Hacksaw enters prediction markets with MGA Type 3 approval

Hacksaw Group, the Stockholm-listed slot studio and B2B supplier, has launched a platform that lets operators run peer-to-peer prediction markets under their own brands. The company announced the launch on 15 October 2026, together with news that the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has extended its B2B critical gaming supply licence to cover Type 3 gaming services as well as Type 1.

The licence is held by Hacksaw's Maltese subsidiary, HGMT Limited (MGA/CRP/501/2018). On the MGA register, the existing Type 1 entry covers casino; the new Type 3 entry reads "Pool betting, including betting exchange". European Gaming reports that the approval was granted under Malta's existing Type 3 rules. Hacksaw says the extension authorises it to offer B2B peer-to-peer prediction market services under the MGA framework.

How the platform works

Hacksaw supplies the technology, infrastructure and what it calls a connected volume framework. Operators keep their brands, customer relationships and user experience. The volume framework is meant to pool peer-to-peer participation across Hacksaw's network of operators.

That pooling is the core of the pitch. A peer-to-peer market needs enough people on both sides of a trade, and a single operator launching alone may struggle to find them. Hacksaw says the shared volume is meant to give operators broader capacity from launch.

"We have created a solution that enables operators to access prediction market capabilities efficiently and at scale," said Marcus Cordes, operational CEO of Hacksaw Gaming. Group CEO Ana Vrabic Verdir described the move as part of a strategy of "extending Hacksaw's technology ecosystem into adjacent verticals".

The company says it built the platform with its existing team and within its current cost base.

What the licence covers

Under Malta's rules, Type 1 covers games played against the house, such as casino games. Type 3 covers games between players, where the operator carries no gaming risk and earns a commission instead. Hacksaw's approval is for supplying that technology to other businesses. It is not a consumer licence. An operator that wants to offer prediction markets outside Malta would have to meet the rules of that jurisdiction, as 15M points out.

That matters in Europe, where approaches differ. In June, regulators from nine countries, among them France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, signed a joint declaration to act together against unlicensed prediction-market platforms, European Gaming reports. Malta was not among them.

Why now

The launch came three days after Hacksaw said third-quarter revenue growth would slow to 11–12%, below its historical pace, and its shares fell 27% in early trading that day, according to Nyhetsbyrån Direkt as reported by iGaming Times (our earlier report). The shares rose more than 3% in Stockholm on the day of the prediction-markets announcement, LCB reports. Hacksaw's release cites a Bernstein estimate that annual prediction-market trading volumes could reach about $1 trillion by 2030.

For more on the studio's games, see Moneyplane, Hacksaw's first crash game. For prediction markets in the US, see Missouri's order against six prediction markets and Tunica-Biloxi's SaltTrade app with Kalshi.

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