The new Maltese gaming tax regulations : has the competitive edge been retained?

Abstract

The expansion of the gaming industry, especially the sector of Remote Gaming has expanded over the past few years. This affected national economies by several means such as creation of new jobs, providing higher wages, and introducing foreign investment in the country. The remote gaming industry plays an important role in the Maltese economic sector and has become one of the most talked about innovative sectors in Parliamentary debates, among scholars and through society as a whole as it affected other business parts throughout the islands such as the renting sector, the banking sector and the information technology (IT) infrastructure sector, naming a few. Do the laws at present hold a competitive edge when compared to similar jurisdictions? When was this competitive edge created? In order to formulate an answer, an analysis of the new Maltese Gaming Tax Regulations, Legal Notice 248 of 2018, is to be carried out. This will give insight on whether or not this legislation is the reason for these entities to come to operate in the country, keeping in mind the previous gaming regulations and other competitive jurisdictions.Other tax regimes, apart from Gaming Tax, which remote Gaming operators are faced with when they register under the Maltese jurisdiction are the Corporate Taxation and the Value Added Tax. An explanation of these three tax regimes is needed in order to clarify whether these hinder the incentives provided by the Maltese Gaming Tax regime or if they complement and support the competition presented by Maltese legislation. The dissertation also provides a comparative analysis with the Isle of Man, Alderney and Gibraltar, jurisdictions considered to provide similar gaming schemes to the Maltese gaming legal framework. Where does the Maltese jurisdiction stand when compared to these foreign regimes?This dissertation seeks to understand how the new gaming tax regime has affected the gaming sector and whether or not it has lead Malta to retain its competitive edge.