How to start an online casino: the licence routes
How to start an online casino is an operating decision: full licence, sub-licence, network or white label, and who carries player data, AML and liability.
To start an online casino, choose the operating route before the software: a licence of your own, a sub-licence under an existing licence holder, or a white label on someone else’s licence. Each route puts player data, AML and KYC duties and regulatory liability with a different party, and each changes the time to market.
How to start an online casino is often answered with a step list. Of the three competitor pages read for this post (a law-firm network, a platform vendor’s knowledge base and a payments blog), none prints a regulator’s fee figure or sets the routes side by side. This desk read the Isle of Man Government’s eGaming promotion page on 15 October 2026 because it lays the routes out together, all under one statute, the Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001. It is one jurisdiction’s worked example, not a recommendation, and it is evergreen: the routes are structural, the fees are not.
How to start an online casino: what does each route make you responsible for?
| Route | Player data | AML and KYC | Stands on | eGaming page fee, per annum | Fee a consultancy attributes to the 2023 rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full licence | Held by the licensee | Licensee | Its own licence | £35,000 | £36,750 |
| Sub-licence | Kept by the sub-licensee | Sub-licensee, as if a Full licensee | An agreement with a Full licence holder | £5,000 | £5,250 |
| Network licence | Licensee; partners keep their players | Network partner, for its players | Its own licence | £50,000 | £52,500 |
| Software supplier (B2B) | None held | Not applicable | An elective licence | £35,000 (standard fiat; £50,000 for token platforms) | £36,750 |
| White label | None held | Generally the licensee offering it | The licence holder, which carries all regulatory responsibility | No licence fee or gaming duty | Not applicable |
The two fee columns disagree, and that gap is the useful finding on the page. The eGaming page also lists a £5,000 application fee. A licensing consultancy’s Isle of Man page, citing the Gambling Supervision Commission’s fee document as effective from 6 July 2023, gives £5,250 for the application and the higher annual figures above. This desk could not extract the text of the 2023 regulations themselves, so neither column is presented here as the current statutory fee. Confirm the current figure with the Gambling Supervision Commission before budgeting.
How long does it take to start an online casino?
The eGaming page says applications are processed in 8 to 12 weeks if there are no unexpected issues, and that white labels can typically go live within 4 to 8 weeks. The consultancy page reports GSC guidance as 10 to 12 weeks, counted from the Inspectorate’s acceptance. The white label is the faster door, paid for in revenue share and in player data it does not hold.
The Network licence is the B2B variant: the page says partners in other jurisdictions bring their own registered players, carry the AML and KYC for them, and pay no fees to the GSC. The Software Supplier licence, released in February 2019, is elective; approved products can be deployed by Isle of Man B2C operators without separate RNG testing certificates.
Where does live casino content come from on a new brand?
A sub-licensed or white-label brand inherits its catalogue from the licence holder. The eGaming page says a sub-licensee may offer only games produced in-house or games the Full licensee has the rights to offer, and a white label’s services are processed by the licence holder. Live tables therefore arrive through the licensee’s platform or an aggregator connected to it; the LuckyStreak and Campeon Gaming deal is that route in practice. Building a studio is a different budget, set out in what suppliers disclose about studio cost, and a branded table is a later decision weighed in dedicated versus shared tables.
Questions operators ask
What is needed to start my own online casino? How much money do I need?
A licence route, a platform and a content supply. The cash figure depends on the route. Under the Isle of Man model, the Government’s eGaming page lists a £35,000 annual Full licence and a £5,000 application fee, while a consultancy citing the 2023 fee rules gives £36,750 and £5,250. A white label there carries no licence fee, but usually a revenue share.
What is the easiest way to start an online casino business?
The shortest route on the page read is a white label: the eGaming page says it is treated as non-licensable there, carries no licence fee or gaming duty, and can typically go live within 4 to 8 weeks. The trade-off is control: the licence holder processes the services, holds the regulatory responsibility and generally works under a revenue-share agreement.
Is a white label the same as having a casino licence?
No. Under the Isle of Man arrangement described by the eGaming page, a white label markets a website while a licence holder processes the services and carries all regulatory responsibility. A sub-licensee, by contrast, keeps its own player data and carries its own AML and KYC duties as though it held a Full licence.
Industry coverage for an adult, 18+ readership on the supply side of the sector: Onkaji Scout offers no gambling services, names no operator to join and treats licence routes as cost and liability lines, not as advice to launch.