Anjouan License Alternative: Moving Your Casino or Sportsbook to a Georgian Permit

An Anjouan license does not convert, transfer or follow an operator to Georgia. Moving an online casino or sportsbook to Georgia's international permit means a new Georgian company run from Tbilisi, a fresh platform audit and a permit per vertical, while the Anjouan license keeps the current site trading. This guide covers why operators are weighing the move, what changes, the steps and time limits, the overlap, costs and when to stay put.

Why Anjouan Licensees Are Weighing a Move Now

On 8 December 2025 the Central Bank of the Comoros published a communiqué saying the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority is not recognized in the Union of the Comoros and that no license for online gambling or sports betting has been issued there, and warning against doing business with entities operating under its licenses. Anjouan Gaming says it operates under that authority, so the warning reaches every Anjouan gaming license in force and the banks and suppliers behind it.

On 19 October 2026 the Guardian reported that the Comoros government had asked the UK government and its law enforcement bodies for help, said British citizens had been identified in connection with the licensing regime, and was preparing legal action at home. The paper counted nearly 1,500 license holders on the register.

Anjouan Gaming still issues licenses, under a new edition of its conditions published in October 2026. Curaçao licensees face a supplier licensing deadline on 24 December 2026, and a Curaçao license alternative runs on different numbers because Curaçao taxes profit at 15% to 22%. Georgia's international permits stand on national law, created by Law No. 1822 of 25 June 2026, in force since 3 July 2026, and issued by the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance (gambling law Art. 7(1), 11(1)).

What Carries Over From an Anjouan License

Nothing carries over. Georgian permits go only to an entrepreneur registered in Georgia (Art. 11(2)) and cannot be transferred (Art. 11(24)), and no provision lets a foreign license stand in for one.

The vertical split catches most Anjouan casinos, whose single license covers tables, slots and betting together. An online casino license in Georgia covers table and card games only, slots take a second permit and a sportsbook a third, each at about €34,400 a year.

How to Move to Georgia, Step by Step

Random Systems Georgia, the company the Revenue Service selected to run the state's electronic control system, audits and connects the platform before any filing, and its published process sets most of the calendar.

1. Register the Georgian company. An LLC is registered the next business day. Then open its bank account and fix the management address and server location.
2. Register on the control-system portal. Approval comes within 5 days, followed by a service agreement and an invoice for the one-off fees.
3. Pass the platform audit. It starts within 20 days of payment and runs up to 45 days for online games, extendable once, with the result within 7 days.
4. Integrate with the control system. Integration takes up to 30 days, extendable once by 30, and the authorization certificate follows within 2 days.
5. File with the Revenue Service. With the certificate, the first year's fee for each permit and each supplier's permit number on file, the decision comes within 20 days or the permit is deemed issued (Law on Licences and Permits, Art. 26(10)).
6. Cut over. The Georgian site goes live and the Anjouan site winds down on the planned date.

Those are maximums. Added up without extensions they come to about 109 days to the certificate and 20 more at the Revenue Service, the outer edge of the two to four months we plan for. The bank account, address and servers are finished while the audit runs, which keeps getting a gambling license in Georgia inside that window rather than after it.

Running the Anjouan License and the Georgian Permit Side by Side

The Anjouan license keeps the existing site trading while the Georgian company builds its own, and the Georgian application asks for no surrender of a foreign license. The pressure point is the renewal date, since Anjouan renews yearly at €17,828 on its fee page and rule changes, such as the beneficial ownership section added in September 2026, reach existing licensees at renewal.

Each Georgian permit covers one website on one domain, and the law sets no .ge requirement. The brand's current domain can move to the Georgian permit on cut-over day, or the Georgian site can launch on a new domain while the Anjouan one winds down.

The Georgian operator verifies every player by ID data and re-verifies each one yearly (gambling law Art. 29(1)), with customer due diligence at registration and no threshold under Georgia's AML law. Existing accounts are re-verified, Georgian citizens cannot come across, and balances held by the Anjouan company are settled or moved before its site closes.

Re-Onboarding Payment Providers and Suppliers

Payment providers onboard the Georgian company as a new merchant, with a new license, company and place of business. Georgia's 2021 ban on gambling payments, in Article 13¹ of the Payments Law, applies only to foreign gambling companies and to payments by Georgian residents, so it does not stop Georgian banks and payment providers serving a Georgian-licensed operator.

Georgian-licensed operators already take Visa, Mastercard and American Express deposits, with channels at TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank, according to Adjarabet's published payment rules. Visa's rules require an online gambling merchant to hold a license and its acquirer to take merchants from its own country, and a Georgian permit fits that with the license, the company and a Georgian acquirer in one country.

Random Systems Georgia says the international regime was designed with the banking sector, but as of October 2026 no Georgian bank has said publicly that it acquires card payments for international permit holders. That makes a bank account for a gambling company licensed in Georgia a week-one project, with each provider's answer in writing.

Game suppliers need a Georgian supply permit, about €34,400 a year for five years, because an operator may use games and essential products, from the RNG to the player database, only from a permit holder (gambling law Art. 29(4)). Evolution Georgia, Spribe Georgia and Smartsoft are among the companies on Random Systems Georgia's permit list that hold or have held one, and a studio with only an Anjouan B2B license or recognition certificate cannot supply the Georgian site.

Which Players You Can Serve From Georgia

An international permit serves only players who are not Georgian citizens, and foreigners under 18 may not play (gambling law Art. 32). Georgian law names no foreign country as excluded, but each target country's own law still decides whether an operator licensed abroad may serve its residents. The UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Australia, all on Anjouan's excluded list, do not open up by moving.

Costs: Anjouan and Georgia Year by Year

Georgia costs more in fees. The difference buys a permit issued by a state tax authority under national law, a five-year term instead of a yearly renewal, and tax charged on revenue rather than profit.

Georgia taxes foreign players' gross gaming revenue at 5% a month under Article 98(5) of the Tax Code, plus 1% to Random Systems Georgia, and both are owed in loss-making months. Dividends paid abroad carry 5% withholding unless one of Georgia's 58 tax treaties lowers it, to 0% under several, including those with Malta, Cyprus and the UAE. Anjouan publishes no charge on revenue, and its licensee pays profit tax wherever it is incorporated.

Who Should Move, and Who Should Stay

Moving to Georgia suits:

• Card-led operators: Visa's rules expect the license, the merchant's place of business and the acquirer in one country, a set-up the Georgian permit fits.
• Plans measured in years: each permit runs five years, against a yearly renewal and the rule changes that arrive with it.
• High-margin casinos: 5% of GGR plus the 1% fee, with no corporate tax on profit kept in the business, rewards margin.
• Groups ready to staff Tbilisi: the permit needs a management address in Georgia, and average gross monthly earnings in information and communication were about €1,513 in Q2 2026 (Geostat).
• Operators who want a state issuer: the Revenue Service decides within 20 days of a complete filing, or the permit is deemed issued.

Staying on Anjouan, or choosing another license, is the better call for:

• Crypto-only operators: the international permit offers no lawful crypto deposit route today, while Anjouan lists crypto-enabled gaming as permitted.
• Very small operators: at €200,000 of GGR a year, the casino and slots permits alone come to about 34% of revenue before any tax.
• Thin-margin operators: the 5% and the 1% fall on GGR, so they are owed in months when costs leave the company at a loss.
• Anyone who must move within weeks: the audit and integration alone carry published maximums of 45 and 30 days.

Anjouan License Alternative FAQ