Malta opens the door to B2B prediction markets with the extension of Hacksaw's license

WE EXPLAIN THE CONTEXT

Malta is once again at the centre of regulatory innovation in European online gambling. The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has extended the B2B licence of HGMT Limited, Hacksaw's ?ebbu?-based company, to incorporate the so-called Type 3 Gaming Services, a category under which the provider has just launched its new technological platform for prediction markets between users.

Until now, Hacksaw had under this Type 1 authorization license, corresponding mainly to casino games against the house. The incorporation of Type 3 introduces a different category: games in which the participants compete against each other and the operator does not directly assume the risk of the outcome, but obtains its income through a commission or other charge. The MGA itself includes within Type 3 pool betting, betting exchanges, peer-to-peer poker and other games between users. Malta Gaming Authority

In the official register of the Maltese authority, HGMT Limited is already listed with the MGA/CRP/501/2018 B2B critical supply license, authorized for both Type 1 Gaming Services – Casino and Type 3 Gaming Services – Pool betting, including betting exchange.

It is precisely this expansion that Hacksaw uses as a regulatory basis to enter one of the verticals that is generating the most attention in the international industry: prediction markets.

The company has launched an exclusively B2B solution, so Hacksaw will not attract players directly. Its role will be to provide operators with the technology, infrastructure and systems necessary for them to offer prediction markets under their own brands and maintain the relationship with the customer themselves.

The model also includes a so-called "connected volume framework", designed to pool peer-to-peer participation from the network of operators connected to Hacksaw. The objective is to attack one of the biggest challenges of this type of product: to achieve sufficient volume and liquidity from the moment of launch.

Thus, an operator incorporating the product would not necessarily have to generate from scratch all the activity necessary to cross positions between players, but could benefit from the shared volume available within the provider's infrastructure.

The significance of the move goes beyond Hacksaw. Malta provides a concrete regulatory pathway within its current licensing architecture for a product that continues to cause sharp differences of opinion between jurisdictions.

It is not that the MGA has created a specific licence called "prediction markets". Legally, the authorisation granted is Type 3, a category that already exists within the Maltese system and includes pool betting and betting exchanges. It is Hacksaw that includes its new B2B offer of prediction markets peer-to-peer within this authorisation.

This clarification is especially relevant in the European debate. While some jurisdictions have adopted restrictive positions against certain prediction market platforms, Malta is allowing the product to be articulated within an already existing regulated gaming framework, always under the corresponding AMS authorisations.

The strategy also reinforces Malta's historical role as a regulatory and technological hub for European iGaming, especially for B2B providers looking to develop products that can later be distributed in different jurisdictions, always subject to the national rules of each market.

The Maltese authorisation therefore does not automatically make Hacksaw's product marketable throughout Europe. Each operator will have to check whether the target market allows this type of product and which local licence is required.

This difference is particularly important for Spain, where the DGOJ has adopted a much more restrictive interpretation of prediction market platforms operating without a Spanish licence. A Malta B2B licence does not in any way replace the requirements of national legislation.

Hacksaw proposes, however, a substantially different model from that of the large prediction markets platforms that operate directly in front of the consumer: it does not intend to become the final brand of the market, but rather the technological infrastructure that allows regulated operators to incorporate this new vertical.

Marcus Cordes, Operational CEO of Hacksaw Gaming, explained that the company intends to leverage its existing relationships with operators in different jurisdictions and the technological infrastructure and integrations it has developed over the years to offer a faster way to access these products. The iGaming Europe

The transaction also comes at a particularly significant time for Malta. Since 1 October 2026 , reforms to its VAT and gambling taxation frameworks have been in force, presented by the MGA and the Maltese tax administration as part of a strategy aimed at bringing greater clarity, predictability and competitiveness to the sector.