Malta brings its full ecosystem pitch to SBC Summit Lisbon for the first time

The ‘Make It In Malta’ pavilion, now debuting at a second major international conference, signals that the jurisdiction is moving from regulatory presence to co-ordinated investment proposition.

According to the Malta Gaming Authority, five Maltese entities will share a single stand at SBC Summit Lisbon for the first time when the conference runs from 29 September to 1 October at Feira Internacional de Lisboa. The move follows the ‘Make It In Malta’ concept’s introduction at ICE Barcelona earlier in 2026, marking its second major international outing.

What the multi-body pavilion actually signals for operators considering Malta

The five entities occupying the shared stand, Booth B251 in Hall 2, are:

• Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)
• GamingMalta
• Identità,
• Malta Enterprise
• Bank of Valletta (BOV)

These will cover licensing and compliance, sector promotion, visa and identity services, business and investment facilitation, and banking. Presenting them together rather than through the MGA alone reflects a deliberate attempt to reduce the friction operators encounter when establishing and growing a Maltese operation.

For an operator evaluating a jurisdiction, the difference matters. Regulatory fitness is a threshold question, but infrastructure, banking access, visa pathways for senior hires, and state investment incentives determine the practical cost and timeline of getting live, and having those conversations in a single booth compresses a process that would otherwise require separate bilateral meetings across multiple events.

Charles Mizzi, Chief Executive Officer of the MGA, said:

‘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.’

Why the Lisbon venue is the right stage for this argument

SBC Summit Lisbon draws operators, B2B suppliers, and service providers from across regulated Europe and beyond. It sits alongside ICE as one of the gatherings where jurisdiction-shopping decisions are at least informed, if not made. Malta’s decision to attend for the first time in 2026 follows its appearance at ICE Barcelona, giving the ‘Make It In Malta’ proposition two consecutive high-visibility windows inside the same calendar year.

Malta has held its position as the dominant EU iGaming licensing jurisdiction for over a decade. The MGA framework is among the most widely recognised in European regulated markets. Yet that dominance is not unconditional. Germany’s Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) has expanded its licensing regime, the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has tightened its approach to cross-border operations, and several operators have restructured their European entity arrangements in response to local-market licensing requirements. The competitive case for Malta therefore needs to address regulatory quality and the full cost of operating from the island.

The co-ordinated pavilion format answers that question directly. BOV’s presence addresses a persistent practical concern: Maltese-licensed operators have historically faced difficulties securing banking relationships commensurate with their scale. Identità’s inclusion speaks to the staffing pipeline, specifically the speed and reliability of work-permit and residency processing for non-EU employees, which is a material factor for any company building a technical or operational team in Malta.

What to watch

The forward test for ‘Make It In Malta’ is whether the format converts conference attendance into measurable inbound activity. The MGA has made booth meetings bookable in advance through a dedicated link referenced in its announcement, which allows it to track qualified interest from Lisbon directly. The next data point will be the MGA’s published licensing statistics for full-year 2026, which will indicate whether the dual ICE and SBC Lisbon presence translated into new operator applications or licence extensions from businesses that engaged at either event.

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