Malta
MGA · B2C gaming service · B2B supply
✓Malta Gaming Authority oversight✓The EU's most recognised gaming stamp✓Game Types 1-4 under one licence
From application to licence: expert assistance with your gambling licence.
We run the whole file - jurisdiction and licence type, the local company, key functions, the systems and AML documentation the regulator actually audits, and we tell you before you pay which routes will bank your business and which will not.
27 yrs
on the international market
60+
in-house specialists
400+
Licenses obtained
Updated
Where we license
Gambling licences in the jurisdictions that matter
Isle of Man
OGRA 2001 · Gambling Supervision Commission
✓Player funds ring-fenced by design✓Full, sub- and network licences✓Gambling duty tiered from 1.5% of yield
Gibraltar
Gambling Act · Licensing Authority
✓B2C £100,000 · B2B £85,000 a year✓Duty of 0.15% of yield, first £100,000 exempt✓A register curated for operators of standing
Curaçao
LOK · Curaçao Gaming Authority
✓Licensed directly by the CGA - no master licence✓Online gaming (B2C) and supplier (B2B) licences✓Provisional licence, then indefinite duration
Sweden
Gambling Act 2018 · Spelinspektionen
✓One SEK 230,000 application covers both licences✓B2B software permit at SEK 120,000✓Spelpaus self-exclusion at the centre of the model
Estonia
EMTA · activity licence + operating permit
✓EU licensing on statutory clocks✓€47,940 state fee for games of chance✓Remote operating permits up to 5 years
Hungary
SZTFH · remote gambling licence
✓Open to EEA operators since 2023✓Licence fee covers up to seven years✓Segregated Hungarian player accounts
Cyprus
National Betting Authority · Class B online betting
✓An EU sportsbook licence✓€500,000 share capital, €550,000 bank guarantee✓Betting only - Cyprus does not license online casino
Antigua & Barbuda
FSRC - Division of Gaming · IGIWR
✓Interactive gaming and wagering licences✓External audits on solvency, players and AML✓The original offshore iGaming flag, still working
Kahnawake
KGC · Client Provider Authorization
✓A regulator licensing online gaming since 1999✓US$35,000 in, US$20,000 a year thereafter✓Hosting from the Territory's co-location facility
Panama
Junta de Control de Juegos (MEF) · internet gaming
✓A licensed online regime running since 2002✓Gaming board under the Ministry of Economy and Finance✓Dollarised banking behind the licence
Costa Rica
None - no licensing regime
✓No gaming licence exists; the 'data processing licence' is a municipal permit✓The hemisphere's deepest sportsbook talent pool✓An operating base inside a group licensed elsewhere
Anjouan · Comoros
Island-registry certificate - not a central-bank authorisation
✓Issued in days, renewed annually✓No supervision behind the paper✓Crypto-first rails; limited fiat banking and PSP reach
Licensing · supervised regimes
Where the licence comes with a regulator attached.
In a mature jurisdiction the licence is not the document. It is the condition you keep meeting. The authority approves your people, audits your systems, checks that player money is segregated from operating money, and can take the licence back. That is precisely what banks, PSPs, studios and payment partners are pricing when they look at your seal.
✓MaltaThe MGA licenses B2C gaming service across game Types 1-4 and B2B critical supply: €5,000 application, €25,000 fixed annual fee, share capital of €100,000 for Types 1-2 and €40,000 for Types 3-4, named key functions and a systems audit before you go live.✓Isle of ManAn OGRA 2001 licence from the Gambling Supervision Commission in full, sub- and network form, with player funds ring-fenced by design, gambling duty tiered from 1.5% of gross yield and 0% corporate income tax on the profits.✓GibraltarRemote gambling licences under the Gambling Act at £100,000 a year B2C and £85,000 B2B, duty of 0.15% of gross yield with the first £100,000 exempt, and a register the Licensing Authority curates deliberately. Selectivity is the product.✓Curaçao after the rebuildUnder the LOK, in force since 24.12.2024, the Curaçao Gaming Authority licenses operators directly through a Curaçao company with a resident managing director, in two eight-week phases, from provisional licence to one of indefinite duration. The master-licence era is over.
Supervision has a clock: 6-12 months in Malta and Gibraltar, 4-8 on the Isle of Man, two eight-week phases in Curaçao. Build the machine before you file and the clock is the main cost you pay.
Map my licence route →The other tier, as it is
Some licences are paper - and the price tells you which.
The budget tier sells the seal without the regime behind it. That is not always the wrong choice, but it should be a choice made with open eyes and in writing, because the consequences show up later. At the bank, at the PSP, at the game studio, and in every ring-fenced market you cannot enter.
✓AnjouanAn island-registry certificate styled as an eGaming licence, issued in days and renewed annually, while the Banque Centrale des Comores states publicly that only institutions it authorises may conduct financial activity under a Comorian licence.✓Costa Rica issues no online gambling licence at allThe famous 'data processing licence' is a municipal business permit, not a gaming permission. What San José genuinely offers is a talent pool, a time zone and territorial tax.✓Rails decide the build, not sealsWhere there is no supervision, mainstream fiat banking and tier-one PSP acceptance is limited, the working ecosystem runs crypto-first, and studio acceptance varies by provider.✓The gap to a real regulator is smaller than the reseller pitch implies: Kahnawake enters at US$35,000 including the first year, and Curaçao's direct licence runs two eight-week phases.
If a budget certificate really is the right entry step for your project, we will say so in writing, and map the migration before you need it.
Request the written review →What a license covers
What a gambling licence actually authorises
A gambling licence is scoped by product, not by ambition. Regulators split online gambling into game types and lanes. Operator against supplier, casino against betting, and each one carries its own capital, fees, contributions and audits. Fixing the scope first is what keeps the application, the budget and the launch date in one piece.
These include:
✓Online casino and RNG games run for players (Type 1 in Malta's classification)✓Fixed-odds sports betting, and betting operated as an exchange (Type 2)✓Peer-to-peer games such as poker and bingo, where the operator takes a commission (Type 3)✓Controlled skill games played for a prize (Type 4)✓Holding player funds. Segregated from operating money as a live licence condition
Additionally, the license may include:
✓B2B critical supply. Platforms, aggregation and game content sold into licensed operators✓Live dealer studios and hosting from the licensed jurisdiction's own facilities✓Sub-licensing and network arrangements, where the regime provides for them. As OGRA does
Scope is jurisdiction-specific and the boundaries are real: Cyprus licenses Class B online betting and no online casino, Malta separates B2C gaming service from B2B critical supply, and Curaçao's LOK issues an online gaming licence and a supplier licence as two distinct permissions.
| Type of activity | Regulatory requirements |
|---|---|
| Online casino and RNG games | A B2C operator licence covering that game type, with certified RNG and platform systems audited before launch |
| Sports betting | A betting-class licence - in Cyprus the National Betting Authority's Class B, which does not extend to online casino |
| Peer-to-peer poker and bingo | An operator licence for the P2P type, with player-fund segregation and the commission model disclosed to the regulator |
| Platform and game supply (B2B) | A separate supplier licence: Malta's B2B critical supply, Curaçao's supplier licence under the LOK, Sweden's SEK 120,000 software permit |
| Holding player funds | Segregation and safeguarding evidenced before launch; under OGRA on the Isle of Man ring-fencing is built into the regime itself |
| Key people and control functions | Named individuals approved by the authority - the MGA's key functions, Kahnawake's key person permits at US$5,000 each |
Names differ by jurisdiction and so does the paperwork behind them: an MGA gaming service licence, an OGRA licence, a Curaçao Gaming Authority online gaming licence, a Client Provider Authorization from Kahnawake, an FSRC interactive gaming licence under the IGIWR. We map your product mix onto the right scope before anything is filed.
Comparison of jurisdictions
Where is it worth getting a gambling licence?
There is no best gambling jurisdiction. Only the right one for your product, your markets and the rails you need. The variables that actually decide it are supervision, market reach, the full cost stack and the clock. Below is how the thirteen jurisdictions we work in line up on each.
01
Supervision you can show a bank
A licence backed by conditions, audits and reviews opens fiat banking, tier-one PSPs and studio contracts. A certificate with no regime behind it usually does not. Malta, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Sweden and the rebuilt Curaçao regime sit on one side of that line.
02
Market reach and ring-fencing
Regulated markets require their own licence regardless of what you already hold: Sweden's Spelinspektionen for Swedish players, Hungary's SZTFH for Hungarian ones. Offshore flags serve the global non-ring-fenced book and nothing more.
03
The cost stack, in full
The licence fee is rarely the largest number. Share capital (€1,000,000 in Estonia, €500,000 in Cyprus), guarantees (€550,000 in Cyprus), audits, key functions and local substance are the stack, and they differ by multiples between tiers.
04
The clock and your readiness
Curaçao targets two eight-week phases; Malta and Gibraltar run 6-12 months. Almost all of the variance is on the applicant's side. Incomplete systems documentation, unapprovable key persons and unfunded capital are what stretch reviews.
| Jurisdiction | Licence & regulator | Gaming duty / tax | Realistic timeline | What it buys you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MaltaMore details → | MGA B2C · B2B supply | 5% eff. via refunds · 5% Malta GGR | 6-12 months | The EU's benchmark stamp |
| Isle of ManMore details → | OGRA licence · GSC | 0% CIT · duty tiered from 1.5% of yield | 4-8 months | Ring-fenced player funds, an island that treats e-gaming as a national industry |
| GibraltarMore details → | B2C £100k · B2B £85k a year | 15% CIT · 0.15% of yield, first £100k exempt | 6-12 months | A curated register - selectivity is the product |
| CuraçaoMore details → | CGA online gaming · supplier (LOK) | 22% profit tax · planned | 2 × 8 weeks by phase | The rebuilt volume flag, licensed directly |
| SwedenMore details → | Spelinspektionen · Gambling Act 2018 | 22% of Swedish GGR · 20.6% CIT | 4-8 months | A premier regulated market for operators who take conduct seriously |
| EstoniaMore details → | EMTA activity licence + operating permit | 6% of GGR · 22% on distributions | 4 + 2 months statutory | Real EU licensing at a fraction of Malta's fee stack |
| KahnawakeMore details → | KGC Client Provider Authorization | US$20,000 a year · tax per group design | 3-6 months | Sovereign supervision at US$35,000 in |
| AnjouanMore details → | Island-registry certificate | None - no licence economics | Days | Paper and crypto rails, with no supervision behind either |
Important: Holding one licence does not authorise you everywhere. Ring-fenced markets - Sweden and Hungary among them - require their own licence for their own players, and no offshore flag substitutes for one. Where you take players from is the question that sets your licensing map, not where you incorporate.
Prifinance selects the jurisdiction against your product mix, target markets, payment rails and budget, and says plainly when the route you arrived with is not the one that will bank you. From there we run the entity, the application, the audits and the launch as one file.
Before you apply
What every gambling regulator examines before it licenses you
Supervised regimes check four things: the company, the people, the money and the machine. The requirements below recur across the MGA, the Gambling Supervision Commission, the Curaçao Gaming Authority, Spelinspektionen, EMTA and the FSRC. The thresholds move, the questions do not.
01
Local company - the licence sits in an entity incorporated in the jurisdiction, with ownership traced to UBO level.
02
Fit and proper owners and directors - due diligence on shareholders, directors and key persons, with an approval that can be refused.
03
Named key functions - the MGA's key function roles, Kahnawake's key person permits at US$5,000 each, a Curaçao-resident managing director.
04
Share capital where prescribed - €100,000 for Malta Types 1-2 and €40,000 for Types 3-4, €500,000 in Cyprus, €1,000,000 in Estonia. Paid and maintained.
05
Player-fund protection - player money segregated from operating money and safeguarded, evidenced before launch rather than after.
06
Responsible gambling framework - limits, self-exclusion and player protection engineered into the product; in Sweden, Spelpaus sits at the centre of the model.
07
AML/CFT programme - policies, a named officer and audit trails built to the local law, not to a generic template.
08
Certified systems and RNG - platform, RNG, data and reporting architecture mapped to the regulator's technical standards and audited on its clock.
09
Business and financial plan - products, markets and projections the authority can interrogate, consistent with the licence scope you applied for.
10
Fees, guarantees and ongoing contributions - application and annual fees, Cyprus's €550,000 bank guarantee, Hungary's 2.5% quarterly supervision fee, compliance contributions where they apply.
Note: Requirements are confirmed against the current rules for your jurisdiction before any work starts. Where a fee schedule or a rate has moved, we verify the figure at filing rather than at quoting.
On the ground
Offices from Tallinn to Miami.
Prague
Czech Republic
Vlkova 532/8, Žižkov
Berlin
Germany
Rankestraße 26
Singapore
Singapore
3 Church Street, #29-68 Samsung Hub
Bangkok
Thailand
Unit P01, Penthouse, VASU1, 1 Sukhumvit 25 Alley
Foshan
China
A-Tower, Yuneng Digital Plaza, 46 Lishui Avenue South
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan
32 Razzakov Street
How it works
Stages and timeline to obtain a gambling licence
STEP 01
Scope and jurisdiction
Product mix, target markets and payment rails set the licence type and the country. B2C or B2B, casino or betting, one licence or several. Fixed in writing before any drafting begins.
STEP 02
Company, capital and people
The local entity is incorporated, capital paid where prescribed, and key functions filled with individuals the authority will actually approve.
STEP 03
The application file
Business and financial plan, systems and RNG documentation, AML/CFT and responsible-gambling frameworks, player-fund arrangements. Complete on submission, not after the first question round.
STEP 04
Regulator review and audits
Question rounds, fit-and-proper checks and the systems audit. This is where prepared files separate from hopeful ones, and where most of the timeline variance lives.
STEP 05
Licence, rails and launch
Licence issued, annual fees and contribution calendar live, banking and PSP integrations completed. Operations start only once the licence is in force.
Why Prifinance
A law firm, not a licence reseller.
The gambling market is full of intermediaries selling paper by the unit. We are a legal and advisory firm: we tell you what a route actually buys, build the file the regulator audits, and stay on it after the licence is issued.
01
In-house licensing team
60+ specialists work on applications directly. Lawyers, compliance and audit people, not an outsourcing chain of resellers.
02
The written review first
Before you pay anyone, you get a written view of what the licence does, where its limits run, and whether your markets and rails accept it.
03
Fixed, itemised fees
The quote you approve is the price you pay. Government, regulator and audit fees are stated separately and upfront.
04
Regulator-ready documentation
Systems and RNG documentation, AML/CFT and responsible-gambling frameworks and player-fund arrangements drafted to the standards authorities actually check.
05
Support after issuance
Contributions and duty calendars, reporting, audits, renewals, and the migration path when a project outgrows the licence it started on.
Our experts in gambling regulation
Professionals who speak both the language of business and that of regulators.
Nikolai Timofejev
Licensing expert
15 years in FinTech and payments. Maps your business model to the right licence scope and leads the file to the regulator's decision, including banking and payment rails.
Oleksii Kindratenko
Licensing & AML advisor
Builds the application itself: the local company, AML/KYC policy pack, capital structure and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
Eugeniu Bevziuc
International business consultant
First point of contact for international founders. Runs the whole setup remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live, licensed operator.
Follow Prifinance
Active across our channels.
Gambling License Guide: Launch & Scale Your iGaming Business
Good to know
Taxation of licensed gambling operators
Gambling carries two separate tax questions, and operators routinely confuse them: the gaming duty the regime charges on play, and the corporate tax the jurisdiction charges on profit. A licence can be cheap on one and expensive on the other.
Gaming duty on play
Charged on gross gaming revenue or yield, and set by the regime: 5% on Malta players, 22% of Swedish GGR, 6% of gross gaming revenue in Estonia, 0.15% of yield in Gibraltar with the first £100,000 exempt, tiered from 1.5% of yield on the Isle of Man.
Corporate tax on profit
A different number entirely: 0% on the Isle of Man, 9% in Hungary, 12.5% in Cyprus (15% for large groups), 15% in Gibraltar, 20.6% in Sweden, 22% in Curaçao, around 5% effective in Malta through the refund mechanism, and 22% on distributions in Estonia, where retained profits are not taxed.
Fixed fees are the floor
Fees are payable whatever the revenue: €25,000 a year in Malta (€10,000 for Type 4 only), £100,000 B2C and £85,000 B2B in Gibraltar, US$20,000 a year in Kahnawake, HUF 600,000,000 covering up to seven years in Hungary plus 2.5% quarterly supervision, SEK 230,000 on application in Sweden, a €47,940 state fee in Estonia.
Territorial regimes, and no regime at all
Panama, Costa Rica and Antigua run on territorial logic, where the structure decides the outcome. Anjouan has no licence economics at all. With no supervised regime there is nothing fiscal attached to the certificate, and the group and the owners' own residence rules decide everything.
Important: Rates and fee schedules in this sector move. Estonia's gambling-tax rates have been stepped upward in recent budget packages, and Gibraltar is modernising its Gambling Act. Every figure is confirmed as current at filing, not at quoting.
Client notes
Google4.7★★★★★
Founders who wanted it done right.
Google4.7★★★★★
“As a software development crew at FewMoreTaps OÜ, we've had the pleasure of working with Prifinance on some key financial moves.First of all, navigating the world of corporate banking and finance can be a maze, but Prifinance made it feel like a walk in the park. They helped us set up a corporate bank account without the hassle of jumping on a plane or drowning in paperwork. Everything was done remotely, smoothly…”
Google
“I had their assistance in company registration and I would recommend them. They were answering all my clarification during the process and offering all their supportThank you Daniel and Irinia”
Google
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Google
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FAQ
Gambling licences, from scope to supervision.
Which gambling licence should I start with?+
It depends on your product and your markets, not on price. If you need EU credibility and a stamp partners recognise, that points to Malta. If you need a global non-ring-fenced book at volume economics, Curaçao's direct CGA licence under the LOK. If you sell into Swedish or Hungarian players, you need that market's own licence and no substitute exists.
Is a Costa Rica gambling licence real?+
No. Costa Rica issues no online gambling licence - the well-known 'data processing licence' is a municipal business permit, not a gaming permission. Costa Rica is genuinely valuable as an operating base: talent, time zone and territorial tax, inside a group licensed where licences actually exist.
What about Anjouan?+
The Anjouan certificate is a real document issued by an island registry, not a central-bank authorisation - the Banque Centrale des Comores states publicly that only institutions it authorises may conduct financial activity under a Comorian licence. It is issued in days, renewed annually and, in practice, runs crypto-first because mainstream banking and tier-one PSP acceptance is limited.
What changed in Curaçao?+
The master-licence model is gone. Under the LOK, in force since 24.12.2024, the Curaçao Gaming Authority licenses operators directly - an online gaming licence for B2C and a supplier licence for B2B - through a Curaçao company with a resident managing director, in two eight-week phases, moving from a provisional licence to one of indefinite duration.
How long does a gambling licence take?+
Curaçao targets two eight-week phases. Antigua, Panama and Kahnawake run 3-6 months. The Isle of Man, Sweden and Cyprus run 4-8 months. Malta and Gibraltar run 6-12. Hungary has a 120-day statutory decision clock and takes six to ten months end to end including audit and banking.
Do I need a separate B2B licence to supply platforms or games?+
Yes, in most supervised regimes. Malta issues a B2B critical gaming supply licence, Curaçao a supplier licence under the LOK, Sweden a software permit at SEK 120,000, and Gibraltar a B2B licence at £85,000 a year. Supplying licensed operators without the corresponding permission is its own compliance problem.
Can one licence cover casino and betting?+
Sometimes. Malta's B2C gaming service licence covers game Types 1-4, so casino and betting can sit under one licence with capital and contributions set by type. Cyprus is the opposite case: the National Betting Authority licenses Class B online betting and does not license online casino at all.
What does share capital actually have to be?+
Where it is prescribed, it is paid and maintained, not nominal: €100,000 for Malta Types 1-2 and €40,000 for Types 3-4, €500,000 in Cyprus alongside a €550,000 bank guarantee, and €1,000,000 in Estonia for games of chance.
Will a licence get me banking and payment processing?+
A supervised licence makes the conversation possible; it does not finish it. Banks and tier-one PSPs look at the regime behind the seal, your ownership, your markets and your AML machinery. Where there is no supervision behind the licence, fiat rails are limited and the ecosystem is crypto-first in practice.
Can I move to a better licence later?+
Yes, and it is a normal path - projects that start on budget paper and outgrow it migrate to Curaçao, Kahnawake, Antigua or an EU regime. Migration is far cheaper when the group, the player-fund arrangements and the AML records were built with the move in mind, which is why we map it before it is needed.
Free consultation
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Get a free legal opinion on your project - our legal team will analyse your case at no cost and provide a written opinion: which jurisdiction, licence scope and structure fit your product, your markets and your payment rails.
Written assessment within 2-5 business days