How a casino uses CDN for download speed

Why Casino CDN

Online casinos live in the first seconds. Fast launch lobby and games → above CR depozit→stavka, below churn, more GGR. CDN (Content Delivery Network) brings content closer to the player, reduces latency, offloads origin and protects the perimeter.

Key benefits:

Speed. In short RTT, HTTP/3/QUIC, 0-RTT handshakes, TLS 1. 3, Brotli/zstd - everything is out of the box.
Stability under peaks. Edge absorbs spikes in traffic on releases/matches.
Savings. Less egress with origin, less CPU/IO on the backend.
Security. WAF/bot filters/ratelimits and geo block at the edge.

What exactly to give via CDN (and how)

1) Lobby and static

JS/CSS/fonts/icons/sprites - aggressive cache:


Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable

Hash names ('app. a1b2c3. js') → a secure "eternal" cache.

Game catalogs, banners, tags - we cache JSON/config 30-120 seconds with 'stale-while-revalidate' to make the lobby feel instant:


Cache-Control: public, max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=120

2) Images and media

Edge autoconversion: WebP/AVIF/JPEG XL by 'Accept'.

Device/Client Hints: 'Accept-CH: DPR, Width, Viewport-Width' → edge selects the size.

Lazy-loading +' fetchpriority =" high"' for above-the-fold only.

3) Video and live

LL-HLS/DASH for live shows/teasers (not a WebRTC game stream, but a promo/demo): short segments 1-2 seconds, prefetch playlists; store adjacent segments on the edge.

VOD/tournament replays - standard HLS/DASH with deep cache.

4) Provider gaming assets

Local proxy endpoints with a white list of provider domains; cache 10-30 min, purge by webhook for releases.

5) What not to cache

Money API: balance, 'bet. place`, `withdraw`, KYC/AML/RG.

Personal account, ticket office, PSP webhooks.

But even for non-cached traffic, CDN is useful as a TCP/TLS accelerator (keep-alive, HTTP/3).

Edge Logic (Workers/Functions)

Geo-routing: nearest region (EU/UK/CA/LA/SEA), accounting for data residency.

A/B-distribution: flags of experiments on the edge without a bundle jump.

Age/Legal Banners 18 + and RG - Edge Insertion by Country/Jurisdiction.

Substitution of providers' links to hosts closest to the network.

Signed URLs/Headers to protect private assets (promos, exclusive banners).

Bot-screening: "soft" challenges, device fingerprint signals → fewer garbage requests to origin.

Transport and protocols

HTTP/3 (QUIC): more stable on mobile/cellular networks, less head-of-line blocking.

TLS 1. 3 + OCSP stapling + HSTS.

Brotli/zstd for text; for images - transformation, not "clamp."

Preconnect/Preload: 'preconnect' to provider domains, 'preload' critical fonts.

Disability (Purge) and Version

Immutable + hash names for "eternal" statics (no purge).

Tag-based purge for banners/catalogs: clean all objects with tag 'lobby: home' in <1 sec.

Soft-purge + 'stale-while-revalidate': Users don't see 'holes'.

Pipeline: dumping → loading new assets → checking → switching manifest → delayed purge old ones.

Geography and compliance

Geo-fencing on edge: block of games/providers by country, currency/locale according to ISO.

Data residency: PII and money do not pass through the edge cache; the logic at the edge does not store PII, only tokens with short TTL.

Local domains/CDN zones (for example, '.eu') for regional rules.

Safety at the edge

WAF and bot management, rate-limits per IP/ASN/fingerprint.

mTLS to origin, allowlist IP CDN on backend.

CSP/Referrer-Policy/Permissions-Policy headers are given by the CDN.

DDoS L3-L7 - shooting on edge-search for signatures and anomalies.

CDN Metrics and SLO

Business metrics (via telemetry):

Lobby time to interactivity (TTI), 'CR deposit→bet', session hold.

CDN Tech Metrics:

TTFB p95, Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay/INP.
Hit-ratio by object type (target: static> 95%, images> 85%).
Edge → Origin egress.
4xx/5xx errors on edge vs on origin (share responsibility).
Purge time/speed.
QoS streams (for LL-HLS): buffers, rebuffer-ratio, segment-missions.

Practical title recipes

Static (immutable):


Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable
ETag: "a1b2c3"

Games catalog (changes frequently):


Cache-Control: public, max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=120
Surrogate-Control: max-age=60, stale-if-error=600

API (personal):


Cache-Control: no-store
Vary: Authorization

Images (†):


Cache-Control: public, max-age=604800
Vary: Accept, DPR, Width, Viewport-Width

Interaction with game providers

List of allowed provider hosts in CDN (origin shield).

Remapping static provider assets to your CDN domain for cross-browser stability.

CORS sandbox: Dot 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' for casino domains.

Load test: Warm up the cache before major tournaments/releases.

Anti-patterns

Cache balance/bets/payouts or respond 'public' to personal endpoints.

Lack of version of assets → the need for "hard" purge and "broken" clients.

Dolls are everywhere. 'Vary: Cookie' breaks cachability: Highlight paths without Cookie.

One large JS bundle instead of a code split - it makes no sense to "wear" the entire lobby to every screen.

Hidden geo-redirect to origin: do any redirects on the edge.

Cache without telemetry: no hit-ratio visibility and TTFB - no control.

Casino CDN implementation checklist

Strategy

Matrix: what we cache/for how long/where we are disabled.
Regional POP and geo-fencing/data residency rules.

Performance

HTTP/3/QUIC enabled, TLS 1. 3, Brotli/zstd.
Code-split + preconnect/preload critical resources.
Auto-convert edge images; Device/Client Hints.

Cache and purge

Hash names of assets, immutable cache.
Tag-based/soft purge, warm-up before peaks.
'stale-while-revalidate/stale-if-error' for "sensitive" JSONs.

Safety

WAF/bot management/ratelimits, mTLS to origin, allowlist IP.
CSP/Permissions-Policy/Referrer-Policy are sent via CDN.
Signed URLs/Headers for private media.

Integration

Remapping of provider assets, CORS, origin shield.
Separate domains/pools for games, images, and APIs.

Observability

Hit-ratio/TTFB/LCP/egress dashboards.
Alerts to a drop in hit-ratio and an increase in TTFB.
Synthetic checks by region/network.

CDN is not only a "picture cache." For casinos, this is a regional platform: close and fast lobby experience, stable game releases, cheap traffic and a hard perimeter. Combine aggressive statics, smart dynamics validity, edge logic and metrics - and you get instant boot, calm origin and predictable SLOs even in the hottest prime time.