How to Start an Online Casino
Starting an online casino requires four things: a gaming licence, a platform to run on, game content to fill it, and payment processing. How you buy them determines both your launch cost and how much of your revenue you keep for the next five years.
This page sets out the three ways operators buy that stack, what each actually costs, and — the part most guides skip — when each one stops making sense.
We build iGaming infrastructure, so we have an interest here. We have tried to write the page we would have wanted before choosing, including the parts that do not favour us.
The three models
| White label | Turnkey | Modular | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You hold the licence | No | Usually yes | Yes |
| Time to launch | 1–2 months | 2–4 months | 3–6 months |
| Entry cost | Low | €100,000–€500,000 | Setup + monthly |
| Ongoing cost | 20–30% of GGR | 5–15% of GGR | 11–20% of GGR |
| Control over product | Minimal | Moderate | Full |
| Who owns player data | The provider | You | You |
| Right for | Testing a market | First serious launch | Established volume |
White label
You operate under someone else’s licence and their platform, with your brand on top. Fastest and cheapest to start — often no meaningful setup cost at all.
The price is on the other side. Published white-label rates run 20–30% of GGR, and that continues for as long as you operate. You do not hold the licence, which means you do not fully own the player relationship or the data. If the relationship ends, the players are not straightforwardly yours to take.
Right when: you are testing whether a market or a brand concept works and want the smallest possible commitment. Genuinely the correct choice for a first market test.
Wrong when: you have proven the concept. At €5M GGR, a 25% white-label rate is €1.25M a year — more than the entire cost of running your own licensed operation.
Turnkey
You hold the licence; the provider supplies platform, content, payments and back office as a package. Published entry costs run €100,000–€500,000, with ongoing revenue share of 5–15% of GGR.
Right when: you have funding, a market, and intend to operate seriously rather than test.
Watch for: the headline number is rarely the whole cost, and the gap is consistent enough to plan around. Entry-level setup is currently quoted from around €12,500, while published guides put actual setup for the same tier at €20,000–€60,000. Mid-market setup runs €25,000–€100,000, enterprise builds €200,000 and above. Monthly licences are €3,000–€15,000 for mid-market platforms; sportsbook licensing €5,000–€25,000.
The same pattern shows up in revenue share, where an 8–12% headline sportsbook rate lands nearer 13–15% once minimums, platform licence, feed and premium competition rights are counted.
Budget roughly 1.5× any headline figure unless you have a written all-in number.
Modular
You assemble the stack from independently-priced components and replace any one of them without disturbing the rest. Highest setup effort, lowest ongoing cost, full control.
Right when: you have volume. Below roughly €2M GGR the arithmetic usually favours turnkey, because fixed costs do not scale down.
Wrong when: you are still validating the market. Do not build infrastructure for revenue you do not have yet.
What it actually costs to run
Launch cost gets the attention. Running cost decides whether the business works.
| Cost | Share of GGR |
|---|---|
| Marketing & affiliate commission | 20–60% |
| Licensing & gaming tax | 1–55%+ |
| Technology stack | 15–20% |
| Operations & overhead | 5–15% |
| Payment processing | 2–5% |
Two things people miss on first reading.
Marketing is the largest line, and it is not optional. In a competitive market, player acquisition can take more than half of GGR. Budgets that assume “we’ll grow organically” do not survive contact with a regulated market.
Gaming tax varies enormously by jurisdiction — from about 1% to over 55%. The same business is profitable in one market and impossible in another, on tax alone. Choose the market before you choose the technology.
What you need before you launch
A gaming licence. Cost and timeline vary by jurisdiction from weeks to over a year. This is usually the critical path — start it first. Under white label you operate on the provider’s licence and skip this step, which is the model’s main appeal.
A platform. Player accounts, wallet, game lobby, bonus engine, back office.
Game content. Either directly from studios or through an aggregator. Aggregators take a share of GGR on the games they distribute; going direct means integrating each studio separately.
Payment processing. Harder than it sounds. Gambling is high-risk for acquirers and local payment methods often decide which markets are viable. Budget 2–5% of GGR and expect the setup to take longer than any other integration.
Responsible gambling and compliance. Not optional, and not something to retrofit. Player protection, self-exclusion, KYC and AML have to be built into the launch, not added under regulatory pressure later.
A realistic timeline
| Licence application | 1–12 months, jurisdiction-dependent |
| Platform setup and branding | 4–8 weeks |
| Game provider integrations | 2–6 weeks, parallel |
| Payment provider onboarding | 4–12 weeks — usually the second bottleneck |
| Compliance and certification | 2–8 weeks per market |
| Realistic total | 3–12 months |
White label compresses this to roughly 1–2 months by removing the licence and payment steps — you inherit the provider’s.
When to move off white label
The signal is arithmetic, not ambition.
Compare what you pay in white-label revenue share against the total cost of running licensed: licence, platform, content, payments, compliance and headcount. When the first number exceeds the second, you are paying a premium for convenience you no longer need.
For most operators this happens between €3M and €8M annual GGR, depending on market and product mix. Below that, white label is usually genuinely cheaper once you account for the staff a licensed operation requires.
If you are above that range and still on white label, the number worth calculating this quarter is what the difference has cost you over the past twelve months.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start an online casino?
Under white label, very little upfront — you pay 20–30% of GGR instead. Turnkey entry runs €100,000–€500,000 with 5–15% ongoing. Running fully licensed adds licence fees, compliance and staff, but the lowest ongoing cost. The right answer depends on how much revenue you expect and how long you plan to operate.
How much is a platform setup fee?
Entry-level setup is quoted from around €12,500, while published guides put actual setup for the same tier at €20,000–€60,000. Mid-market setup runs €25,000–€100,000; enterprise builds €200,000 and above. Budget roughly 1.5× any headline quote unless you have a written all-in figure.
Do I need a gaming licence?
To operate in your own name, yes. Under white label you operate on the provider’s licence, which is the model’s main advantage and its main limitation — the licence, and therefore the player relationship, is not yours.
How long does it take to launch?
White label: 1–2 months. Turnkey: 2–4 months. Fully licensed and modular: 3–12 months, usually gated by the licence application and payment onboarding rather than the technology.
What is the difference between white label and turnkey?
Under white label you operate on the provider’s licence and platform. Under turnkey you hold your own licence and the provider supplies the technology. Turnkey costs more upfront and substantially less as a share of revenue.
What is the biggest cost of running an online casino?
Marketing, typically 20–60% of GGR. Gaming tax comes second and varies from about 1% to over 55% depending on jurisdiction. Technology is third at 15–20% — and it is the only one of the three you can meaningfully renegotiate.
Can I start with one product and add others later?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible sequence. Most operators launch casino first because content is easier to source and margins are more predictable, then add sportsbook once there is a player base. A platform with a unified wallet makes that second step considerably easier than running two systems side by side.
Working out which model fits?
Send us your target market, expected volume and timeline. We will tell you which of the three makes sense — including when that is not us.
If you are running white label above €3M GGR, we will calculate what the difference is costing you annually. It is usually larger than operators expect.