Mauritius vs Curaçao vs Malta: Which iGaming Licence in 2026?

Most operators comparing these three licences are really asking two questions: where will my players come from, and how will I get paid? The licence fee matters far less than the answers to those.

This guide sets the three licences side by side as they stand in November 2026, says plainly where Mauritius is still unknown, and suggests which operator profile each one suits. Figures for Curaçao and Malta are those on our Curaçao and Malta licence pages, and the Mauritius figures come from the Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 14 of 2026).

Malta is the benchmark. The MGA has regulated online gaming since 2004, licensed 302 companies by the end of 2025, and issues 10-year licences to companies established in the EU or EEA. Banks and payment providers know it well.

Curaçao changed completely in December 2024. The National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK) abolished the master and sub-licence system and replaced it with direct CGA licensing. It remains one of the more cost-accessible credible licences, but the CGA now investigates beneficial owners, requires local substance and enforces AML obligations.

Mauritius is the newest. The Finance Act 2026, assented to on 12 August 2026, created B2C, B2B and ancillary services licences under the GRA Act. The GRA still has to approve its application form and issue directives, so no one can file yet. Our guide to the Mauritius iGaming licence tracks what is known.

Comparing the annual fee alone gives the wrong answer, because the three licences charge in different ways. Mauritius adds a revenue-linked element: B2C licensees pay 3% of gross gambling yield each quarter on top of the €30,000 fee, and the company pays 15% corporate income tax on chargeable income. At €1,000,000 of gross gambling yield in the first year, the Mauritius licence charges are €65,000 (€30,000 annual fee, €30,000 GGY charge and the €5,000 application fee) before income tax.

Curaçao's annual fee is fixed at €47,450 for B2C (€24,490 to the National Treasury and €22,960 to the CGA), plus the ���4,592 application fee. Malta charges a fixed annual fee, a compliance contribution that starts at 1.25% of gaming revenue on the first €3 million for Type 1, and at 4.00% for Type 2 (first €3 million) and Type 3 (first €2 million), falling to 0.40% in each case, and a 5% gaming tax on revenue from players physically in Malta. Malta's headline 35% corporate tax drops to about 5% on distributed profits after the shareholder refund.

The right comparison runs your own revenue projection and player mix through each model. A low-volume operator and a high-volume operator can reach opposite conclusions from the same fee tables.

None of these licences lets you serve every country. Gambling is licensed nationally in most places, so a licence from Mauritius, Curaçao or Malta does not by itself authorise you to offer services in a market that requires its own licence, such as the United Kingdom or the United States. Offering services there without one can lead to enforcement, payment blocking and loss of banking.

Within that limit, the three differ on how banks and payment providers see them. In our experience Malta is the most widely accepted. Curaçao acceptance is good and improving since the LOK reforms. Mauritius has no track record yet, so we cannot say how acquirers will treat it. If you take payments through a Mauritius structure, a Mauritius PIS licence can sit alongside the gaming licence.

Malta expects an EU or EEA company with a registered office in Malta and licensed key persons, including a CEO, a compliance officer and an MLRO. Curaçao requires a Curaçao company managed by at least one resident, premises in Curaçao and, from 1 April 2027, a key person in permanent full-time employment there who is not a director. Mauritius requires a Mauritius-incorporated company; the GRA has not yet said what local presence it will expect, and regulators are raising their expectations on substance everywhere, so we recommend planning for real local presence rather than a letterbox company.

Many serious operators hold two licences, for example Malta for EU operations and Curaçao for global reach. Some plan to add Mauritius as a further regulated licence once the GRA opens applications.

Five things will decide how attractive the Mauritius licence is in practice, and none has been published: the GRA's application form and directives, what local substance the GRA will require, whether and how licensees may serve players in other countries, the GRA's position on crypto, and how banks and payment providers will treat the licence. We update our Mauritius iGaming licence page as each one is settled.

The dates that are fixed are 1 March 2027, when the betting-platform provisions in section 29J take effect, and 1 July 2027, when the new application, renewal and penalty rules in section 94 take effect.