https://timesofmalta.com/article/around-120-jobs-cut-gaming-company-sets-exit-malta.1125944
First off, my thoughts go out to the workers and hope they find alternative employment asap. If that could be away from igaming, even better.
But I cannot help but think that igaming is just one big bubble, even bigger than property/construction.
Why are we still persisting in the quick buck of gaming instead of focusing on emerging niches like Industrial Biomanufacturing?
120 igaming jobs to be axed as company exits Malta
byu/International_Bus104 inmalta
Posted by International_Bus104
4 Comments
I know people there affected.
Reality is, UK is not that attractive anymore due to increased tax rates. This impacts whitelabel brands, platforms and service providers. So, some companies pulling out of UK, like Aristocrat Interactive for whitelabel.
Lastly, Malta is losing its hub superiority as the MGA license is becoming worthless with many countries regulated, and companies getting cheaper labour in Eastern Europe. There is also a drive to have people work in the country where the brand operates to be more accustomed to the local market.
Regarding your last question, I believe it all comes down to the price.
Land is expensive here when comparing to other countries, we have limited space, purchasing large areas isn’t cost effective. Also, living on an island makes it harder to be reliant on importing and exporting stuff such as samples or other material.
Gaming companies bypass this, they pay lower taxes as the law states if you compare to other countries, it makes it attractive for them to operate here. It’s also good for the government as it increases employment and is beneficial to the economy.
Stuff like agriculture, or even for example ai stuff won’t be really feasible imo with the limited hardware and expensive shipping here. Almost all tech is much more expensive here when comparing to the rest of EU, especially including shipping, gaming companies don’t rely on this and operate solely online, yes they pay also for servers and employees, but I also do think they have different bases and the lower taxes rates outweigh the costs.
Just my two cents tho, maybe somebody else would be able to provide more information here.
I’m one of the people effected by this and it’s just a sad matter of big company buys smaller company consisting of smaller companies and decides to axe the loss-making company and the rest of the Malta office with it. They have inadvertently axed the whole Finance department of one of its best companies all because they didn’t do their homework. Just a complete shitshow!
I work for one of the biggest company and they’re cutting cost everywhere. They started summer last year and almost every month they made one department redundant just to reopen the same department with half of the personnel