National Lottery Licence

Malta’s National Lottery was set up as a government monopoly in 1934. Prior to February 2004, all National Lottery Games, namely the Lotto, Super 5 and the Grand Lottery fell under the responsibility of the Public Lotto Department. Today, the operation of the National Lottery is supervised and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (the “MGA”/ the “Authority”), which is the entity responsible to ensure that all such operations are conducted in accordance with the Authority’s legislative framework.

In February 2004, Maltco Lotteries Limited was awarded an exclusive National Lottery Licence to operate the National Lottery of Malta by the Authority, known at the time as the Lotteries and Gaming Authority. This licence was extended in 2012 following an international public tender won by Maltco for the Concession for the Rights of the National Lottery of Malta (the ‘Concession’) and expired on 04 July 2022.

Following another international public tender in 2021 for the rights to operate the National Lottery, the Maltese company National Lottery plc was granted the Concession by the Ministry for the Economy, European Funds and Lands, in March 2022, and was subsequently awarded the National Lottery Licence by the Authority on 05 July 2022, thus enabling the former to take over the operation of the National Lottery in Malta from the previous operator, Maltco Lotteries Limited. The National Lottery Licence shall be valid for a ten-year term until July 2032 and the MGA shall regulate and supervise the operations of National Lottery plc as the National Lottery Licensee.