Online casino, live casino, betting, poker, and remote bingo are being removed from Malta’s VAT exemption and will become taxable according to the place of supply.
The changes to the VAT treatment of gaming activities in Malta take effect from October 1, 2026, following the introduction of Legal Notice 86 of 2026. The measure narrows the scope of the VAT exemption applicable to gaming and specifies which supplies remain exempt under the Value Added Tax Act, Malta’s VAT law.
Online casino, live casino, online betting, online poker, and online bingo now fall outside the exemption and become subject to VAT, depending on the place-of-supply rules. For remote gaming operators, the tax may therefore be due in the State where the player is established, has their permanent address, or usually resides.
The shift calls for a review of compliance requirements: VAT registration status, reporting obligations under the OSS (One Stop Shop) scheme, and input VAT recovery position. The review directly affects the corporate and operational structures of operators holding a Maltese licence, one of Europe’s leading jurisdictions for remote gaming.
The new framework also opens the door to a possible increase in input VAT recovery. Operators making taxable supplies may now be entitled to recover tax paid on related business expenses that was previously non-recoverable. This points to the need to reassess recovery positions, including any partial exemption calculations, in order to identify potential savings.
On the practical side, operators still have two key reference points: the text of Legal Notice 86 of 2026 and the guidelines issued by the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA), Malta’s tax authority, which indicate how individual products and supplies should be classified for tax purposes. Alongside the VAT profile, the structure of the gaming tax also needs to be reconsidered, as it interacts with the new framework.
Photo: Micaela Parente, Unsplash
