MGA Casinos: What a Malta Licence Means and How to Check It

An MGA casino is an online casino run by a company that holds a B2C gaming service licence from the Malta Gaming Authority, the regulator of the European Union’s largest remote-gambling hub. For a player outside Malta, the licence brings EU-standard player-protection rules, a named alternative dispute resolution body and a public register you can check in two minutes. It does not, on its own, make the casino legal in your country.

This hub explains what the Maltese licence obliges a casino to do, how to confirm that a site really holds it, where an MGA complaint goes, and which brands we verified on the register in October 2026. Every brand below was matched to its domain on the MGA’s own licensee records before we listed it.

1. 1
   SS

   Spin Sweet

   Up to EUR 1,000 + 777 free spins over 6 deposits

   • Elmst Limited, Malta company C98783
   • eCOGRA named as dispute resolution body
   • Withdrawals from EUR 20, up to EUR 5,000 a day

   Licence: Malta Gaming Authority MGA/B2C/1055/2024 (Elmst Limited)

   Visit siteRead review18+. Min deposit EUR 20 per stage. 40x wagering (deposit + bonus) within 48 hours; free-spin winnings wager-free, capped at EUR 1,000 per stage; max cash-out 5x the bonus. Skrill, Neteller and Paysafecard deposits do not qualify. Offer shown to EU visitors in October 2026; offers vary by country. T&Cs apply.
2. 2
   SP

   Slot Pony

   Up to EUR 1,500 + 777 free spins over 6 deposits

   • Same Elmst licence and platform as Spin Sweet
   • Lower 30-35x wagering than most of the group
   • Wager-free free spins on even deposits

   Licence: Malta Gaming Authority MGA/B2C/1055/2024 (Elmst Limited)

   Visit site18+. Min deposit EUR 20. Wagering 35x (deposit + bonus) on the 1st bonus, 30x on the 3rd and 5th, within 48 hours. Max bet EUR 5. Free-spin winnings wager-free, capped at EUR 1,000 per stage. Offer shown to EU visitors in October 2026; offers vary by country. T&Cs apply.
3. 3
   SL

   Slotspice

   Up to EUR 1,100 + 1,100 free spins + up to 15% cashback

   • Ludaro Limited, licence issued 29 January 2026
   • Cashback on top of the welcome package
   • Instant banking, cards, Apple Pay and Jeton

   Licence: Malta Gaming Authority MGA/B2C/1118/2025 (Ludaro Limited)

   Visit site18+. Min deposit EUR 20. 40x wagering (deposit + bonus) on the deposit-match stages. Max bet EUR 5 with bonus money. Offer shown to EU visitors in October 2026; offers vary by country. T&Cs apply.
4. 4
   SM

   Slot Mojo

   Up to EUR 1,500 + 777 free spins over 6 deposits

   • Elmst sister brand with the same withdrawal caps
   • Free spins carry no wagering
   • Phone-number login, English-language site

   Licence: Malta Gaming Authority MGA/B2C/1055/2024 (Elmst Limited)

   Visit site18+. Min deposit EUR 20. 40x wagering (deposit + bonus) within 48 hours. Free-spin winnings wager-free, capped at EUR 1,000 per stage. Offer shown to EU visitors in October 2026; offers vary by country. T&Cs apply.

All four brands accept adult players from most of Europe, Canada and New Zealand, but none of them holds a licence from the UK Gambling Commission, and none accepts players from the United States. Check the excluded countries in each card before you register.

What is an MGA licence?

An MGA licence is a permit issued under Malta’s Gaming Act (Chapter 583 of the Laws of Malta) that allows a company to offer gambling from Malta. Online casinos need a business-to-consumer (B2C) gaming service licence. The licence names the company, lists the game types it may offer and, importantly for players, records the website addresses approved to run under it.

The Malta Gaming Authority itself was set up in 2001 as the Lotteries and Gaming Authority and took its current name in 2015. Malta became the first EU member state to regulate remote gambling, in 2004, which is why so many international brands keep an office in the Floriana and St Julian’s areas. The current framework, the Gaming Act and its Gaming Authorisations Regulations, has applied since 1 August 2018.

The four game types a B2C licence can cover

Since 2018 an MGA licence is not split by product name but by “game type”, which describes how the operator makes money and how much risk it carries.

Elmst Limited’s licence, for example, covers Type 1 casino games and Type 2 fixed-odds betting, according to its entry on the MGA register. A casino that offers a sportsbook should show Type 2 on its licence; if it does not, the betting side may be run by a different company under a different authorisation.

What does the licence oblige a casino to do for you?

The licence binds the operator to the MGA’s Player Protection Directive (Directive 2 of 2018). In practice that means you must be offered deposit or wagering limits and reality checks, a stricter limit takes effect immediately while a looser one waits at least 24 hours, and a self-exclusion request must work at once without the casino trying to talk you out of it. Exclusion must not stop you withdrawing your balance.

Beyond the directive, Maltese licensees must segregate player funds from company money, use certified random number generators, verify identity under EU anti-money-laundering rules and offer an independent alternative dispute resolution service. The table sets out what you can expect, and the gaps you should not assume are covered.

How do you verify an MGA licence yourself?

You verify an MGA licence on the authority’s own licensee register, not on the casino’s website. Search for the company name from the casino’s terms, open the entry, and confirm three things: the status reads “Licensed”, the licence number matches the casino footer, and the exact domain you are using appears in the list of approved URLs. If the domain is missing, the licence does not cover that site.

1. Find the legal entity. Open the casino’s terms and conditions and note the company name and registration number. Spin Sweet’s terms, for instance, name Elmst Limited, registered in Malta under C98783.
2. Open the MGA register. Go to the authority’s licensee search at mga.org.mt and search for that company, or click the MGA seal in the casino footer, which should open the same record on authorisation.mga.org.mt.
3. Read the status line. “Licensed” is what you want. “Suspended”, “Cancelled” or “Surrendered” means the casino may not offer games under that number.
4. Match the number. MGA B2C numbers follow the pattern MGA/B2C/xxx/year. Elmst’s is MGA/B2C/1055/2024 and Ludaro’s MGA/B2C/1118/2025.
5. Match the domain. Scroll to the list of approved websites. Elmst’s entry listed spinsweet.com, slotpony.com, slotmojo.com and seven other domains when we checked on 6 October 2026.

A register lesson: an MGA entry can outlive the brand

The register is only as current as the operator’s last update, and we found one clear case of that. Goldroll used to run on goldroll.com under Infiniza Limited’s MGA licence MGA/B2C/367/2016. The MGA register still listed goldroll.com under that licence in October 2026, yet goldroll.com now redirects to goldroll.io, which is operated by Hundise Limited under an Anjouan licence. A quick register search would wrongly suggest an EU-licensed casino. Always compare the domain in your browser with the operator named in the terms on that same domain. Our Goldroll profile walks through the case.

Where does an MGA complaint go?

An MGA complaint goes first to the casino and then, if it is not solved, to the independent alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body the casino names in its terms. The authority’s Player Support Unit stopped ruling on individual disputes on 1 April 2019 and now points players to ADR. eCOGRA is the ADR body named by Elmst’s brands. ADR is free for the player and the operator is expected to follow the outcome.

Keep your complaint short and factual: the account name, dates, amounts, what the casino said and what you want. Our complaint routes by licence page has a template and the deadlines that apply at each regulator. You can still tell the MGA about conduct that breaks licence conditions; it uses such reports in its supervision, but it will not order a refund for you.

Bill 55: the limit of Maltese protection

Malta’s 2023 amendment to the Gaming Act, known as Bill 55 and now Article 56A, lets Maltese courts refuse to enforce foreign judgments against MGA licensees when the licensee acted lawfully under Maltese law. It was written in response to German and Austrian court cases in which players sued Malta-licensed casinos to recover losses.

For a player, the point is practical. If your own country treats gambling with a foreign-licensed casino as unlawful and a court there awards you a refund, collecting that money from a Maltese company can be hard. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on 16 April 2026, in case C-440/23, that member states may require their own licence for online casino games and that a Malta licence does not replace it. The full consequences for Article 56A were still being argued in late 2026.

Is an MGA casino legal in your country?

An MGA licence makes a casino legal in Malta and lets it serve countries that have no local licensing system of their own. It does not override a national system. Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy and several other EU states require a local licence for operators targeting their residents, and some block payments or websites of operators without one.

Whether you, as a player, break any law by using an unlicensed site differs by country. In most of the EU the rules target the operator, not the player, but not everywhere. Our guide to restricted countries explains why brands close their doors to some markets and what the VPN clauses in their terms mean.

Why the EEA status matters for tax

Malta is inside the European Economic Area, and several EU countries tax winnings from EEA-licensed gambling differently from winnings at casinos licensed elsewhere. Sweden, for example, treats winnings as tax-free only when the game is organised within the EEA and does not require a Swedish licence. Finland applies similar EEA logic. Our page on tax-free casino winnings sets out the country rules we could source.

MGA compared with the other licences in this directory

The Malta licence sits at the stricter end of the international licences you will meet, alongside Estonia. The comparison below uses the same five questions we ask of every regulator.

For the details behind each column, open the hubs for Estonian-licensed casinos, Curaçao-licensed casinos and Anjouan-licensed casinos.

The MGA brands we list, operator by operator

Most MGA casinos on this site belong to two Maltese companies that share one platform and one set of terms. Knowing the operator helps, because a self-exclusion, a bonus ban or a closed account at one brand often follows you to its sisters.

All three companies give the same Floriana address and use the same casino platform, which explains why their bonus structures look alike: a six-stage welcome package that alternates cash matches and wager-free free spins, 48 hours to clear a match bonus, and a cap of five times the bonus on what you can convert to cash.

Spin Sweet

Spin Sweet is our first pick because its terms are the clearest of the Elmst group on dispute handling: they name eCOGRA as the ADR body and set out a 72-hour processing target once identity checks are complete. The welcome package splits EUR 1,000 in matches across deposits one, three and five and gives up to 777 free spins on the other three. The full picture, including the conflict between a EUR 10 and a EUR 5 maximum bet in two different bonus documents, is in our Spin Sweet profile.

Slot Pony

Slot Pony runs on the same licence and cashier as Spin Sweet but asks for less play-through: 35 times deposit plus bonus on the first match and 30 times on the third and fifth. On a EUR 100 first deposit with a EUR 100 match, that is EUR 7,000 of bets, against EUR 8,000 at a 40x brand.

Slotspice

Slotspice is one of Ludaro Limited’s brands, launched under a licence the MGA issued in January 2026. Its package adds cashback, starting at 10% and rising to 15%, to the usual match and free-spin stages. New brands have no complaint history, so read the terms with extra care before a large deposit.

Slot Mojo

Slot Mojo is an Elmst sister brand with a EUR 1,500 match package and the same wager-free free-spin stages. Pick it over Spin Sweet only if you prefer its game selection, because the licence, limits and dispute route are identical.

Paying at MGA casinos

MGA brands rarely take cryptocurrency. EU anti-money-laundering rules and the payment providers they work with make fiat rails the default: instant bank transfers, Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay, Jeton and, at some brands, Revolut or AstroPay. The Elmst brands exclude Skrill, Neteller and Paysafecard deposits from bonuses, a detail that catches out many players.

Our payment methods hub compares speeds across all licences, and the instant bank transfer guide explains how open-banking deposits and the EU instant payment rules work.

Which game studios can an MGA casino use?

An MGA licensee may only offer games from suppliers approved for its licence, and the register shows that list. On Elmst Limited’s entry the approved Type 1 suppliers in October 2026 included Evolution, Pragmatic Play (through Arrise), Play’n GO, Playtech, ELK Studios, Relax Gaming, Yggdrasil, Thunderkick and the platform provider Dinotech. That is a useful cross-check: a game in the lobby from a studio that is not on the list, or a studio you know to be unlicensed, is a warning sign.

The supplier list also tells you what to expect from the lobby. With Evolution approved, live roulette, blackjack and game shows should be available, though live tables usually count little or nothing towards bonus wagering. Elmst’s bonus rules exclude live casino and RNG table games from wagering altogether, so a player who mainly wants live tables gains nothing from the welcome match and is better off declining it.

Return-to-player figures are set by the studio, and many studios release the same slot in several RTP versions. An MGA licence does not fix which version a casino picks. Open the game’s information screen inside the casino to see the RTP that applies there.

Reading an MGA welcome offer before you claim it

Bonus terms at MGA brands are strict in one particular way: time. Most of the Elmst and Ludaro packages give you 48 hours from claiming a match bonus to finish the wagering, after which the bonus and anything won with it disappear. A worked example shows why that matters.

At about eight seconds a spin, 4,000 spins take close to nine hours of play inside two days. If that sounds like more than you planned, skip the match and take only the wager-free free spins stages, or play without a bonus. The free spins in these packages are worth EUR 0.10 each and their winnings carry no wagering, which makes them the better-value part of most offers.

Red flags that an “MGA licence” claim is not what it seems

• The footer shows an MGA logo, but clicking it opens an image rather than a page on authorisation.mga.org.mt.
• The licence number in the footer differs from the one in the terms and conditions.
• The company in the terms is not the company on the MGA record, or the domain is missing from the approved URL list.
• The site accepts players from countries that its own terms exclude, or tells you to use a VPN.
• Customer support cannot name the ADR body. Every MGA B2C licensee must offer one.

Any one of these is reason to stop and check. Two or more, and we would not deposit.

Identity checks: what an MGA casino will ask for, and when

Expect to prove who you are before your first meaningful withdrawal. EU anti-money-laundering law requires checks once a customer’s activity passes a threshold, and the Elmst terms make the point explicit: the company must request verification documents at the latest when a player reaches EUR 2,000 in deposits, counted either since the account opened or over a rolling 180 days. In practice many players are asked earlier, at the first withdrawal.

Send documents through the casino’s upload page or the verification address in its terms, never as screenshots in live chat. If a withdrawal sits “pending” beyond the time in the terms, ask whether anything is missing from your file before you file a complaint.

Small print that costs money at MGA brands

Three clauses in the Elmst terms are worth knowing before you deposit. First, every deposit must be wagered at least once before it can be withdrawn, so you cannot deposit and immediately cash out. Second, if you ask for an unplayed deposit back, a 5% refund fee applies, with a minimum of EUR 10. Third, an account left untouched for 30 months starts paying a dormant-account fee of EUR 5. None of these is unusual, but none is printed on the welcome banner either.

The Spin Sweet bonus documents also contradict each other on the maximum stake while a bonus is active: the welcome terms say EUR 10, the general bonus terms EUR 5. Stay at or below EUR 5 and you are safe under both.

What changed for MGA casinos in 2026

• New licences. Ludaro Limited received MGA/B2C/1118/2025 on 29 January 2026 and launched several brands under it during the year, Slotspice among them.
• The CJEU ruling. On 16 April 2026 the Court of Justice confirmed, in C-440/23, that member states may make online casino games subject to their own licence and that a Malta licence does not replace it.
• Enforcement abroad. National regulators continue to act against Malta-licensed companies that target their market without a local licence. Sweden’s Spelinspektionen banned Claymore Malta on 8 January 2026, a reminder that an EU licence is not a passport.

Who should choose an MGA casino?

Pick an MGA-licensed brand if you live in a country that allows you to play at EU-licensed casinos, you pay by bank or card, and you want the strongest dispute route available outside your own national system. Players who want to pay in Bitcoin will find few MGA options; the crypto casinos guide covers the licences that accept coins. If your country runs its own licensing system, a locally licensed casino gives you national self-exclusion and local courts, which no Maltese licence can match.

For a single view of every licence and payment rail in the directory, go back to the All Casinos International directory.

Frequently asked questions

What does MGA stand for on a casino site?

MGA is the Malta Gaming Authority, the regulator that licenses gambling companies based in Malta. A casino showing the MGA seal should hold a B2C gaming service licence whose number follows the pattern MGA/B2C/number/year.

How can I check if a casino really has an MGA licence?

Search the company name from the casino terms on the MGA licensee register at mga.org.mt, or click the seal in the footer. Confirm the status reads Licensed, the number matches and the exact website address appears in the list of approved domains.

Will the Malta Gaming Authority solve my dispute with a casino?

No. The MGA Player Support Unit stopped ruling on individual disputes on 1 April 2019. Complain to the casino first, then take the case to the independent ADR body named in its terms, such as eCOGRA. The service is free for players.

Are MGA casinos legal everywhere in Europe?

No. An MGA licence makes the casino legal in Malta, but countries such as Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands require their own licence for operators that target their residents. Check your own national rules before you sign up.

Do MGA casinos accept cryptocurrency?

Very few do. The MGA brands we list use instant bank transfers, cards, Apple Pay and e-wallets such as Jeton. Crypto casinos in this directory mostly hold Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique licences.

What is the minimum age at MGA casinos?

The minimum is 18, or the higher age set by the law of your country of residence. Spin Sweet’s terms, for example, require players to be over 18 and to have reached the legal age where they live.