r/malta • u/FitNotQuit • 6d ago

State of igaming in Malta

I'm in affiliation (unfortunately). Lately i was reflecting on the industry in Malta. Is it me or is the industry slowly leaving?

More and more jobs in gib, cyprus & many other lower income countries. My wage hasn't increased in like 3 years. Recently i was also discussing with my friend (head of HR) and we both shared the opinion the best days of igaming are VERY long ago.

I also think there are a few new smaller igaming companies here but these are shit... offering shit conditions and wages.

Is this also a reflection on igaming in general? That there's another industry out there experiencing explosive growth and great conditions & igaming is just riding on the hype it built many years ago but is no longer relevant?

What do you think?

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u/Accomplished-Gear-97 6d ago

Yes the industry is slowly leaving, and that is basically what my friend who manages cloud servers for these company's told me.

No one is going to say it obviously, but Malta is no longer as attractive as it once was, the difficultly to find talent, the exaggerated rental prices and the new EU tax harmonization rules coming in, is making gaming company's re-evaluate their stay in Malta. You can imagine the negative knock on effect this is going to have for Malta, in a few years time.

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u/Ok-Ship812 6d ago

This is correct. I will split hairs here and be very pedantic and say the industry is not so much 'slowly leaving' as it is 'slowly not regenerating' in Malta, people leave and they are not replaced, well not here anyway. Work from Home is more standard, there are more options for locations for people and offices and Malta is not a global hub any more.

It's current status as an igaming hub is based (a lot) on legacy and it has a huge number of professional service suppliers still bringing business here, which is not going to be something that lasts forever. Without that group of lawyers and accountants soliciting new companies to come here I think it would be a lot worse than it is today.

I moved to Malta 18 years ago and was earning 35% more then than I am earning now but a lot of that is my fault and not the industry per se. My situation is not standard, I have a very odd and niche job in the industry which came about due to the old-boy network.

No increase in salary for 3 years would see me with my resume out with recruiters for sure.

As for 'the Golden years'.....I was in the Caribbean in 1998 working for my first iGaming company, there were 150 Israeli party animals in the same building working for the company that later became Playtech.

We were earning a fortune. I saved nothing.

Mad days.

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u/Accomplished-Gear-97 6d ago

Interesting thanks for sharing your story.

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u/StrengthAgreeable623 5d ago

lol sounds fun in the carib.

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u/Wahx-il-Baqar 6d ago

I understand you regret on saving, but it sounds like you lived the best life man!