How the cost of iGaming licenses is formed

The "cost of a license" is not only the amount of the state fee. Real price - a set of one-time, periodic and variable costs: from RNG audits/live processes and integrations with government gateways to the required capital, responsible game funds and bank derisk. Below is the full cost map and working formula of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for 3-5 years.

1) What does the license price consist of?

A. Regulatory payments

Application fee: fixed; sometimes by vertical (casino/betting/bingo).

License fee (issue/annual renewal): fixed or turnover scale/GGR.

Investigations/fit & proper: checks of beneficiaries, directors, source of funds.

Certification fees: registration of games, certification of RNG/studios, certification of live processes.

B. Sales/revenue taxes and fees

GGR tax (key driver of TCO).

Target fees: sports/culture/RG funds, monitoring contributions to the regulator.

VAT/sales taxes on provider/payment fees (jurisdictional).

C. Compliance and liability (recurring costs)

KYC/AML: verification of identity/source of funds, data providers.

RG (responsible play): default limits, self-exclusion, help line, behavioral nudges.

Reporting integrations: real-time/daily download channels, cash registers, telemetry, log storage for 3-7 years.

Audits: annual financial/operational, test purchases (mystery shopping), pen tests.

D. Technology and operational readiness

Platform (PAM/RGS): licenses, support, certification releases.

Edge/CDN and performance: TTI ≤3 c, game start ≤5 c (requirement of many UX and availability regulators).

Backups/DRP: cold-standby, SLA for incidents, monitoring.

E. Payment rails and anti-fraud

Interchange/Method Commissions, real-time anti-fraud.

Deposits/conclusions: liquidity reserves for instant cashout, "mandatory float."

Bank derisk: legal support, alternative routes.

F. Corporate requirements

Minimum paid-up capital and local director/office (where required).

Liability insurance (public/professional).

Legal outsource/retainer.

2) Formula TCO license (3-5 years)

TCO = CAPEX + OPEX(ежегодные) + TAXES + COMPLIANCE + PAYMENTS + CONTINGENCY

Ubi:

CAPEX = application + primary certification + integration + initial deposits/guarantees.
OPEX = annual license/renewals + compliance salaries + audit/hosting.
TAXES = GGR tax + earmarks.
COMPLIANCE = KYC/AML providers + RG services + reporting gateways + log storage.
PAYMENTS = commission of payment partners − savings from auto-routing + anti-fraud.
CONTENTION = 10-20% buffer for regulatory changes and payment locks.

💡 Common sense rule: tax on GGR and payment commissions together is 2-5 times more than the "visible" state duty.

3) Cost ranges by jurisdiction type (benchmarks)

💡 No country names; score for online casino/medium-scale betting.

Mature "white" markets (Europe, part of North America)

Application + issue: ~ 0.1-0.6 million standard units

Annual extension/supervision: ~ 0.05-0.3 mln

GGR tax: ~ 15-35%

Compliance + audits: ~ 0.15-0.6 million/year

Developing "white/grey-to-white" (LATAM, part of Africa/ARAS)

Application + issue: ~ 0.03-0.25 million

Annual: ~ 0.02-0.15 million

GGR tax: ~ 10-25%

Compliance + audits: ~ 0.07-0.3 million/year

Federated models (licenses by state/province)

CAPEX per state: ~ 0.05-0.5 million (multiples of the number of states)

Taxes: Differentiated, sometimes progressive

Operational integrations/reporting increase the cost of TCO by + 20-40% to a "single" country.

Why the spread is so wide: individual requirements for capital, audits, reporting APIs, as well as the type of content (live casinos are more expensive to certify and stream-SLA).

4) Non-obvious price drivers

Requirements for data-retention (log storage 5-7 years) → storage/archive costs.

Integration with the "online cash desk" of the regulator (realtime feeds, cryptographic signatures).

Default limits and RG interface: design/development, UX tests, localization of responsibility language.

Certification updates with every major release of the game.

Exchange rate risks: fees in local currency, and revenue/costs in another.

5) Rough estimate calculator (skeleton)


Input:
Online Casino Revenue (GGR), Annual
Live content share (%)
Number of jurisdictions (N)
Average GGR tax (%)
Fee (% of deposit/GGR)
KYC/AML cost per user (у. e.)
Volume of new KYCs per year (user)
Audits/certification (y. f/year)
Application + issuance/jurisdiction (y. e.)
Extension/Jurisdiction (y. f/year)

Calculation:
TSO_god = Σ N (Renewal + compliance + audit + reporting integrations)
+ Tax (GGR × rate)
+ Payments (GGR × factor)
+ KYC (volume × cost)
+ Reserve (10-20%)

TSO_pervyy_god = TSO_god + Σ N (Application + issue) + primary certification + integration.

In some models, it is more convenient to count payments from gross revenue/deposit turnover.

The coefficient depends on the share of instant rails/cards/wallets and auto-routing.

6) What makes owning a license cheaper

Auto-routing payments and fallback routes (less failures/chargeback → higher pure GGR).

Unified "cash book": reconciliation of games/payments/payments reduces controversial cases and audit costs.

PWA/performance (TTI ≤3 c): fewer abandoned sessions → better LTV → the same license pays off faster.

Common "kernel-code" for different jurisdictions (feature flags instead of forks).

License portfolio: distribution of САРЕХ/ops into several markets.

7) What makes it more expensive

Federated markets (many "small" licenses and reporting integrations).

Live casino without SLA/observability (fines/re-audits).

Manual checks of payments instead of behavioral anti-fraud.

Lack of local payment method (increase in refusals/commissions).

Opaque bonuses → complaints/fines/UI improvements.

8) Licensing roadmap (realistic)

1. Pre-check (2-6 weeks): ownership structure, fit & proper, sources of funds, choice of verticals.

2. Compliance design (3-8 weeks): RG/KYC policies, limit logic, incident processes.

3. Technical preparation (6-12 weeks): integration of reporting APIs, "cash book," storage logs, PWA performance.

4. Certification/audits (4-10 weeks): RNG/live, security/DRP, pen tests.

5. Submission and response (4 weeks to 6 + months) depending on jurisdiction.

6. Go-live and observation: monthly/quarterly reports, SLA alerts, RG panel in UI.

9) Scenarios 2026-2030 for license costs

Scenario	What changes	Impact on TCO
Basic	More "white" markets, standardization of RG/reporting	CAPEX stable, OPEX moderately increasing
Optimistic	Mini-app sandboxes, accelerated certifications, instant cashout	CAPEX ↓, return on investment faster
Conservative	Tighter advertising/data, payment derisk	OPEX ↑ (compliance/payments), need more reserve

10) Budgeting checklist (short)

Confirm Tax Metric (GGR vs Turnover).
Fix minimum capital and bank requirements.
Calculate float for instant payouts.
Estimate KYC/AML cost per user and volume.
Lay storage logs and reporting integrations.
Include audits/certifications in the release calendar.
Set up auto-routing and fallback payments.
Create 10-20% reserve for regulatory changes.

11) FAQ (in one window)

Why is the license "expensive" in some places and "cheap" in others?

Because the GGR tax and compliance OPEX are very different. A "cheap" duty can hide high annual supervision and reports.

Is it possible to reduce the price at the expense of white-label?

Partially. But regulators are increasingly demanding the B2C responsibility of the license holder - the savings are decreasing.

What is most often forgotten to put in the estimate?

Storage logs for 5-7 years, DR reserve, improvements to RG interfaces and bank derisk costs.

How quickly does the license pay off?

This is a function not only of CAPEX, but also of cashout speed, local payment share and TTI. Improvements in UX/checkout accelerate payback more than reducing duty.

The cost of an iGaming license is not a line in the budget, but a model of ownership: taxes on GGR, compliance, payment rails, audits and operational observability. Keep the platform core standardized, the cashier transparent and fast, RG default, and payments with auto-routing and reserves. Then TCO becomes predictable, and the license turns from a "consumption" into a scaling lever for years to come.