Malta Gaming Board - Licences for Foreign Betting Centres being Processed

MALTA GAMING BOARD -

Licenses for Foreign Betting Centres now being Processed (2001)

The Gaming Board is at present processing 20 new licences for foreign on-line betting companies planning to set up base in Malta.

When the government passed legislation last year enabling on-line betting centres to set up base in Malta, several companies expressed interest in moving here and many were granted a licence in the first six months.

These include Sunderlands, Stanley Leisure, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Firststake, Luvbet, Paddy Power, Wembley, Unibet, GC Sports, International Allsports and Eurofootball.

Several other on-line betting companies are expected to start operating from Malta within the coming months, thus increasing financial services business on the island.

Most companies are attracted to Malta mainly because of the new on-line betting law which allows foreign centres to operate from Malta. Another factor is the attractive provisions in the Income Tax Act for these companies, with advantageous tax rates.

The fluency of local workers in written and spoken English and the high levels of education are also other factors contributing to the success of Malta’s on-line betting business. Coupled with that is the fact that Malta lies in the European time-zone and is easily accessible from several European countries.

Meanwhile, another on-line betting company Totalbet.com has obtained an licence to set up operations in Malta and thereby pay less betting tax than a British-based operation. The usual home of British overseas betting, Gibraltar, is almost full-up to betting companies.

Taking up to £2m a month, Totalbet.com now has 40,000 registered users with about 15,000 regularly using it to bet. The biggest single stake allowed is £10,000 though the average bet is rather less at £20.