Costa Rica: a jurisdiction without a gambling licence

No. Costa Rica has no licence for online gambling and no regulator that grants or supervises one. What is marketed as a Costa Rica licence is a local company with a municipal business permit for data processing.

Law firms working in the country say so plainly: one puts it as "you can't — there isn't one" (source), another that Costa Rica "does not offer a conventional online iGaming licence comparable to Malta or Curaçao" (source).

That is the single most important fact on this page. Anyone offering a Costa Rica gambling licence is offering company formation and a local permit, not an authorisation to take bets — and the difference matters to every payment provider and studio you will deal with.

Law No. 9050 of 2012 taxes land-based casinos, which may only operate in hotels of four stars or more, and separately taxes companies that receive and process data generating electronic bets. It creates a tax, not a gambling licence.

All of the above is from the official text of Law No. 9050. The "base salary" it refers to is a reference amount updated each year under Costa Rican law, so the tax in local currency changes annually.

Historically, for sportsbook back offices and betting call centres. Today, mostly as a support or operations entity alongside a gaming licence held elsewhere, rather than as the player-facing licensed operator.

One firm describes the typical use as "support, technology, corporate or operational functions alongside a separately licensed gaming business abroad", and stresses that the contracts, payment flows and activities in Costa Rica must match the legal position relied on (source).

Practitioners also describe two constraints on the structure: no services to Costa Rican residents, and no transactions through domestic banks (source).

Mostly not as a gaming licence. Card schemes and mainstream acquirers generally expect a recognised gaming licence, so a Costa Rica structure alone usually limits a casino to crypto and high-risk payment providers.

Advisers put it bluntly: card processing is "usually no" without a recognised licence elsewhere, and operators typically "begin with crypto and high-risk PSPs, then add fiat after securing a license in another jurisdiction" (source). Game studios make the same check in their contracts.

If a Costa Rica structure is part of your plan, treat it as one piece of the business and budget for a gaming licence in a jurisdiction your payment providers and studios accept — the other guides on licensing compare them.

The same way as any jurisdiction: licensing is the operator's responsibility and depends on the markets served. WW Games does not hold or sublicense a gambling licence, and can put you in touch with licensing providers.

We would not recommend building a casino on a Costa Rica structure alone for the reasons above. The platform does not change what a licence authorises; it runs under the licence you hold.