First trip to Malta
April 22, 2008
I travelled to Malta the first week of February 2008. After missing my flight by ten minutes on Sunday due to glacier-speed London transport and watching my beloved Patriots fall short to the lowly Giants in the Superbowl, I arrived Monday night. Over the next two days I met with a lawyer, an accountant, two consultants, a payment gateway, three bankers, two data centres, and the head of the Gaming Authority, Mario Galea.
Hunter and I currently work out of our London office. As Smarkets grows, we’ll transition a number of operations to Malta. We decided to use Malta as our operational jurisdiction because it enjoys corporate tax advantages, has an excellent regulatory setup, and is an EU member state. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Malta is a tiny island wedged between Sicily and north Africa. It has a population of 400,000 spread over an area twice the size of Liechtenstein.
I left for London quite impressed with Malta. Malta’s location makes its history fascinating and complex. The architecture tells a long story of colonization and recolonization over thousands of years by the Romans, the Arabs, and the English. The language itself is a strange mix of Arabic and Italian. The locals are friendly, the scenery is gorgeous, and the weather’s not to be beaten. Can’t wait to go back.
