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our officesGambling Licenses
To operate an online casino you will need to incorporate your company and obtain a gambling licence.
Formacompany can assist you in your gambling licence application within the following countries:
Costa Rica
Costa Rica is currently the centre of online casinos with the best infrastructure available in the Caribbean. Many online casinos have chosen Costa Rica as their registration country due to no direct prohibitions on gambling businesses.
The company needs:
- A licence to trade, which we can assist with
- Server facilities in Costa Rica
- The regular payment of trading taxes there
Naturally; if your clients are in the European Union you may require, for your Costa Rican company:
- A Merchant Account in the European Union
- A series of collection accounts in the European Union with a bills payment agency
- A central bank account in the European Union in the name of the Costa Rican company
Malta
Malta is world's largest online gaming jurisdiction making it a popular choice within Europe for incorporating a gambling business.
The regulatory body in Malta responsible for the supervision of remote gaming is the Lotteries & Gaming Authority.
There are four types of licence available.
- Class 1 - for operators managing their own risk
- Class 2 - for operators who manage bets on behalf of others. (pool betting, spread betting)
- Class 3 - for operators who take commission for promoting betting games (poker networks for example)
- Class 4 - for software operators, who want to provide management and hosting facilities
We can manage the application. There are three stages:
- We need to submit proof that the applicant is capable for the integrity of the company and for the competence's of the people involved.
- We then need to get a 'letter of intent' given to us by the LGA - this can take eight or so weeks - this allows you to start remote gambling
- There is then a compliance audit, and a full licence is granted. This takes some six months.
The taxes for each type of licence are:
- Class 1 - Fee of €7000 per month
- Class 2 - A sum equal to 0.5% of bets
- Class 3 - A sum equal to 0.5% of net income
- Class 4 - No specific gaming tax
United Kingdom
The UK issue licences easily for certain types of gaming including remote gaming.
You should consider a UK licence if your business is small and you need to reduce costs.
There are several licences available:
- The Remote General betting (standard) (real events) Licence. Needed If you are offering betting on real events (horse races, football matches) through an internet site. The annual charge at present for a small business is around £1700. In the cases above, some of the equipment you use to run your betting service must be located in the United Kingdom.
- The Remote General betting (standard) (virtual events) Licence. Needed if you are offering betting on virtual events - that is to say lotteries that you organise yourself. The annual charge at present for a small business is around £2000.
- Pool betting licence. You need this operating licence if you run a pool betting business: fantasy football, football pools, club bets on sporting events are included in this category. The annual charge at present for a small business is £1,594.
- Licence for a foreign company, to market in the UK. You can apply for a UK licence if you are a foreign company. This is useful in many cases for the ease of getting a simple UK licence. However your company must be located in in a 'white-listed' jurisdiction such as the EEA or another well regulated jurisdiction such as Tasmania or Antigua. Costs are similar to UK businesses, and depend on your estimated turnover.
- 2005 Act remote casino operating licence. You will need a remote casino operating licence if you want to run a website service that offers casino games. This includes the usual gambling games such as black jack. For a small business the application costs £2,933.
- The gambling software licence. If most of your gambling software business relies on an internet site, you should apply for a remote gambling software licence. For a small business this costs £2000 per year.
Gibraltar
A Gibraltar gambling licence is granted by the Financial Development Secretary of the Government of Gibraltar. However, Gibraltar is no longer a place where licences are conceded easily. In order to be considered in Gibraltar your company must first be registered elsewhere with a well known reputation in the world of betting.
Canada
Kahnawake is a Native American territory in Canada which licences online casinos for an annual fee of USD$10,000. Licences and licence renewals last 2 years. A non refundable deposit of USD$15,000 for probity and control system testing is required at the time of licence application.
Singapore
Offshore gambling sites are legal through a Singapore company under the 'Betting Act'. In this instance you must take care to administer the site from outside Singapore itself. You must not advertise in Singapore or to Singapore clients.