Maltas land-based gaming in 2024: fewer players, higher stakes
Maltas land-based gaming sector saw fewer players walk through its doors in 2024, but those who did spent more money per visit than ever before, according to the Malta Gaming Authoritys (MGA) Annual Report 2024.
The data offers a deep dive into how Maltese residents, tourists, and foreign nationals living on the island are engaging with 바카라s, controlled gaming premises, commercial bingo halls, and the national lottery. 바카라er preferences are shifting, demographics are diversifying, and business models are adapting, explained the MGA.??
Steady revenue amid changing player patterns
Despite a decline in player visits, total land-based Gross Revenue (GR) across all verticals remained strong.
Casinos remained the dominant force, registering 889,902 player visitsa 3.8% decrease from 2023and 201,432 new registrations, down from 225,462 the previous year. Despite this drop, 바카라 revenue remained steady, with an average gross revenue (GR) per visit of 68.60, generating an estimated 61 million in total. The average GR per visit is the highest ever recorded, up 10.5% from 2023. This notable increase can be attributed to changes in the business model of 바카라 operations and further investments in the products offered to players, the stated.
Controlled gaming premises recorded a sharper decline, with 83,243 visits, representing a 29.6% decrease year-on-year. New player registrations also fell by 38.6%, totalling just 2,080. This translated into a 30.9% drop in GR, though the average GR per visit held stable at 23.60, amounting to approximately 2 million in total GR.
Commercial bingo halls faced both operational disruptions and a shrinking player base. Visits declined by 14.1%, largely due to the closure of two venues and a temporary shutdown of another. Nevertheless, the sector registered 1,697 new players and maintained performance through increased spend per player, resulting in only a 5.1% decrease in GR, with total earnings estimated at 1.8 million.
Meanwhile, the land-based National Lottery remained a solid contributor, generating 18.5 million in taxes and adding nearly 468,000 to the Social Causes Fund.
The MGA collected the following from land-based verticals:
- Casinos: ~20.1 million
- Controlled Gaming Premises: 652,798
- National Lottery: 18.5 million
- Bingo: 287,982
- Total Collected: ~39.5 million
바카라er preferences and demographics
Casinos continue to be tourist-driven, with 65.7% of visits in 2024 coming from non-Maltese players. Younger demographics are showing more interest, with visits by 18C24-year-olds up by 20.6%, a shift the MGA attributes to Maltas growing appeal as a cosmopolitan destination among younger adults.
Controlled gaming premises attracted a predominantly male clientele, with 80.4% of visitors identifying as male. The customer base also skewed younger, with 47.1% of visitors aged between 35 and 54, and a further 23.1% falling within the 25 to 34 age bracket.
These outlets are also shifting demographically: only 38.4% of their visits came from Maltese nationals. This trend continues to reflect the changing demographic composition of the resident population in Malta, the MGA explained, referring to the growing proportion of non-Maltese residents living on the island.
Commercial bingo stands out as the most localised and age-skewed vertical. 94.9% of visitors were Maltese, and 55.8% aged 65 and above. The gender split also differed from other verticals81.6% of bingo employees were women in 2024, and the player base largely reflected that, consisting predominantly of female participants.
Employment: modest growth, shifting profiles
The land-based gaming sector continues to be a modest but stable source of employment. In total, the land-based gaming sector accounted for 896 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, representing a small fraction of the wider gaming workforce in Malta, which totals 14,357 employees working for companies licensed by the MGA, including those in the online gaming industry.
In 2024, 바카라s employed 572 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, representing a 1.2% increase. Controlled gaming premises reported 56 employees, a decline of 8.2%, while the national lottery employed 216 people. Bingo halls employed 35 people, with a predominantly female workforce (81.6%) and a growing proportion of non-Maltese staff, who now make up 55.3% of employees.
Geographically, the Northern Harbour and Southern Harbour regions hosted the largest concentration of controlled gaming premises and, thus, the highest number of visits. These areas remain the epicentres of land-based gaming activity due to both high population and tourism flows.
Self-exclusion: responsible gaming on the rise
In 2024, 1,691 individuals requested self-exclusion from land-based gambling, a 6% increase from the previous year. The MGA attributed this rise to increased awareness and better self-regulation tools.
The most common self-exclusion period was 12 months, accounting for 65.6% of all requests. In terms of demographics, the majority of exclusions came from individuals aged 35 to 54, who made up 36.8% of the total. Young adults aged 18 to 24 represented only 3.8%, while men accounted for 77.1% of all self-exclusion requests.
