Malta will exhibit at SBC Summit Lisbon for the first time, bringing five public and private bodies to a single stand under the “Make It In Malta” banner. The event runs from 29 September to 1 October 2026 at Feira Internacional de Lisboa, and the Maltese delegation will occupy stand B251 in Hall 2.
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), GamingMalta, Identità, Malta Enterprise and Bank of Valletta (BOV) are all on the stand. That puts the regulator, the agency handling residence and work permits, the investment promotion agency, the sector’s promotional foundation and a domestic bank in the same room. An operator can ask about a licence application, a work permit for a non-EU hire and a corporate bank account without leaving the booth.
MGA chief executive Charles Mizzi framed the jurisdiction’s pitch around what sits behind the licence.
“Effective regulation remains at the heart of Malta’s gaming proposition, but the strength of the jurisdiction extends well beyond regulation alone. Over the years, a mature ecosystem of expertise, infrastructure and support services has developed around the sector, supporting businesses at every stage of their journey.”
Banking and work permits lead the pitch
The two areas the group has put at the front of its offer are banking relationships for MGA-licensed operators and the processing of work permits and residency for non-EU staff. Both are practical bottlenecks rather than regulatory ones, and both fall outside the MGA’s remit, which is why BOV and Identità are on the stand rather than the regulator alone.
Licensing and compliance oversight remain the MGA’s part of the conversation. The authority issued 19 new gaming licences and 8 renewals in 2025, carried out 7,903 inspections on gaming premises and resolved 3,718 player assistance requests, according to its 2025 annual report. Administrative penalties over the year totalled €162,520 across 30 decisions, down sharply on the previous year.
A format tested at ICE Barcelona
“Make It In Malta” is not new to 2026. The multi-agency pavilion was introduced earlier this year at ICE Barcelona and consolidates regulatory, banking, identity and investment services under one roof for the duration of a trade show. Lisbon is its second outing and Malta’s first appearance at the SBC Summit under that format.
The logic is friction. Setting up in Malta means dealing with at least four separate counterparties, and an operator scoping the jurisdiction at a trade show would otherwise chase each of them separately over the following months. Putting them on one stand compresses that into three days of conversations.
Why the timing matters
Malta arrives in Lisbon days before its own fiscal changes take effect. The overhaul of gambling VAT and gaming tax applies from October 2026, so operators walking the stand will be asking about a tax position that changes the week after the show closes.
The jurisdiction is also defending its position against newer entrants pitching on cost. Competing European locations have marketed lower headline gaming tax rates at Maltese-licensed operators over the past year, and the “Make It In Malta” argument answers that with depth of local supply rather than price.
The supporting numbers are real. Gaming and the software and programming sector together account for more than 15% of Malta’s gross value added and employ between 14,000 and 15,000 full-time workers, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO). Malta has held that base since it became the first EU member state to regulate online gaming in 2004, and the concentration of law firms, compliance consultancies, payment providers and platform suppliers on the island is the asset the delegation is selling.
What to watch in Lisbon
The test for the format is whether it converts. A shared stand tells operators that the four bodies they need are reachable, but the work permits and the bank accounts still have to arrive on schedule afterwards. Malta’s licensee count and the flow of new licence applications through the first half of 2027 will show whether the Lisbon pitch moved anything.
SBC Summit Lisbon opens on 29 September.
Source: Malta Gaming Authority
