How to Get a Gambling License: The Steps and How Long Each Takes

Getting a gambling license follows the same order in every jurisdiction: choose the license, set up the company, document the people behind it, write the policies, certify the platform, file and pay, then answer the regulator until it decides. What changes is how long each step takes. This guide walks the seven steps with the rules of eight regulators and their timelines as of October 2026.

Gambling License Requirements Every Regulator Shares

Requirements differ in detail but not in kind. Every regulator wants a company it can supervise, people it has vetted, somewhere it can reach the data, and enough money behind the operation to pay players. The table shows what each one asks for on the ground.

How to Get a Gambling License in 7 Steps

1. Choose the Jurisdiction and License Type

Start with where your players are and which products you will offer. An offshore or international online gambling license covers the markets without a regime of their own, while a market such as Great Britain needs its own license. Then fix the license type: B2C if you take players' bets, B2B if you supply platforms or games to operators.

Count verticals and domains at this stage, because some regimes license by product. Georgia issues separate permits for casino games, slots and sports betting, each covering one website, while Curaçao and Anjouan cover every vertical under one license and charge per added domain.

2. Set Up the Company and Key People

Most regulators license only a local company. Curaçao grants its license to a company established under Curaçao law with its registered office there (Art. 2(1)), the Isle of Man asks for a Manx company with two resident directors, and Georgia's gambling law issues permits only to an entrepreneur registered in Georgia (Art. 11(2)). Malta accepts a company established anywhere in the EEA, and Anjouan's document list asks for incorporation papers without naming a jurisdiction.

Name your key persons early, since regulators vet them as closely as the owners. Curaçao counts its two compliance officers among key persons, Anjouan wants a key person plus a compliance officer and a deputy, and Georgia's AML law puts the compliance officer at senior management level. In Georgia the applicant also needs a management address and servers in the country, so setting up the iGaming company in Georgia runs alongside the platform audit from the first week.

Open the company's bank account at the same time. In Georgia the permit fee is paid from it with proof of where the money came from, and a sports betting applicant also posts a prize fund security of about €3,400 by bank guarantee or insurance.

3. Gather Documents on Owners and Managers

Regulators look through the company to the people who own and run it. Expect personal due diligence on every director, shareholder above the regulator's threshold and beneficial owner. Curaçao charges €150 for each beneficial owner and each holder of a 10% interest. The money matters as much as the record, and Georgia asks for proof of the source of the funds used to pay the permit fee.

4. Write the Policies and Game Rules

Policies are where regulators test whether you can run the business you describe. Curaçao's license conditions require policies on customer identification and verification, player accounts and funds, responsible gaming, information security, AML and terrorist financing, and suspension and closure of accounts (Art. 14(1)). Its terms and conditions must be in English and, where the target market's language differs, in that language too (Art. 11(2)).

Georgia's international permit asks for game rules, player registration and verification rules, and deposit and balance rules. The website must show the operator's name, legal address, phone number, permit number, game list and rules in Georgian and English, with a notice that Georgian citizens and foreigners under 18 may not play.

5. Certify the Platform and Games

No regulator licenses an untested platform. Curaçao requires every game offered, own or third-party, to be certified for soundness and integrity by a testing laboratory it approves (Art. 10). Kahnawake issues a six-month preliminary permit and audits the control system during it. Georgia sends every applicant through Random Systems Georgia, the company that runs the state's electronic control system: portal registration, a service agreement, an audit of the platform and games, integration with the control system, then an authorization certificate.

In Georgia certification is the longest step, and it fixes your platform: a change of essential products after certification needs notice and a new authorization certificate. Choose the platform and game suppliers before the audit is booked.

6. File the Application and Pay the Fees

Filing has moved online. Curaçao opened a new application portal on 19 October 2026, and Georgia's process starts on Random Systems Georgia's portal before the permit application goes to the Revenue Service. Fees are due at different points: Curaçao invoices the first year's fees pro rata within 14 days of its grant notice, while Georgia wants the first year's permit fee paid before the permit is issued.

Application fees are a small part of year one, and what a gambling license costs in total depends on annual fees, charges on revenue and the setup around the license.

7. Answer the Review and Receive the License

The review is a conversation. Expect questions on the business plan, the owners' money and the policies, and answer them in writing and in full. Georgia's Revenue Service must decide within 20 days of the application, and under Georgia's law on licenses and permits the permit is deemed issued if it does not (Art. 26(10)).

Other regulators decide on their own calendars. The Isle of Man's commission decides at monthly hearings, around 12 weeks after it formally accepts an application. Malta grants a ten-year license on approval and gives the licensee 90 days to go live. Curaçao sends its grant notice to the company's local director, and Kahnawake moves from the preliminary permit to a full authorization once the control-system audit is done.

Georgia's refusal grounds are set in statute: defects in the application that are not corrected, permit conditions not met, or a court ban on the activity (licensing law Art. 27), plus a recognised tax debt (gambling law Art. 11(23)) or an unspent conviction of a manager, founder or beneficial owner (Art. 11(25)). The document and tax-debt grounds can be cleared before filing.

How Long a Gambling License Takes, by Jurisdiction

Not every regulator publishes a timeline, so the table says where each figure comes from. Industry estimates are what licensing firms quote, not a regulator's commitment.

The licenses that come fastest by these figures, Anjouan and Tobique, are also the ones that renew every year, so the easiest and fastest gambling licenses buy speed with a renewal every twelve months.

The company, management address, servers and bank account run in parallel with the audit, which is why getting a gambling license in Georgia is planned around the certifier's calendar rather than the filing date, and why we plan two to four months from the first call.

After the License Is Issued

A license is kept, not just won. Curaçao's annual fees fall due by 15 January, Anjouan's license renews every year at €17,828, and Kahnawake wants a renewal application at least three months before its five-year term ends, with a fee of about €4,500. Curaçao also needs prior permission to change owners, directors, key persons, domains or suppliers (Art. 4).

In Georgia the permit fee is paid within every 12 months of the issue date, a change of game rules needs the Revenue Service's consent beforehand, and the operator registers with the Financial Monitoring Service within 10 business days of receiving the permit. Gross gaming revenue is taxed and reported monthly, and transactions above about €17,200 are reported within 5 working days, so accounting for a gambling company in Georgia is a monthly cycle from the first month of trading.

How to Get a Gambling License FAQ