How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino
- How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino In California
- How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino
- How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino In The United States
To start an online casino one should consider the four main ways:
1. Design and implementation of casino software by your own forces
This way presupposes the whole process of creation, implementing and marketing performed by yourself. This can cost millions of dollars to handle the issue of starting your own online casino by yourself.
- Website – $3,000 and up. Payment processor per year – $240,000. Staff – $150,000 or more. Reserve fund – $500,000. Marketing and Affiliate payments – $600,000. Total cost of online casino business $1,868,000 (or more).
- Depending on the number of games that you choose and how much you agree to pay in royalty, the cost for an online casino software will vary. Royalty fees usually range from 15%-40% on monthly turnover. Also, gaming providers often require you to show you an excess of around $300,000 to make sure that you can pay the customers who want to cash.
- Answer (1 of 11): The popularity, profitability, and rapid spread of online gambling make more and more entrepreneurs interested in the question: how much online casino costs.
- Answer (1 of 11): The popularity, profitability, and rapid spread of online gambling make more and more entrepreneurs interested in the question: how much online casino costs.
| PROS | CONS |
| 1. Full control over the casino | 1. Extremely expensive |
| 2. Source code ownership | 2. Approval from third parties necessary |
| 3. No Royalties | 3. Tough and expensive advertising and marketing |
2. Become a licensee of an online gambling software provider
This method means leasing online gambling software from a software vendor. This will be much less expensive in terms of money and effort. Usually online gambling software costs from $30,000 to $400,000 down-payment. In most cases you will be included into an already existing network, so less time and money will be spent by you. But software vendors work on a revenue share basis requiring from 30% to 70% of profits generated by you. Moreover, you’ll have to comply with certain rules set by the software vendor.
| PROS | CONS |
| 1. Less money to start | 1. No full control over the casino |
| 2. Less effort for a casino set up and advertising | 2. Necessity to comply with rules of software vendor |
| 3. No need to be approved by third parties | 3. Monthly royalties |
3. Become an Affiliate of a licensee
This option is the least expensive. This scheme works as follows: you receive a casino website and make all marketing and advertising job and receive a small percent from a licensee. The average cost of such solution is from nothing to $10,000.
| PROS | CONS |
| 1. Relative cheapness | 1. No control over business |
| 2. No responsibility | 2. Small profits |
| 3. No organization effort | 3. Full dependence on the will of a licensee |
4. Purchase Online Casino Software from a Developing Company
To start an online casino you'll need reliable software that meets all international quality standards and your personal requirements, a hosting solution with needed configuration, and an online gambling license issued by one of the jurisdictions to legally operate your business.
This option can be considered one of the best ways to start your online casino. You purchase ready-made online casino turnkey solutions from a software developer. The software is installed on your servers under the domain name you choose. All technical aspects like server configuration, software customization, design, and payment systems implementing is done for you by the developing company. The approximate cost of the solution is $60,000-$500,000. After you have purchased you casino you are provided with control and management tools and become the only owner of an online casino with no revenue share necessity.
| PROS | CONS |
| 1. Full control over the casino | 1. Full responsibility |
| 2. No Royalty payments | 2. Licensing procedure done by yourself |
| 3. Custom made solution | 3. More effort on marketing |
The gambling industrygenerates millions of dollars each year. This has motivated a growing number ofbusiness enthusiasts to join the expanding market. There are so many things youneed to arrange when you are thinking about starting an online casino.But the first thing that will obviously come to your mind is how much it willcost to start one.
It all starts withfinancing. Generally, starting an online casino requires a budget of about$1.86 million. You should be able to recoup the investment in two years if youget enough customers to play at your online casino. Let’s walk you through theprocess of starting an online casino
Securingfunds
You can secure financingthrough various gambling entrepreneur organizations. There are many people outthere who are willing to fund gambling establishments. With online gamblingincreasingly becoming popular as a lucrative business idea, if you write a goodbusiness plan that holds an impressive permeation strategy to the largestgambling markets, you will certainly getan investing partner who will be willing to bankroll your online casino.
Software
An online casino cannotoperate without software. Most importantly, without the right software and gameselection, you may not succeed in the competitive industry. Your online casinomust offer a range of reliable games; therefore, you will need a mix ofblackjack, slot machines, roulette, poker, baccarat, scratch cards, and Pai Gowfrom leading online casino software developers such as NetEnt, Playtech,Microgaming, and Betsoft. This move will attract players to your online casinobecause you will be offering them different options.
How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino In California
Let’s take Microgamingsoftware package as an example. The company has developed over 450 onlinecasino games. A single poker user requires $250,000 for the main package. Theprice can increase or reduce depending on the willingness of the operator topay back loyalty bills, which are usually 15-40% of the profit earned everymonth.
If you choose Microgamingas your online casino software provider, the company will adjust theestablishment to suit your needs, along with providing full assistance, but youhave to ensure a website is in place and supervise customer support.
However, the companyrequires all operators to have an additional $300,000 to $500,000 that they canuse for players who cash out.
Playtech’s main parcelpackage goes for $200,000 to $300,000, whereas that for Rival Gaming starts at$100,000.
Licensing
The next step is workingwith a gambling jurisdiction. You cannot operate an online casino without alicense. Jurisdiction basically means a special field where you get to hostyour online gambling servers legally.
Since online gambling isnot allowed in many countries, online casinos cannot base their sites in anycountry. The most popular onlinegambling jurisdictions in the world include Costa Rica, Isle of Man, Antigua,Netherlands Antilles, Curacao, Malta, and Gibraltar.
A gaming license inAntigua costs $75,000 per year, plus 3% of profits earned in the gamblingbusiness. In addition, you will need to purchase a wagering certificate inAntigua, which costs $50,000.
Website
You need a good-lookingwebsite with all the necessary functionalities. Remember that the website theface of your online casino business; therefore, invest in a design that looksnice. Building a website for your online casino should cost about $3,000.
Staffingyour platform
Your platform needs about12 professionals who will be available 24 hours a day to attend to user’sproblems. In addition, you will need affiliate managers who will mobilizeaffiliate associates to merchandise the platform.
You will also need aPlayer Retention Manager who will be responsible for maintaining the mostvaluable players, and a 3-person IT team to deal with IT matters. Wages alonewill cost you about $200,000 to $300,000 per year.
However, you can reduce thiscost by hiring workers in countries other than North America and Europe. Thereare many reputable gambling organizations situated in countries like Costa Ricaand South Africa mainly because the cost of running a gambling business thereis low when compared to other places.
Marketingtools
Marketing your onlinecasino can cost $20,000 to $100,000. When you search “best online casinos,”“top online casino,” or “Online casino,” the results that will appear on thefirst page are likely to be that of affiliate websites.
How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino
If you are looking topartner with the best affiliates to advertise your online casino, you will haveto remit 50-60% of your revenue to them. Generally, a startup budget of about$50,000 per month should work for affiliate marketing.
How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Casino In The United States
Paymentmethods
As mentioned above,Microgaming requires all casinos that use its software to have an extra$300,000 to $500,000. You need to provide this money to each payment method youwant to list on your platform so that you can quickly cash out winnings to yourcustomers.
Some of the paymentmethods you can use for deposits include Skrill, PayPal, Neteller, andMastercard. You can either use a deposit processor or arrange an in-houseoutlay processing unit. Using a payment processor will cost you $20,000 to$50,000 per month.
Howlong will it take before your online casino business breaks even?
It should takeapproximately two years for your new business to break even. But always keep inmind that you cannot become a millionaire overnight. Therefore, be patient andbe contented with the profit you make however small it is because you are juststarting.