How to start an online casino
Six decisions, in the order that saves the most money: the market, the licence, the platform, payments, games and the team. Each one below with what it costs, how long it takes and where new operators most often get it wrong.
Where do you start when opening an online casino?
With the market, not the software. The market decides which licence you need, which payment providers will work with you and which games players expect; the platform is chosen last and is usually the fastest part to set up.
Steps one and two decide the rest. A casino that picks a platform first and then discovers its market needs a local licence, or that its licence is one the local payment providers will not take, ends up redoing the plan.
- 1. Market
- Where your players are, what they pay with and whether the country licenses online casinos itself.
- 2. Licence
- The one your market and your payment providers accept. Usually the longest step, so it starts first.
- 3. Platform
- Build your own, take a white label or buy turnkey software. This sets the upfront cost more than anything else.
- 4. Payments
- Payment providers that accept your licence and serve your market, plus a KYC provider.
- 5. Games
- A catalogue from studios that accept your licence, paid as a share of what their games earn.
- 6. Team and traffic
- Support, payments and risk, retention and marketing. Traffic is the largest cost line and nobody brings it for you.
How do you choose a market for a new casino?
By three questions: does the country issue its own online casino licence, how do players there pay, and where does your traffic already come from. A market that requires a local licence is a different project from one served under an offshore licence.
- Its own licence
- The United Kingdom, Mexico, Kenya and others license online casinos themselves, and no offshore licence lets you serve them.
- How players pay
- Cards, local wallets, bank transfers or crypto. The method decides which payment providers you need and how hard they are to get.
- Language and support
- Players expect the site and support in their language. Every language is a support shift you staff.
- Your traffic
- The market you can already reach, through affiliates, media buying or your own audience, is usually the right first one.
Which licence do you need, and what does it cost?
The one your target markets and payment providers accept, not the cheapest. Annual regulator fees run from about €17,800 in Anjouan to €47,450 in Curaçao, and Malta's first year is estimated at €80,000 or more with its capital and local staff. Licensing is the operator's responsibility and depends on the markets they serve.
Time matters as much as price. Anjouan takes weeks, Curaçao three to five months and Malta four to six, and the regulator fee is only part of the bill: company formation, local directors, audits and lawyers are paid separately. All nine jurisdictions with sources are compared on licensing.
WW Games does not hold or sublicense a gambling licence, and can put operators in touch with licensing providers. Because it is the longest step in most plans, the application is worth filing before anything else is signed.
Should you build a casino platform, take a white label or buy turnkey?
For a first casino, a white label is usually right: weeks instead of a year, and a setup fee instead of a development team. Turnkey suits an operator who already has a licence and staff. Building your own pays only at high, stable revenue or when the technology is the product.
The two comparisons go into the detail: build or buy for the cost of developing your own, and white label against turnkey for who holds the licence and the player database in each.
| Option | What you get | Upfront cost | Time to launch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build your own | Full control; you fund the ledger, game aggregation, payments, KYC, bonuses and back office | A development team for a year or more | A year or more |
| White label | A ready platform under your brand; the provider runs the software | On WW Games, a setup fee from $5,000, then from 7% of GGR plus the game studios' fees | About a week on the platform side |
| Turnkey | The software on your own licence and contracts, with more control | A licence, company structure and compliance staff of your own, in exchange for a lower share | Set by the licence, usually months |
How does a new casino accept payments?
Through payment providers that accept gambling merchants with your licence in your markets, and that is decided by them, not by the platform. Crypto providers are the quickest to start with; local card and wallet methods depend on the provider agreeing to work with the brand.
On WW Games, NOWPayments, PayRam, Banxa and CryptoBot come connected with every launch, and fiat providers are integrated for the markets you actually serve, subject to their approval. Identity checks are run with a KYC provider, which your licence and your payment providers will ask about.
Budget for processing as a fee on every transaction, at your providers' rates. It is a running cost, not a setup one, and on card-heavy markets it is a large one.
Where does a new casino get its games?
From game studios, usually through an aggregator or the platform's catalogue, and the studios charge a share of what their games earn. Studios check your licence before they switch their games on, so the catalogue follows the licence rather than the other way round.
On WW Games the catalogue is 7800+ games from 97 named studios, including Evolution live tables. The studios' fees are billed on top of the platform's revenue share, at a rate that depends on which studios you run and is given in writing with the quote.
How much does it cost to open an online casino?
On a white label, the software is the smaller part: a setup fee from $5,000 and from 7% of GGR, plus the game studios' fees. The licence, payment processing, the team and above all marketing make up most of the budget, and none of them is paid to the platform.
Plan the first months at a loss: deposits arrive before retention does, and bonuses are a cost until players come back. A launch that has money for the licence and the platform but not for six months of traffic is a launch that stops early. Every line WW Games charges, and every line it does not, is on pricing.
| Line | Paid to | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
| Platform setup | The platform | On WW Games from $5,000, once |
| Revenue share | The platform | On WW Games from 7% of GGR, no monthly fee |
| Game studios' fees | The studios, often through the platform | A share of GGR, depending on the studios |
| Licence | The regulator, licensing providers, lawyers | From about €17,800 a year in Anjouan to €80,000+ in Malta's first year |
| Payment processing | Your payment providers | A fee on every transaction, at their rates |
| KYC | Your KYC provider | Per check, at their rates |
| Team | Your staff or contractors | Support, payments and risk, retention, marketing |
| Marketing and traffic | Your channels and affiliates | Usually the largest line |
How long does it take to open an online casino?
From a few weeks to about half a year, and the licence sets which. The platform takes about a week; payment provider onboarding takes weeks; the licence takes from weeks in Anjouan to four to six months in Malta.
The steps run in parallel, not one after another. The licence application and the payment provider conversations start first, the platform is set up inside that wait, and the opening date is the day the slowest of them finishes. A plan that says "live in a week" without a licence and payment contracts in hand is a plan for the platform, not for the casino.
Who do you need on the team from day one?
Four roles, even if one person covers two at first: player support, payments and risk, retention, and marketing. Licences such as Curaçao's and Malta's add compliance roles, including a money laundering reporting officer.
- Support
- In every language you serve, at the hours your players play. Most early complaints are about withdrawals and bonuses.
- Payments and risk
- Approves withdrawals, watches for bonus abuse and multi-accounting, and talks to the payment providers.
- Retention
- Bonuses, VIP levels, tournaments and messages that bring depositors back. This is where the casino makes its money.
- Marketing
- Media buying, affiliates or your own audience. Without it, nothing else on this list gets used.
Where do first-time operators go wrong?
Five places, again and again: choosing a licence by price, budgeting the platform but not the traffic, launching several markets at once, signing a long minimum term, and not knowing who owns the player database.
- The cheapest licence
- One the local payment providers will not accept costs more than the right one.
- No traffic budget
- The platform and the licence are the small part. The money runs out in the months before retention pays.
- Four markets at once
- Each brings its own payments, language and support. Launching one well and adding the second on real numbers is cheaper.
- A long lock-in
- Twelve or twenty-four months is common in this niche. Ask every vendor; on WW Games there is no minimum term.
- Players you do not own
- On a white label run on the provider's licence, the players are legally the licence holder's. Read the contract before you sign.
Can you go through the plan with someone before you start?
Yes. A free consultation with the WW Games team covers your market, licence path, platform model, payments, budget and timeline, and ends with a plan with dates. It does not oblige you to launch on WW Games, and it does not replace a lawyer for the licence.
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Questions about starting an online casino
How much money do you need to start an online casino?
The platform is the smaller part: on a white label such as WW Games, a setup fee from $5,000 and from 7% of GGR plus the game studios' fees. The licence adds from about €17,800 a year in Anjouan to €80,000 or more in Malta's first year, and marketing is usually the largest line. Plan for several months of traffic before retention pays.
Can you start an online casino without a licence?
Licensing is the operator's responsibility and depends on the markets they serve. In practice the licence is what payment providers, game studios and affiliates check before they work with a casino, and markets with their own regime require their own licence. WW Games does not hold or sublicense a licence, and can put operators in touch with licensing providers.
How long does it take to launch an online casino?
From a few weeks to about six months. The platform takes about a week, payment providers take weeks, and the licence takes from weeks in Anjouan to four to six months in Malta. They run in parallel, and the slowest sets the date.
Do you need developers to start an online casino?
Not on a white label: the provider runs the software, and your team runs the casino in the back office. Developers are needed if you build your own platform, which takes a year or more, or for a front end that departs far from the standard one.
Can an online casino run inside Telegram?
Yes, as a Telegram Mini App on the same account and wallet as the web casino. On WW Games it comes with the same launch; see the Telegram casino.
Go through your plan with us
Tell us the market, where your traffic comes from and where you are with the licence. We will come back with a plan with dates and a cost estimate.