than there were on December 2016.

The Maltese regulator has announced that its expecting the national market to keep growing “robustly” during the rest of 2017 and to continue doing so in 2018.

Furthermore, the MGA has announced it continues to pursue an improvement of its regulatory framework, designed to “streamline, consolidate and future-proof” gaming sectors under the same criterion.