Is the era of ultra cheap licenses over?

[BitBakerr1]

That's just the cost of the license, but a casino has other costs involved, such as taxes, technology, compliance, and legal, among others, which, added together, I don't think is that cheap. Of course, a casino makes a lot of money, but it's not enough to just make money; the owner has to know how to manage it. But certainly, if you only consider the cost of the license, it's still very cheap.

Yeah casinos has other fees that they pay and you have already mentioned some of them, there are some casinos that are heavy taxed and they spend a lot of money on that.
Yeah casinos makes a lot of money, but not all casinos makes a lot of money, as a casino for you to make huge amount of money you also need to spend huge amount of money on promotions.
If you want to start up a new casino I don’t think you should be considering the money you will spend in getting licensed and other things, the most costly thing is promotion, doing ad will cost you a lot of money, license is cheap and easy to get this days.

[alegotardo]

I think the price increase is a sign that costs and regulatory requirements are higher... so they need to raise the price to be able a develop better contingency plans, have more oversight, things like that... but in Anjouan's case it is probably just to increase revenue, they are taking advantage of the price increases to make more profit without offering any advantages in return or improving the services provided.

Before, Curaçao sold sub-licenses, and the cost of oversight was then spread out (and inadequate). With the new law (LOK), Curaçao ended this sublicensing model and started licensing operators directly, higher costs, better regulation... the price needs to go up.

But the trend is for it to always go up, either because the world is demanding more from casinos or because everyone wants to get more out of bettors.

[Cointxz]

Sadly, that’s not how casino license work specifically like Curacao. Its main purpose for casino operations to offer gambling under the applicable licensing framework.

Provably fair verification is not part of the Curacao license scope which means a license casino can still offer a shady games since there’s no one regulating them on that manner.

However, until recently, player protection at licensed Curacao casinos was truly weak. However, I've read that the situation is gradually improving. This is due to the reform of Curacao's gambling legislation. 💁

It’s true and funny at the same time since crypto casino is now transitioning their license from Curacao to Anjouan and other South American license provider that has less stricter regulation.

So in the end, Those Curacao development is deemed useless if the casino will ditch it in the end.

Casino like Bc.game, Fortunejack, Sportsbet and Bitcasino already do this move.

[stadus]

It’s true and funny at the same time since crypto casino is now transitioning their license from Curacao to Anjouan and other South American license provider that has less stricter regulation.

it's funny it turned that way, but sadly this is not what Curacao gaming wants.
They just comply to it because they have no choice as they are pressured by regulators.

https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2024/06/25/mcs-06252024-kingdom-of-the-netherlands-curacao-concluding-statement-of-2024-article-iv-mission

Lowering corruption vulnerabilities and reputational risk and strengthening the AML/CFT regime are welcome. Increased cross-border financial flows, expansion of the gaming industry, as well as listing on the European Union’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes pose significant ML/TF and related reputational risks. A swift approval of stricter gaming regulation, as suggested in the new gaming law currently debated in parliament, could help mitigate possible concerns about the sector. Staff welcomes the ongoing efforts to improve monitoring cross-border payments by the tax authority, CBCS, Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Gaming Control Board.

This was in 2024 where they start implementing strict measures.

So in the end, Those Curacao development is deemed useless if the casino will ditch it in the end.

Casino like Bc.game, Fortunejack, Sportsbet and Bitcasino already do this move.

But these license providers that has lax regulation will probably turn out to be like Curaçao Gaming Authority sooner or later.

[Outhue]

$20K is still kind of cheaper and the casinos don't really care about this cost because they are probably investing in millions if their intention is to run it as a business rather than just a quick scheme. I bet the filing process might have costed more for than than the licensing fee, law firms are dealing with in thousands per hours now.

The problem is, for gambler we really can't know which online casino has the plan to stay in business for long or the type that wants to cut it short in the mid way, they all appear to be long term plans until they aren't, what I will never do is leave behind some amount of money on my account balance as if it's my bank account or my Bitcoin wallet, the last thing I want to trust is any online casinos unless they are on league with Stake or Rainbet, and some few others.

[Findingnemo]

$20K is still kind of cheaper and the casinos don't really care about this cost because they are probably investing in millions if their intention is to run it as a business rather than just a quick scheme. I bet the filing process might have costed more for than than the licensing fee, law firms are dealing with in thousands per hours now.

The problem is, for gambler we really can't know which online casino has the plan to stay in business for long or the type that wants to cut it short in the mid way, they all appear to be long term plans until they aren't, what I will never do is leave behind some amount of money on my account balance as if it's my bank account or my Bitcoin wallet, the last thing I want to trust is any online casinos unless they are on league with Stake or Rainbet, and some few others.

Having a standard license is kind of a sign that they are here for serious business but yet it is not enough on its own to decide that they won't end up being another shady one. Better test them with small amount and wait for the others to take the risk and over the period of time they will also become one among the list.

[savetheFORUM]

There are still a few cheaper options available but these license processors are not that lenient. Hiking costs was just one way to tackle the authorities because of the number of increasing spams and scams happening here in digital casino world. Even a few reputable casinos winded up scamming users to not allowing them to withdraw high earnings. This makes it clear for other scammers to try and earn money by opening a shady casino and spending a few bucks initially. Yes, getting licenses was just a matter of few hundred dollars which to be honest, almost anyone can afford.

Getting licenses should be more strict and the license term can be reduced from yearly to quarterly. This would make it more expensive for these casinos to operate and I can just imagine this reducing the number of scams.

[yahoo62278]

no dude, there's still cheap license provider.

That's Anjouan Gaming. I think many casinos have already transferred here. I believe even sportsbet.io has Anjouan Gaming license, it previously has Curaçao gaming license.

https://anjouangaming.com/licensing/fees/



I think this one is the cheapest and most reliable for now.

I'm not sure if you read the OP  

The cost to license a casino under the old Curacao scheme was a few hundred dollars per year.
The sub-license scheme was supposedly licensing a sub-division of a company but Curacao was allowing thousands of licenses to be issued under 4 "master license" holders. Today's prices have nothing to do compared to how cheap a Curacao license was.

The price of BTC also used to be $1000 when those licenses started being sold, now look at the price. Same thing happens with nearly everything in the world, times change and prices rise.

I think any legit business will still do fine spending $20-40k for a license.

[henmark]

I think the price increase is a sign that costs and regulatory requirements are higher... so they need to raise the price to be able a develop better contingency plans, have more oversight, things like that... but in Anjouan's case it is probably just to increase revenue, they are taking advantage of the price increases to make more profit without offering any advantages in return or improving the services provided.

Before, Curaçao sold sub-licenses, and the cost of oversight was then spread out (and inadequate). With the new law (LOK), Curaçao ended this sublicensing model and started licensing operators directly, higher costs, better regulation... the price needs to go up.

But the trend is for it to always go up, either because the world is demanding more from casinos or because everyone wants to get more out of bettors.

Anjouan has a business to run and salaries to pay so it is not wrong in thinking about making more profits. But yes, they should offer something in return. If other license providers have increased their prices, they have also improvised their overall customer journey but in terms of Anjouan, I do not see much of a difference so it is okay to say they are just increasing their revenue and taking benefits of the current situation. The business would still run but the number of users might drastically fall.

Sub-licensing should have not been allowed in the first place. Sub-licensing has built a few casinos without proper regulatory frameworks and these casinos have mostly ended up not paying the winnings because they do not have that fear in mind.

[asriloni]

I noticed Vunuatu is also trying to promote an online gaming license with a cost of around 10k EUR per year. This is significantly cheaper than both Curacao and Anjuan fees but also I've never seen a casino under this license for some reason
 Still though I haven't seen any country or territory offering licensed for as cheap as Curacao sub-licenses used to go. I'm wondering if the lower prices are going to change anything because Anjuan already seems to be having some competition.

Vunuatu much cheaper than Anjouan, but it's much stricter. The license gap in their license price is so thin but consider Anjouan is far more lenient compared to Vunuatu, most of gambling sites went to the Anjouan instead of Vunuatu. This the reason Vunuatu has low demand use its license despite its cheap price.

[YOSHIE]

I'm wondering if the lower prices are going to change anything because Anjuan already seems to be having some competition.

Basically, the gambling industry is a business in nature, meaning that if they have limited capital, of course they prefer a cheap license and if they have large capital, of course they choose an expensive license, In terms of licensing, each cheap and expensive casino certainly has advantages and risks faced by the online casino itself, one of which is reputation and ease of operation.

Actually cheap licenses don't expire, in fact certain online casinos end up not being able to renew their licenses, Moreover, casinos often use cheap gambling licenses which are often considered and viewed negatively by some players for the simple reason that they view the protection side as weak, What's worse is that mass blocking carried out by developed countries often occurs automatically in casinos that use cheap licenses, meaning that instead of cheap licenses ending, it's the casinos themselves that end.

In contrast to online casinos which use expensive licenses, they have high trust and good reputation from players, guarantees for consumers are protected as well as state licensing in operations which is often seen as legal globally, When there are sanctions from the country where they operate they are only given fines and not immediately blocked, meaning that cheap and expensive licenses clearly have different perspectives.

[KiaKia]

20k to 40k for licence is confusing enough to say that many online casino will want to run illegally or unlicensed but at the same time even those who spent this money on license can start shady things too.

Either licensed or not licensed gamblers will always be in the dark, there will never be a way to know if a casino plans to run its business for long term or they have other shady plans in place already.

It's safer to accept things the way they are, don't leave big money on any online casinos, most especially if the online casino is a new one, also trust them less with your money, have your fun and move your money before quitting the platform.

[Supreme Donvic]

$20K is still kind of cheaper and the casinos don't really care about this cost because they are probably investing in millions if their intention is to run it as a business rather than just a quick scheme. I bet the filing process might have costed more for than than the licensing fee, law firms are dealing with in thousands per hours now.

The problem is, for gambler we really can't know which online casino has the plan to stay in business for long or the type that wants to cut it short in the mid way, they all appear to be long term plans until they aren't, what I will never do is leave behind some amount of money on my account balance as if it's my bank account or my Bitcoin wallet, the last thing I want to trust is any online casinos unless they are on league with Stake or Rainbet, and some few others.

Having a standard license is kind of a sign that they are here for serious business but yet it is not enough on its own to decide that they won't end up being another shady one. Better test them with small amount and wait for the others to take the risk and over the period of time they will also become one among the list.

Having a license does not really mean they cannot become a scam in the future, some scam casino will be very patient in making sure that they scam people huge amount of money, what they do first is to make sure that people trust them, and for people to trust them they are going to do the things that people feel that trustworthy casinos should do, which is having license.
I love your advice, when you see a new casino that has no reputation and you want to use them what you should do is to deposit small amount of money in the casino and be using it to play, depositing huge amount of money is a risk that people should not take.


~Supreme

[sompitonov]

20k to 40k for licence is confusing enough to say that many online casino will want to run illegally or unlicensed but at the same time even those who spent this money on license can start shady things too.

Either licensed or not licensed gamblers will always be in the dark, there will never be a way to know if a casino plans to run its business for long term or they have other shady plans in place already.

It's safer to accept things the way they are, don't leave big money on any online casinos, most especially if the online casino is a new one, also trust them less with your money, have your fun and move your money before quitting the platform.

It is plausible that owners having already recouped their initial investment in a casino that continues to generate profit might actually plot a scheme to steal all their customers' funds in a subtle, non-obvious way. There may well be legal loopholes in the jurisdictions where they operate and hold licenses that they can exploit. While it might seem more logical to simply keep collecting profits, owners sometimes find that the money isn't enough, or they might develop a gambling addiction themselves after losing money at other casinos scenarios I have no doubt have occurred. Yet, by and large, they continue to open new casinos as if nothing were amiss.

[Hispo]

20k to 40k for licence is confusing enough to say that many online casino will want to run illegally or unlicensed but at the same time even those who spent this money on license can start shady things too.

Either licensed or not licensed gamblers will always be in the dark, there will never be a way to know if a casino plans to run its business for long term or they have other shady plans in place already.

It's safer to accept things the way they are, don't leave big money on any online casinos, most especially if the online casino is a new one, also trust them less with your money, have your fun and move your money before quitting the platform.

You have to consider there are licenses which are better at preventing scams than others. While there are less flexible, they also ensure there is a physical and personal representation of the casino within the jurisdiction of the country and there is actual infrastructure and people who can be held accountable in the case of shady things happen to gamblers.
That is the case with countries like the United Kingdom, it is probably one of the most strict gambling license issuers on the developed world.

In the end, you also have a point... We all are trusting a casino and a centralized entity with our money when we decide to deposit anything to their wallets in order to have fun, that is why we must be selective and only go for high quality, trustworthy and liquid casinos.

[Smartprofit]

Sadly, that’s not how casino license work specifically like Curacao. Its main purpose for casino operations to offer gambling under the applicable licensing framework.

Provably fair verification is not part of the Curacao license scope which means a license casino can still offer a shady games since there’s no one regulating them on that manner.

However, until recently, player protection at licensed Curacao casinos was truly weak. However, I've read that the situation is gradually improving. This is due to the reform of Curacao's gambling legislation. 💁

It’s true and funny at the same time since crypto casino is now transitioning their license from Curacao to Anjouan and other South American license provider that has less stricter regulation.

So in the end, Those Curacao development is deemed useless if the casino will ditch it in the end.

Casino like Bc.game, Fortunejack, Sportsbet and Bitcasino already do this move.

In my country, there's a wonderful fantasy film called "To Kill the Dragon." The main character, Lancelot, slew a dragon that had ruled the people of a certain country for 300 years. The country was under a brutal totalitarian regime, and many citizens actively aided the dragon in its cruel reign. When Lancelot won, he began asking the people of the country why they had groveled before the dragon (after all, without their active consent, he couldn't have become the dictator of the country). It was the turn of the mayor's son (who had become infamous for numerous atrocities during the dragon's reign). "Why did you help the dragon?" Lancelot asked him. "Everyone helped him. That's how we were taught," the mayor's son replied. "I understand that you were taught that way... But why did you become the star student?" 🙋

I get the impression that Curaçao in this story is striving to be the "star student"!  Yes, of course, there are FATF requirements... However, these requirements apply to all countries, and there's no need to rush into compliance. After all, online casino licensing revenues make up a significant portion of Curaçao's budget. The governments of Anjouan and many other countries, in my opinion, are acting more sensibly.💁

[bhadz]

That is valid, but not all gamblers have the same opinion as  it gives the authorization for the igaming. I think that the time will come when this is also going to be another competition when others have started to adjust with the pricing and will compete in terms of cheaper licensing fee. The cheapest next to Anjouan is either Tobique and Nevis, there are only a few of them but Curacao is the most popular. Aside from the fee, they'll also have to compete with the speed of approval in the process. I have no issue if a casino is licensed or not because I've seen those with no license in the past and didn't scammed although it's a public knowledge that it gives a sort of assurance that they're legitimate if they have it.

I always remember here locally the news about the players who won a huge amount at a registered casino here in my country; somehow they were able to win 400 million in our local currency, but their account was frozen, and they were never able to withdraw their money. It was just a thing, in my opinion, and really unfair for players who were able to win, and these custodial platform casinos are able to do whatever they want, and they could just say that it was just a system glitch whatsoever. I mean, on the other hand, players cannot really do anything if they lose money or something.

So these licenses are not going to guarantee any security for players, I mean, this just means that they are allowed to operate. The way I see it, governments are just taking money from them like a business partnership, so for sure there are favors that might even be unfair for players, I don't think that the government are protecting the users at all.

To think that this is a registered and licensed casino and yet, they're able to reason that it was just a glitch, even if the user should have been entitled to be awarded that money. They are quick to take whenever we lose because that's fair, we gamble and we lose and then no complaints. But if the situation isn't in their favor and that's going to take a lot of money from their bankroll. It's either they'll make excuses and will contest that it's a glitch or some error on their end.