The number you were quoted is the smallest part
Ask what a gambling license costs and you will be told a fee. The fee is real, it is published, and it is somewhere between a quarter and a tenth of what the first year costs you. The gap is not anybody being dishonest. It is that the fee is the only number that is the same for everyone, so it is the only number anyone can quote without knowing your business.
Below are the published fees, then the costs that are not fees, then two worked years.
Published fees, side by side
As at 11 October 2026. Each jurisdiction's own page carries the detail and the caveats.
| Anjouan | Curacao (LOK) | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator | Anjouan Gaming | Curacao Gaming Authority |
| Application | Unstated, non-refundable | EUR 4,592 |
| Issuance | EUR 17,828 | included |
| Annual, B2C | EUR 17,828 | EUR 47,450 |
| Annual, B2B | EUR 17,828 | EUR 24,490 |
| Extra domain | EUR 500 each | EUR 250 one-off |
| Per UBO | not published | EUR 150 screening, EUR 2,551 listed |
| Per game added | not published | EUR 13 |
| GGR tax | nil | not stated in the fee schedule |
| Corporate tax | nil | not stated in the fee schedule |
Two lines in that table do most of the work. Anjouan's annual renewal is the same as its issuance fee, which means year two costs what year one did, and plenty of guides still quote an older renewal figure of about EUR 13,300 that the authority's current schedule does not support. And Curacao's annual fee is not the whole of Curacao's annual cost, because of the substance rule below.
The costs that are not fees
This is the part that decides the real number.
- Company formation and documents. Every route needs an entity, certified documents for every owner and director, police certificates, bank and professional references, and often certified translations. Budget a few thousand euros and six to eight weeks of elapsed time, and note that the references Anjouan asks for must come from relationships older than two years, which you cannot create on demand.
- The compliance officer. Curacao requires a named AML compliance officer and a named responsible-gambling officer. Anjouan requires key-person authorisation. Whether that is a salary, a retainer or a part of someone's existing job, it is a continuing cost and the regulator expects the person to be real and reachable.
- Local substance, if you choose Curacao. Article 5.12 requires a local director plus at least one full-time key person recruited from the Curacao Population Register, rising to three from year five, plus your own office premises on the island. The obligation is deferred and does not bite before 1 April 2027. If you are modelling a 2026 launch, this is a year-two cost, not a year-one one, and it is the largest single item on this page.
- Banking, measured in months rather than money. Two to six months is the usual range, and it is the step that most often sets the launch date. The cost is your runway: the platform fee, the salaries and the license annual are all running while you wait for an account.
- Testing and certification. RNG and game certification from a recognised house, which your platform provider may already carry for its own content. Ask whether their certificates cover your deployment or only theirs.
- Payment processing. Not a license cost, but it is the other thing an operator is really buying when they choose a jurisdiction, and it is where a cheap license turns expensive. A processor that declines your jurisdiction costs you more than the entire difference between these routes.
Two worked years
Illustrative, for a single-brand B2C casino with no staff in the licensing jurisdiction, excluding platform fees, games, marketing and salaries outside compliance. These are ranges, not quotes.
Anjouan
| Year 1 | Year 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| License issuance or renewal | EUR 17,828 | EUR 17,828 |
| Formation, documents, agent | EUR 3,000 to 7,000 | EUR 1,000 to 2,000 |
| Compliance officer or key person | EUR 2,000 upward | EUR 2,000 upward |
| Indicative total | about EUR 23,000 to 27,000 | about EUR 21,000 to 22,000 |
That tracks the EUR 20,000 to 25,000 first-year figure the published guides give.
Curacao
| Year 1 | Year 2, from April 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Application | EUR 4,592 | nil |
| Annual B2C | EUR 47,450 | EUR 47,450 |
| UBO and administrative items | EUR 500 to 3,000 | EUR 0 to 500 |
| Formation and documents | EUR 5,000 to 10,000 | EUR 1,000 to 2,000 |
| Compliance and RG officers | EUR 10,000 upward | EUR 10,000 upward |
| Local key person and premises | not yet required | EUR 40,000 upward |
| Indicative total | about EUR 68,000 to 75,000 | about EUR 98,000 upward |
The year-two jump is the point of the whole page. A Curacao license modelled on 2026 rules and renewed under 2027 rules is a materially different business.
Which one is actually cheapest
On published fees and on a two-year view, Anjouan, by a wide margin, and it is not close.
That is the wrong question though, and the operators who get burned are the ones who asked it. The right question is which license the payment providers and game suppliers you need will accept for the markets you want. A license that costs a third as much and halves your payment acceptance rate is not cheaper. A license nobody will bank is not cheap at any price.
The sequence that works: list your markets, ask three payment providers and two game suppliers which jurisdictions they accept for those markets, get it in writing, and only then compare the fees in the table above. The whole exercise takes about a week and it is the cheapest week you will spend on this project.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an online gambling license cost?
Published annual fees in 2026 run from EUR 17,828 for Anjouan to EUR 47,450 for a Curacao B2C license. Realistic all-in first-year totals are roughly EUR 23,000 to 27,000 for Anjouan and EUR 68,000 to 75,000 for Curacao, once formation, documents and compliance staffing are included.
What is the cheapest online casino license?
Anjouan, on published fees and across two years. Whether it is cheapest in practice depends on whether your payment providers accept it, which is a question you can answer in a week and should answer before you apply.
Does the license fee include everything?
No. It excludes company formation, document preparation, compliance and responsible-gambling officers, testing and certification, per-domain and per-UBO administrative fees, and, for Curacao from April 2027, a local full-time hire and office premises.
Why is Curacao so much more expensive than Anjouan?
Because it is a government-run regime with a supervisory authority, a public register and, from 2027, a local substance requirement. You are paying for a document that is easier to bank and easier to show a supplier.
How much does it cost to start an online casino in total?
The license is one line of several. Platform, games, payment processing, compliance, staffing and acquisition all sit alongside it, and acquisition is usually the largest by a distance. This page covers the license line only.