In short: An online gambling licence costs anywhere from a few thousand to well over a hundred thousand euros a year, and the headline fee is rarely the whole bill. Only some regulators publish their fee schedules: Malta, Kahnawake, Curaçao and Anjouan do, while Tobique prices are quoted by agents. To estimate the fees for your own set-up, use our gaming licence cost calculator. This guide compares the published figures, dated and sourced, and lists the costs that sit outside the licence fee.
Most “licence cost” pages online are written by agencies that sell the licence. The numbers move with the package, the figures are rarely dated, and the regulator’s own schedule is seldom linked. This comparison takes the opposite approach: it only prints a figure when the regulator has published it, says when we checked, and marks clearly where no public schedule exists. Treat it as the starting point for your budget and confirm every line with the regulator or your counsel before you commit.
Last checked: 19 October 2026 (Anjouan figures added 20 October 2026). Fees change; the regulator’s current publication always wins over this page.
What the regulators publish, side by side
The table shows the government or regulator fees only. Agent fees, company formation, compliance consultants, hosting, payment onboarding and platform fees come on top (see “The costs the licence fee does not cover” below).
| Jurisdiction (regulator) | One-time application fee | Recurring licence fee | Revenue-based charges | Published schedule? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malta (Malta Gaming Authority) | €5,000, non-refundable | €25,000 fixed annual fee for a B2C gaming service licence (€10,000 if only Type 4 skill games) | Compliance contribution on gaming revenue, minimum €15,000 to €25,000 a year depending on game type, banded from 4% down to 0.4%, capped between €375,000 and €600,000; 5% gaming tax on revenue from players in Malta | Yes: MGA guidance note “Licence Fees and Taxation”, version Feb 2023 v2, read 19 Oct 2026 |
| Kahnawake (Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission) | US$40,000 for a Client Provider Authorization (one key person permit included) | US$20,000 a year, plus US$5,000 renewal application every five years; extra key persons US$5,000 initial and US$1,000 a year | None published | Yes: KGC “Application Related Costs”, revised 5 Oct 2023, read 19 Oct 2026 |
| Curaçao (Curaçao Gaming Authority, LOK regime) | €4,592, non-refundable, same for B2C and B2B | B2C €47,450 a year (€24,490 to the national treasury plus €22,960 to the CGA); B2B supplier €24,490 a year; €250 per added domain; UBO filings €150 per person | None in the fee announcement | Partly: CGA “LOK Fees Announcement” V1.1 of 14 Feb 2025; we read a licensing agent’s republished copy on 19 Oct 2026 because the regulator’s site showed no fee page, so confirm on the CGA portal |
| Isle of Man (Gambling Supervision Commission) | Fees are set in the Online Gambling (Licence Fees) Regulations 2009 (SD 2009/0257, as amended). The government site did not return the document when we checked, so no figure is printed here; ask the GSC for the current schedule. | Yes, but not retrievable on 19 Oct 2026 | ||
| Anjouan (Anjouan Gaming Authority, under the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority) | €17,828 licence issuance, B2C and B2B; application fees non-refundable | €17,828 per annual renewal, B2C and B2B; €500 per additional B2C domain per licensing cycle | None in the fee schedule | Yes: anjouangaming.com/licensing/fees, page last modified 1 Apr 2026, checked 20 Oct 2026. Agent package quotes add incorporation and services on top; get the government fee as a separate line in writing |
| Tobique (Tobique Gaming Commission) | No regulator-published fee schedule found on 19 Oct 2026; figures online come from licensing agents. Confirm directly with the commission. | No | ||
Reading the table: three different pricing logics
The jurisdictions do not just differ in price; they charge in different ways, and that changes which one is cheapest for you.
- Fixed fee plus a revenue-based contribution (Malta). The fixed €25,000 is predictable, but the compliance contribution scales with gaming revenue. A casino (Type 1) pays 1.25% on its first €3 million of gaming revenue, then falling rates, with a floor of €15,000 and a ceiling of €375,000 a year. A start-up that qualifies gets a twelve-month moratorium on the contribution. At high volume, Malta is the most expensive option in this table; at low volume, the minimums dominate.
- Flat fees only (Kahnawake, Curaçao). Kahnawake’s US$40,000 to apply and US$20,000 a year, and Curaçao’s €4,592 to apply and €47,450 a year for B2C, do not move with revenue. The bill is the same whether you make €50,000 or €5 million, which favours operators who expect to scale.
- Agent-quoted packages (Tobique, and most Anjouan offers). Where the regulator publishes no schedule, or where agents sell the licence inside a package, you are buying a bundle: government fee, incorporation, registered office, sometimes compliance templates. Two agents can quote very different prices for the same licence. Insist on seeing the government fee as a separate line.
The costs the licence fee does not cover
Whatever the jurisdiction, the licence fee is usually a minority of the first-year spend. Budget for these lines separately:
| Cost line | What it is | How it is usually priced |
|---|---|---|
| Company formation and corporate services | Incorporation in the licensing jurisdiction, registered office, directors or key persons, certificates | Fixed fee plus annual renewal; nominee or local-director services add cost |
| Fit-and-proper and due diligence | Background checks on owners and key persons; some regulators charge per person (Curaçao lists €150 per UBO filing) | Per person or per entity |
| Compliance programme | AML and KYC policies, risk assessment, responsible-gambling controls, training, record keeping | Templated (cheap) to tailored (expensive); counterparties increasingly reject templates |
| Platform, games and back office | The software you run the casino on, the game library, the cashier and reporting | Subscription, GGR share, hybrid or one-time; see our guide to online casino software prices |
| Payments onboarding | Know-your-business reviews by PSPs, banks and crypto on-ramps, rolling reserves | Setup plus transaction fees plus reserves held back |
| Hosting, security and audits | Jurisdiction-compliant hosting where required, penetration tests, RNG or game certificates where the regulator demands them | Annual contracts and per-audit fees |
| Renewals and ongoing reporting | Annual licence renewal, periodic key-person renewals, regulatory reporting | Recurring; Kahnawake adds a US$5,000 renewal application every five years |
For a line-by-line view of what a platform price includes and excludes, read the white-label casino cost breakdown; for the full launch budget, the cost to start an online casino guide walks through sample budgets.
How to choose: the questions that matter more than the fee
- Where are your players? A licence is not market access. Each regulator publishes or implies a list of jurisdictions you may not serve, and your payment partners will enforce their own list on top. The cheapest licence is worthless if it excludes your core market.
- Which payment providers will accept it? Banks and PSPs rank licences by how much comfort they give. A tier-one licence can unlock card acquiring and lower reserves that more than repay its higher fee; an offshore licence can mean crypto-first or high-reserve processing.
- How fast do you need to launch? Published timelines range from a few weeks to several months. The longer processes usually coincide with the more demanding (and more widely accepted) regulators.
- What will renewals cost in year three? Model three years, not one. Fixed-fee regimes stay flat; contribution-based regimes rise with revenue.
- Can you prove compliance on day one? Every regulator in the table expects documented AML, KYC and responsible-gambling controls. If your platform cannot produce audit logs, limits and reports, the licence review stalls regardless of the fee you paid.
Where the platform fits
Licensing and the platform are two workstreams that should run in parallel, because the regulator’s reviewers and your payment partners both test the same thing: whether your controls exist in the system, not only on paper. Spinlab Studio’s plans cover the platform side (back office, cashier, game library, KYC and AML tooling, reporting); licence recommendations are included on every plan, and how licensing is arranged for your operation is set out in your contract. At the time of writing (19 October 2026) the plans on spinlab.studio/pricing start at $999 per month on annual billing (Launch, 2% GGR for a limited time), with Scale at $1,499 and Dominate at $2,499 per month on zero GGR fees, and a Lifetime option at $75,000. Setup fees, licence costs and anything not listed on the pricing page are discussed on the demo call.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an online gambling licence cost? Among regulators that publish their fees, the government charges range from about €5,000 to apply plus €25,000 a year in Malta (plus a revenue-based compliance contribution), to US$40,000 to apply plus US$20,000 a year in Kahnawake, to €4,592 to apply plus €47,450 a year for a Curaçao B2C licence. Anjouan publishes a flat €17,828 for issuance and the same per annual renewal (checked 20 October 2026); Tobique publishes no schedule, so its cost is whatever your agent quotes, and the Isle of Man schedule could not be retrieved when we checked. Figures as of 19 October 2026.
Which online gambling licence is the cheapest? It depends on volume. At low revenue, the flat-fee regimes and agent-quoted offshore licences cost the least; at high revenue, Malta’s compliance contribution can reach six figures a year, while flat-fee regimes stay flat. Compare three-year totals, not the application fee.
How much does a Curaçao gaming licence cost? Under the LOK regime the CGA’s fee announcement of 14 February 2025 lists a €4,592 application fee and a €47,450 annual B2C licence fee, split between the national treasury and the regulator, plus €250 per additional domain. The CGA’s own fee schedule (version 2.0, 15 October 2025, checked 2 November 2026) lists the same amounts; confirm the current figures on the CGA’s portal before budgeting.
How much does a Malta gaming licence cost? The MGA’s guidance note lists a €5,000 application fee, a €25,000 fixed annual licence fee for B2C operators, a compliance contribution with a minimum of €15,000 (Type 1) to €25,000 (Types 2 and 3) a year, and a 5% gaming tax on revenue from players located in Malta. Qualifying start-ups get a twelve-month moratorium on the contribution.
How long does it take to get a gaming licence? Regulators publish few firm timelines. In practice the application review is only part of it: company formation, due diligence on owners and key persons, and payment onboarding after approval each add weeks. Plan a quarter from first filing to first deposit, and run the platform build alongside.
Does the platform provider hold the licence for me? That depends on the model and the contract. Under some white-label arrangements the operator runs under the provider’s licence; under others the operator licenses in its own name. Spinlab sets the arrangement out in the contract and discusses it on the demo call; this article does not describe any specific arrangement.
Next step
Pick two candidate jurisdictions from the table, request the regulator’s current fee schedule for each in writing, and put the numbers into a three-year budget next to the platform and payments lines. If you want to see how the platform side looks for your target markets, book a demo. For the licence that most of our readers ask about, continue with the Anjouan licence guide.
