Malta Would Pay More Than Italy Under EU’s $2.19B Gambling Levy

Malta has joined Italy, Portugal, and Spain to block a possible EU-wide online gambling levy, four diplomats told Politico, in a budget fight any one of the 27 governments can veto. Commission modeling would bill Malta about $190 million (€165 million) a year, more than Italy’s share, despite a population just over half a million. The exposure runs through the Malta Gaming Authority license that also underpins much of the crypto-casino sector.

Per Politico’s account, Spain would carry roughly $478 million (€414 million) a year, almost a quarter of the total. Malta would pay about $190 million (€165 million). Italy, at around 7% of proceeds, would pay roughly $154 million (€133 million) – less than Malta, on an economy more than a hundred times larger. Rome’s contribution would also fall well below its usual share of the EU budget, which Politico reports has surprised anti-gambling campaigners. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy passed a resolution last year urging the reversal of the ban on football clubs advertising gambling firms.

The industry’s case against the levy is that it would push players toward unlicensed sites. Maarten Haijer, secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association, told Politico that higher taxes mean worse odds for customers, with illegal markets in Europe “one click away.” Nicola Matteucci, an economist at the Università Politecnica delle Marche who researches the sector, told the same outlet there is a price point at which demand falls but that the effect is slower than operators suggest, because most gamblers are not fully rational consumers. Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who lost more than $1.35 million (£1 million) on horse racing across 45 years and now runs a gambling addiction charity, told Politico in Brussels in June that the industry’s arguments were “window dressing.”

Politico also reports that Roberta Metsola, the Maltese president of the European Parliament, gave the opening address last year at a Rome conference run by SiGMA, the Maltese gambling events company founded by her university friend Eman Pulis, telling the audience she was “more than a little proud” the event had started in the island state. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also spoke. One EU diplomat, granted anonymity by Politico, described Malta as “as dependent on the online gambling industry as Germany is on cars.”