For new entrants
The whole recipe for an online casino
Nobody at the expo will hand you this, because every stand only sells one ingredient. Here is the full list, in the order you actually do it, with what each part really costs and the mistake everyone makes.
Licensing
The piece of paper that decides which players you can take, which banks will talk to you and which game studios will sign you. Everything else in the stack follows from this choice, so make it first.
- What it costs
- In regulator fees alone: about €18k a year for Anjouan, about €47k a year for Curacao, and €25k a year plus a revenue based contribution for Malta. Company setup, local directors and advisers come on top everywhere.
- How long
- A few weeks for the light jurisdictions, 6 to 12 months for Malta or similar.
- The mistake
- Picking the cheapest licence, then finding out your payment provider and half your game studios will not accept it.
Company and banking
A legal entity where your licence lives, usually a second one in the EU or UK to process payments, and a bank that will actually open an account for a gambling business. The bank is the hard part.
- What it costs
- A few thousand for the entities. The real cost is the months spent being rejected by banks.
- How long
- 1 to 3 months, mostly waiting on banking.
- The mistake
- Leaving the bank account until last. Start the applications the day you start the licence.
Platforms (PAM)
The player account system: wallets, bonuses, limits, back office. You hold your own licence and contracts and the platform is the engine underneath. Pick this or a white label, not both.
- What it costs
- A setup fee in the tens of thousands plus a monthly minimum or a share of revenue. Always ask for the minimum monthly fee in writing.
- How long
- 2 to 4 months to a real launch, whatever the sales deck says.
- The mistake
- Signing a revenue share with no cap and no exit clause, then paying it forever once you are big.
White labels and turnkey
Somebody else's licence, platform, payments and games with your logo on top. Fastest way to go live and the easiest way to end up not owning your own business. Pick this or a platform, not both.
- What it costs
- Lower setup than a platform, but a much bigger share of revenue, often for as long as you operate.
- How long
- 4 to 8 weeks.
- The mistake
- Not reading who owns the player database and what it costs to leave. If the answer is "them" and "everything", walk.
Game aggregators
One integration that gives you thousands of games from hundreds of studios. You pay a slice on top of what the studios charge in exchange for not doing fifty integrations yourself.
- What it costs
- A percentage of game revenue on top of each studio's own fee. One aggregator's own estimate is 3 to 10% for the aggregator and 15 to 35% of net gaming revenue for content in total. The stacked total is the number that matters.
- How long
- 2 to 6 weeks if your platform already supports the aggregator.
- The mistake
- Counting games instead of checking that the ten studios your market actually plays are live in your jurisdiction.
Game studios
The people who make the slots, live tables and crash games. Most you will reach through an aggregator. A few big ones insist on a direct deal, and those deals decide whether players take your lobby seriously.
- What it costs
- A share of what players lose on their games. Top studios charge more and do not negotiate with newcomers.
- How long
- Days through an aggregator, months for a direct deal.
- The mistake
- Launching without the two or three studios your target market expects to see on the front page.
Payments
Cards, bank transfers and local methods. Gambling is "high risk" to every processor, so you pay more, get held reserves and get dropped with little warning. You need more than one provider from day one.
- What it costs
- Several percent per deposit for cards, plus a rolling reserve held back for months. Local methods are cheaper and convert better.
- How long
- 1 to 3 months including underwriting.
- The mistake
- Running on a single processor. When it freezes you, and it will, you have no deposits and no business.
Crypto payments
Deposits and withdrawals in crypto, either through a processor or your own wallets. Cheap, fast and no chargebacks, but it brings its own compliance questions and not every licence loves it.
- What it costs
- Usually around one percent or less per transaction.
- How long
- 1 to 2 weeks.
- The mistake
- Treating crypto as a way around KYC. Regulators and banks do not see it that way.
KYC and verification
Checking that players are real, adults and not on a sanctions list. Your licence sets the minimum. How and when you ask is the difference between a compliant casino and one that loses half its sign-ups at the document upload.
- What it costs
- Roughly one to two dollars per check on public price lists, less at volume, usually with a monthly minimum.
- How long
- 1 to 3 weeks to integrate.
- The mistake
- Paying to verify every sign-up at the door when your licence would let you verify at first withdrawal.
Fraud and risk
Tools that spot multi-accounting, bonus abuse, stolen cards and chargebacks before they cost you money. Your platform has basic rules built in. The question is when those stop being enough.
- What it costs
- Per check or a monthly platform fee. Cheap compared with one good bonus abuse ring.
- How long
- 2 to 4 weeks.
- The mistake
- Buying a fraud tool before launch instead of first fixing a welcome bonus that pays people to abuse it.
CRM and retention
Email, SMS, push, bonuses and segmentation. This is how you get a second deposit. It matters more than acquisition and gets a tenth of the attention.
- What it costs
- A monthly fee that scales with active players, sometimes with a setup fee.
- How long
- 1 to 2 months to get data flowing properly.
- The mistake
- Buying the biggest tool on the market with nobody on the team to run it.
Affiliate software
Tracking and paying the affiliates who send you players. Affiliates are most casinos' main traffic source, and they will only work with you if your tracking and payments are trusted.
- What it costs
- A monthly fee, sometimes tiered by tracked players.
- How long
- 1 to 3 weeks.
- The mistake
- Offering lifetime revenue share deals you cannot afford because every competitor seemed to be doing it.
Sportsbook feeds
Optional. Odds, trading and risk management if you want sports next to casino. Running a sportsbook is a different business with thinner margins, so only add it if your market demands it.
- What it costs
- A setup fee plus a share of sportsbook revenue. One supplier's own estimate is 10 to 20% of sportsbook revenue, with setup anywhere from €50,000 to €500,000.
- How long
- 1 to 3 months.
- The mistake
- Adding sports "because everyone has it" and then funding sharp bettors out of your casino margin.
Support tools
Live chat, help desk and the people behind them. Players judge you on how fast you answer when a withdrawal is pending. Most licences also expect a complaints process you can prove.
- What it costs
- Per agent seat each month. The software is cheap. The staff are the cost.
- How long
- Days for the tool, weeks to hire and train.
- The mistake
- Outsourcing support to a team that cannot see the player's account and can only say "please wait".
Launch
Go live quietly with real money and a small audience first. Test every deposit method, every withdrawal route and every bonus with your own cash before a single affiliate sends traffic.
- What it costs
- Your first marketing budget, and your first bonus costs.
- How long
- 2 to 4 weeks of soft launch.
- The mistake
- Buying traffic on day one and discovering in public that withdrawals do not work.
Running it
The actual job: paying withdrawals fast, watching deposit success rates daily, keeping bonuses profitable, answering the regulator and replacing the provider that just let you down.
- What it costs
- Staff, compliance, and every provider's monthly minimum whether you make money or not.
- How long
- Every day.
- The mistake
- Thinking the hard part was launching.