The Malta Gaming Authority is providing Hacksaw Gaming with an avenue to supply prediction market technology.
The Group announced that it will begin to offer a B2B peer-to-peer prediction market service, enabling operators to offer prediction market gaming without the need to develop their own technology, as it seeks to tap into the financial boom surrounding the sector.
This new product will be authorised by the MGA after the regulator approved an extension of Hacksaw’s existing B2B Critical Gaming Supply licence to cover Type 3 Gaming Services alongside its current Type 1 Gaming Services Authorisation.
According to Hacksaw, expanding into prediction market technology was made to accommodate increased market demand.
Ana Vrabic Verdir, Group CEO of Hacksaw Group, commented: “Prediction markets represent a compelling new opportunity at the intersection of technology, entertainment and market participation.
“Because we already work closely with operators across multiple jurisdictions, we believe we can provide a streamlined path to market while leveraging the technology, integrations and commercial infrastructure that we have spent years developing.”
The surge of prediction markets in the US has been astronomical in recent years, however, their rise is yet to transcend to more mature European markets.
Through its MGA licence, Hacksaw is looking to gain a foothold in a market that the global equity research and brokerage firm Bernstein estimates could be worth up to $1trn by 2030 as it expands to new use cases and geographies.
However, legal issues continue to dog the sector’s biggest players in the US, and it is now expected that the Supreme Court will review whether US state regulators can enforce their gambling laws on firms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
Meanwhile, internationally, many countries have declared the sector illegal and blocked prediction market operators targeting their markets.
Speaking at the SBC Summit’s Prediction Markets Forum, the MGA’s Chief Executive Officer Charles Mizzi said that he was confident that the regulator’s current regulatory framework accommodates prediction markets, and this news further indicates that the MGA is willing to embrace the vertical.
Outside of the US, Gibraltar has emerged alongside Malta as one of the few markets that are willing to offer a framework for companies in the prediction markets sector.
The jurisdiction became the first worldwide to launch a regulatory regime solely covering prediction market operators and also issued licences to ADI Predictstreet and Wire Markets.
In the months before unveiling the regulations, Nigel Feetham, Gibraltar’s Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry, told parliament that he sees the vertical as a ‘substantial area of potential growth’ for the British overseas territory, especially as it contends with a reduction in tax receipts following the UK’s decision to hike remote gaming duty to 40% during last year’s autumn budget.
As the next chapter plays out in the story of prediction markets, jurisdictions like Malta and Gibraltar paving the way for some forms of regulation indicates that opportunities are available for suppliers to also play a part in the prediction market industry and feel the economic benefit.
