Oct
2026
01
Malta raises gaming tax
New rates take effect: 15% on Type 1 gaming revenue and 10% on Types 2, 3 and 4, still charged only on players located in Malta.
Every real-money casino, sportsbook and poker room needs permission from a regulator before it can take a single bet. Where you get that permission decides what you pay, which markets you can sell to, and whether a bank will work with you at all.
There is no single best gambling licence. There is the one that fits your budget, your launch date and the markets you actually plan to sell to. An operator running crypto slots for players in Latin America and an operator entering the EU with a €3m marketing budget belong in different jurisdictions, and the gap between them is about €40,000 a year.
The eight below are the ones most operators end up choosing between. All of them let you serve players outside the issuing country — that is the point of an international licence, and it is why Cyprus, Estonia and the UK are not on this list.
| Jurisdiction | Tier | Year one | Annual, from year 2 | Tax on gaming revenue | Time to licence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AnjouanAOFA / ALSI |
Fast-track | €17,000–22,000 | €13,300 | 0% | 4–6 wks | Guide → |
TuvaluTuvalu Gaming Authority |
Fast-track | from €21,900 | ≈ US$15,850 | 0% | 3–4 wks | |
TobiqueTobique Gaming Commission |
Fast-track | €43,000–60,000 | ≈ €19,900 | 0% | 4–6 wks | |
NevisNevis Online Gaming Authority |
Established | €28,000+ ≈US$3,000 application | €28,000 | 0%on foreign revenue | 8–12 wks | Guide → |
KahnawakeKahnawake Gaming Commission |
Established | US$45,000 | US$20,000 | 0% | 3–6 mo | Guide → |
CuraçaoCuraçao Gaming Authority |
Established | €70,000–110,000 | €47,450 | 0%2% on profit | 6–8 mo | Guide → |
Isle of ManGambling Supervision Commission |
Tier-1 | £42,000 | £36,750 | 0.1–1.5%gaming duty | 5–9 mo | Guide → |
MaltaMalta Gaming Authority |
Tier-1 | €30,000+ compliance contribution | from €25,000 | 10–15%Maltese players only | 7–12 mo | Guide → |
Also covered: El Salvador — a ten-year licence that exists in law, with no open application window — and Panama, where the fee is ordinary and the US$600,000 of bonds behind it is not.
Fees are government and regulator charges. Company formation, a compliance officer, RNG and platform certification, audited accounts and payment setup come on top — and on the cheaper licences they often cost more than the licence itself.
| Jurisdiction | First year | Weeks | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuvalu | €21,900 | 3–4 | Fast-track offshore |
| Anjouan | €17,000–22,000 | 4–6 | Fast-track offshore |
| Tobique | €43,000–60,000 | 4–6 | Fast-track offshore |
| Nevis | ≈€31,000 | 8–12 | Established offshore |
| Kahnawake | US$45,000 | 12–26 | Established offshore |
| Curaçao | €70,000–110,000 | 26–34 | Established offshore |
| Isle of Man | ≈€49,000 | 22–39 | Tier-1 regulated |
| Malta | ≈€100,000 | 30–52 | Tier-1 regulated |
Under €20,000 to launch and a month to approval. The catch is recognition: the Central Bank of the Comoros disputes the status of the bodies issuing these licences, so plan for EMI accounts rather than tier-1 banks.
Three to four weeks, one permit covering casino, betting, poker and crypto games, zero tax. The regime only went live in 2025 — ask the authority for its current fee schedule in writing.
Since the LOK reform every operator is licensed directly by the CGA, which cost the jurisdiction its cheap reputation and bought it a real one. Payment providers open doors for it that Anjouan doesn't.
A five-year licence, duty that starts at 1.5% and falls to 0.1% at scale, and a regulator banks recognise without an explanation. You will spend half a year and a lot of documents getting there.
Ten-year licence, gaming tax only on Maltese players, and the name that opens the most doors in Europe. From 1 October 2026 the tax runs at 15% on Type 1 and 10% on Types 2–4.
A gambling licence is a permission issued by a state or territorial regulator that lets a named company offer games of chance for money to a defined group of players. It is not a company registration, and buying one does not follow from the other: you can own a Curaçao company for €1,500 and still be operating illegally.
Two things sit behind every licence. The regulator checks the people — who owns the business, where the money came from, whether anyone has a record. Then it checks the product — that the random number generator is certified, that player funds are held separately, that you can identify a player and block one who asks to be excluded. What differs between jurisdictions is how deep those checks go and how much of your revenue the regulator wants afterwards.
The same thing. North American regulators say gaming, Europeans say gambling.
Lets you take bets from players and hold their money.
Lets you supply games or a platform to someone who does. Cheaper, no player funds, same due diligence on owners.
Most offshore jurisdictions now sell one licence that covers everything. Regulated markets split them, and the split decides your bill.
Slots, live dealer and table games. The default licence everywhere.
Pre-match and in-play. Separate in Malta and most EU markets, bundled in Anjouan, Tuvalu and Curaçao.
Peer-to-peer play where the house takes rake rather than a position. Usually bundled offshore.
Often reserved for a state monopoly, so check before you build.
For platforms, aggregators and game studios. No player funds, lower fees, still full due diligence on owners.
No licence in most jurisdictions, but a growing number of regulated markets require registration before you can send them traffic.
No real money wagered, so usually no gambling licence — a position that is changing fast in the United States.
The guide walks through each type with the jurisdictions that issue it.
Four weeks in Tuvalu, six months in Curaçao, up to a year in Malta. Budget the waiting time, not just the fee — a platform contract signed too early burns money while you wait.
It sets your company type, your costs and your banking options for years.
Almost every regulator wants a company of its own, and several want a resident director or an office.
Passports, police certificates and source-of-funds evidence for every beneficial owner. This is where most applications stall.
AML, KYC, responsible gambling, self-exclusion, data protection, complaints. Regulators read them.
RNG and game certification from an accredited lab, platform testing, sometimes a server inside the country.
Expect at least one round of follow-up questions. Answering them quickly is the one thing you fully control.
The licence fee is the part everyone quotes and the smaller part of what you pay.
A realistic first year has six lines: the application fee, the annual licence fee, company formation and a registered agent, a compliance officer, RNG and platform certification, and audited financial statements.
Offshore, that comes to roughly €20,000–30,000 in Anjouan or Tuvalu, €45,000–60,000 in Tobique or Nevis, and €70,000–110,000 in Curaçao. In Malta or the Isle of Man you are looking at €100,000 and up before you count staff. Then comes tax: zero in most offshore jurisdictions, a tapering duty in the Isle of Man, and in Malta only on players located in Malta.
Two costs surprise people. Payment processing is priced off your licence — a weaker one means higher rolling reserves and worse rates, which over a year can outweigh everything you saved on fees. And renewal is not cheaper than year one in most jurisdictions; only the setup costs drop away.
| Regulator | Company | Compliance | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anjouan | €17,000 | €2,500 | €4,000 | €23,500 |
| Curaçao | €52,000 | €20,000 | €15,000 | €87,000 |
| Malta | €30,000 | €45,000 | €25,000 | €100,000 |
Every regulator asks the same four questions in a different order. Who owns you, where the money came from, can you run the games fairly, and can you keep problem gamblers and criminals out.
A licence tells you where you may operate from. The law of the player's country tells you where you may sell. Those two rarely match, and the gap is where operators get blocked, fined or cut off by their payment provider.
Some markets licence foreign operators and welcome them. Some licence only local companies. Some ban online gambling outright but never enforce it, and some ban it and do. Before you buy traffic anywhere, check the country.
"Find a country with no gambling laws" is one of the most common searches in this industry, and it rests on a misreading. A country without gambling legislation has not permitted anything — it has simply never addressed it, which means no regulator will protect you and no licence exists for you to show anyone.
The acquirer asks for a licence, you can't produce one, and the provider terminates. This is what usually happens first.
Most game studios are licensed themselves and can lose their own licence for supplying an unlicensed operator.
App stores pull the app; affiliates drop you because they have their own compliance to answer for.
In markets that do enforce: domain blocks, fines, and personal liability for directors.
Anyone can put a regulator's logo in a footer. Checking it takes two minutes.
Find the licence number on the operator's site, usually in the footer.
Open the regulator's own register — not a link from the operator's site.
Match the company name, not just the number. A licence issued to one company does not cover a brand run by another.
Check the status and the domain list. Many registers show which websites the licence covers, and an unlisted domain is not licensed.
If a register does not exist, or the only proof offered is a PDF certificate, treat the licence as unverified. For Curaçao licences issued under the LOK regime, the CGA seal on the site should be a live, clickable element that resolves to the authority's own page.
| Regulator | Register | Shows domains |
|---|---|---|
| Curaçao Gaming Authority | cga.cw | Yes |
| Malta Gaming Authority | mga.org.mt | Yes |
| Gambling Supervision Commission | gov.im | Yes |
| Kahnawake Gaming Commission | gamingcommission.ca | Yes |
| Nevis Online Gaming Authority | nevisgaming.com | Partial |
| Tuvalu Gaming Authority | register | Partial |
A ready-made licence usually means a shelf company that already holds a licence, sold with its corporate history attached. It saves you the waiting time and nothing else — the regulator still runs due diligence on you as the new beneficial owner, and most jurisdictions require approval of the change in control before it takes effect.
Before you buy one, ask for the licence status in the public register, the company's filing history, any regulatory correspondence in the last two years, confirmation that fees are paid to date, and the regulator's written position on the transfer. A licence in "good standing" that quietly owes two annual fees becomes your problem on completion.
Fees, registers and whole regimes move. These are the changes that affect where an operator should apply this year.
New rates take effect: 15% on Type 1 gaming revenue and 10% on Types 2, 3 and 4, still charged only on players located in Malta.
The LNB has published no public licensing window, so the jurisdiction remains effectively shut despite being widely marketed.
An office, a resident managing director and a full-time local employee became mandatory for licensees. Master licences were abolished a year earlier, on 1 January 2025.
The National Lottery Authority launched an International Integrated Online Gaming Licence for non-resident operators, with approval quoted at around 30 days.
The government confirmed it issues no online gaming licences at present and that operators claiming one are not licensed.
The Online Gaming Ordinance came into force and NOGA began issuing B2C and B2B licences with a public register of licensees.
Between roughly €20,000 and €110,000 in the first year, depending on the jurisdiction, plus tax. Anjouan and Tuvalu sit at the bottom of that range, Curaçao and Malta at the top.
Three to six weeks in Tuvalu, Anjouan and Tobique. Two to three months in Nevis. Six months or more in Curaçao, the Isle of Man and Malta.
Anjouan, at around €17,000 for the first year. It is also the one banks question most, so the saving often comes back as higher payment-processing costs.
No. Some jurisdictions charge no tax on gaming revenue — Anjouan, Tuvalu, Tobique, Kahnawake — but every one of them charges a licence fee. Costa Rica is often described as free because it issues no gambling licence at all, which is not the same thing as permission.
No. An international licence lets you operate from that jurisdiction; it does not override the law of the country your player sits in. Every licence also carries a restricted-country list, and serving a blocked market can cost you the licence.
Offshore, usually not — one licence covers casino, betting and poker. In Malta and most regulated European markets they are separate licence types with separate fees.
Usually not, because no real money is wagered. That position is changing in the United States, where several states have moved to treat sweepstakes models as gambling.
Nothing. It is a regional habit of language — North American regulators say gaming, European ones say gambling.
Yes, and it is legal, but the regulator still vets you as the incoming owner and most jurisdictions must approve the change of control first. Check the register, the unpaid fees and the filing history before you sign.
Malta and the Isle of Man open the most doors, Curaçao is widely workable, and Anjouan, Tuvalu and Tobique will generally put you with gaming-specialist providers and EMIs rather than tier-1 banks.