What an Online Casino Licence Costs by Country in 2026

Compare the yearly cost of holding a licence, not the fee to apply

The application fee is a poor yardstick, because it is paid once and is normally the smallest figure in the whole picture. What matters is the annual cost of holding the licence: the recurring licence fee, any revenue-linked contribution and its minimum, audits and testing, legal and compliance staff, and the burden of reporting. A jurisdiction with a low application fee but a high annual minimum can be more expensive by year two than one built the other way round.

The other half of the question is what the licence actually gets you. Payment providers, banks, ad platforms and top-tier game studios each set their own acceptance rules by jurisdiction. A licence that no acquiring bank in your target market will work with is expensive whatever it costs, because it either stops the business or pushes you onto pricier payment routes. Cost and access must always be weighed together.

• Yearly cost rather than application fee
• Revenue-linked contribution and its minimum
• Audits, lawyers and compliance headcount
• Acceptance by payment firms, banks and studios

Great Britain: heavy obligations, wide acceptance

The Gambling Commission sets fees in bands according to gross gambling yield. For a remote casino licence, application fees start at £4,224 in the smallest band and annual fees at £4,199, climbing through roughly £10,000, £14,700, £20,600 and £55,100 as GGY increases, with annual fees running into six figures above £100m. Revised fee levels apply from 1 October 2026. For most applicants the fees are not the real hurdle; the compliance burden is.

A British licence comes with ongoing duties under the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice: verifying players before they gamble, risk-based AML, interacting with customers who show signs of harm, disclosing how customer funds are protected, certification by an approved test house and regular returns to the regulator. In return it opens a large regulated market and earns strong credibility with banks and payment providers. It fits operators with the money and people to run a real compliance function, and it penalises those who see compliance as paperwork.

• Fees set by GGY band, rising from 1 Oct 2026
• Individual licences for people in key positions
• Certified testing and ongoing regulatory returns
• Strong standing with banks and payment firms

Malta: moderate cost, EU credibility, minimums to watch

Malta charges a non-refundable application fee of €5,000 and a fixed annual licence fee of €25,000 (€10,000 for operators offering only Type 4 services), together with a compliance contribution on gaming revenue that is tiered by game type. Type 1 begins at 1.25% and reduces to 0.40%, while Type 2 and Type 3 begin at 4.00% on their first bands before reducing.

The point that reshapes budgets is the minimum. The contribution cannot fall below €15,000 per period for Type 1, €25,000 for Type 2 and €5,000 for Type 3, and it applies to each type you hold whatever revenue that vertical earns. A brand licensed for three types but running only one still pays all three minimums. On the other side of the scale, an MGA licence carries real weight with EU-facing payment providers and major studios, which is usually why operators accept the cost.

• €5,000 to apply, €25,000 a year
• A levy that changes with the game category
• Minimums per type, used or not
• Apply only for the types you will launch

Curaçao under the LOK: a new regime, not the old master licences

Curaçao is no longer the jurisdiction many operators remember. The National Ordinance on Games of Chance, known as the LOK, has replaced the master-licence and sublicence model; operators now receive a licence directly from the Curaçao Gaming Authority, and the old sublicences have been phased out. Due diligence, AML duties, technical standards and reporting have all been tightened compared with the previous system.

Under the new framework, publicly reported fees are around €4,592 to apply and roughly €47,450 a year for a B2C operator, divided between a licence fee paid to the National Treasury and a supervisory fee paid to the Authority; smaller administrative charges apply to domains, certificates and ownership changes. These amounts come from public reporting rather than a published regulator schedule, so check the current figures directly with the CGA before you budget. The route is still cheaper than the EU options, while demanding a great deal more than it used to.

• Licence issued directly by the CGA, no master licences
• Stricter due diligence than the old model
• Verify today’s fee schedule with the CGA itself
• Ask PSPs early whether they will onboard you

Pick the licence your whole supply chain will accept

Take the decision in this order. First, list the countries whose players you will accept and get a written legal opinion on each. Second, ask the payment providers and acquiring banks you plan to use, in writing, which licences they accept for those markets. Third, ask the game studios you really want whether they will supply under that licence. Only after that should you compare cost. Working in this sequence avoids the costliest licensing mistake of all: buying a perfectly valid licence that your own suppliers refuse to work with.

Anjouan and similar routes can suit particular international operations at lower cost, within the limits of target-market restrictions and narrower acceptance. Spinolf handles the technical and documentation side of Curaçao, Anjouan and Malta applications and can tell you which licences our payment and content partners accept, but the choice of jurisdiction itself should rest on an up-to-date legal assessment of your markets, not on any supplier’s preference.

• Written legal opinion for each target market
• PSPs and banks confirm acceptance in writing
• Studios agree to supply under that licence
• Price is the final filter, not the first

A practical 90-day plan

Spend days 1–30 confirming the market, reviewing the legal position, fixing scope, building the financial model and shortlisting suppliers. Days 31–60 go to integrations, design, payments and setting up compliance operations. Keep days 61–90 for end-to-end acceptance testing, training and a controlled soft launch, with licensing and payment dependencies treated as explicit go/no-go checkpoints.

Once live, check technical errors, deposit approval, withdrawal times, KYC completion, support volume, bonus spend and net revenue daily. Push for growth only when the team can explain those figures with confidence.