Possibly the biggest decision an operator makes is to select the license, or licenses, they go for.

You hear terms like MGA, UKGC, KSA, Curacao, Anjouan and Isle of Man mentioned all the time, but what is the difference between them? Are all licenses the same? What do you need to do one or once you have one? If you have one, does this also give you a License to Thrill?

Thankfully we know a thing or two about licenses, so allow us to elucidate you.

In short the license(s) one holds determines the rules and regulations under which the casino operators, well, operate and have to abide by. And yes, they vary sometimes vastly. Different jurisdictions come with vastly different requirements and levels of player protection, anti-money laundering measures, Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, guidelines for marketing, how much tax you have to pay and a plethora of other things one needs to consider. This also means that if you have multiple licenses, you need to operate separately as per each license in that given jurisdiction.

Generally speaking you can divide the licenses into two categories; regional and offshore licenses.

Regional, local or national licenses allow you to accept players in that particular country and operate in that given country legally. Many significant markets such as the UK, Netherlands, Germany,, Spain and Sweden have already introduced local licensing with many others looking to follow this trend.

This of course brings significant income to the state in the form of taxes and various fees, but also gives the country control over matters such as player protection and verification measures as the healthcare and welfare system of that particular country is carrying the burden for the gambling related harm. Hence it’s not a surprise many countries are moving towards this model and with some local licenses being easier and cheaper to obtain than others, it all depends on your target demographic. Recently we have had the opportunity to help clients prepare for newly regulated markets opening up in New Zealand, Ireland, Finland and Alberta, Canada.

What about the United States and Canada, I can hear you ask? Well, as they often do, matters such as gambling are handled on the state or province level. Some allow it, some allow it in certain forms and some outright ban it, at least for now. For example an Ontario license has been in existence for some years now, thanks to the fact that the Toronto Metropolitan area is the largest population centre in the country.

What we unfortunately do see sometimes is that a country tries to do too much, control too many things and/or make political decisions without real knowledge of how it will affect operators, players and the market as a whole. This can cause an opposite effect where legitimate operators cannot turn a profit due to taxation or exorbitant requirements and too many hoops to jump through pushes players to the black market where not many questions are asked.

Okay, so you don’t want local licensing, at least yet. What options do you have?

The offshore gambling licenses, also known as “dot com” licenses, allow for much more freedom when it comes to where they can accept players from. Household names such as Malta, Gibraltar and Isle of Man are well established, have a long history and robust regulations behind them and generally speaking come with more rigorous demands of the licensee and enhanced oversight.

This means higher technical standards, player protection, responsible gambling measures, KYC and AML controls with that, higher cost and a higher level of investment overall to get started. But they do also carry an aura of credibility with them and indicate that an operator is held to a certain standard which for a new operator might be very important to solidify themselves as a legitimate casino with good intentions.

Alongside the more known names we have seen the rise of new ‘’dot com’’ licenses such as Anjouan, Tobique and Nevis among other small places which have gotten into the licensing game. Generally speaking, the main benefits of these licenses is the speed with which you get the license, a smaller initial investment and a lower degree of technical scrutiny. What is underestimated by many however, is the level of KYC that is performed on UBOs and entities. Prepare to gather, certify and/or translate many documents you wouldn’t have thought about upfront (Professional reference letter anyone?)

However, as the knowledge of the differences between licenses becomes more well known, the fact that these licenses are used in very different ways, what they say about an operator and the value which they bring to an operator is likely to be questioned more easily. This is where a knowledgeable compliance partner is able to help immensely as they know the licenses and their quirks inside and out.

As we have discovered, the licenses, their benefits and their requirements can vary very significantly from one to another. It also heavily determines the direction your company wishes to go, at least initially, unless you have financial means to apply for multiple licenses from the word go.

Whichever your approach, Betcomply is happy to help you every step of the way.