Online Casino License Benefits?

[JamesFriday]

Hello,
I see there has been some interest regarding incorporation of online casino on the forum, and i see several weighing their options on getting licensed or not.
Here the unlicensed option limiting payment processors to crypto only and causing a hard time getting software from casino 3rd party service providers.

So from what i can gather there are 3 reasons justifying the cost and compliance of getting licensed
1. Fiat Payment processing
2. Access a broader range of service providers
3. Higher degree of trustworthiness in the eyes of the customer

Getting licensed in the EU adds another huge benefit in targeting a larger customer base, but what benefits do you actually get from being licensed outside the EU or US in terms of legally accepting players? For example Curaçao

What countries can you legally accept players from when unlicensed? and how does this change when licensed in an offshore jurisdiction?

3 related bonus questions:
1) In which jurisdictions are the unlicensed casinos able to host their webservers? as they are not allowed to do so in most, if not all, of the incorporating jurisdictions?
2) I see Costa Rica has been recommended several times for the purpose of unlicensed crypto casino incorporation. Are there any other viable options? I have heard St Vincent Grenadines would be good, but im not sure about the legality here.
3) Are there any operational considerations to keep in mind in terms of AML compliance when accepting crypto payments in Costa Rica for example?

Thank you for taking the time reading my post. Im eager to hear your input.

 

[Sols]

JamesFriday said:
Getting licensed in the EU adds another huge benefit in targeting a larger customer base, but what benefits do you actually get from being licensed outside the EU or US in terms of legally accepting players? For example Curaçao
Click to expand...

You can take players from EU under offshore licenses like Curaçao, Anjouan, or Tobique. Those licenses require you to block certain markets, though, but not everyone follows that.

However, taking a for example Spanish player under a Curaçao license is not permitted under Spanish law. But it is under Curaçao law.

JamesFriday said:
What countries can you legally accept players from when unlicensed? and how does this change when licensed in an offshore jurisdiction?
Click to expand...

For the most part, it doesn't make a difference. Regulated markets only recognize their own licenses.

JamesFriday said:
1) In which jurisdictions are the unlicensed casinos able to host their webservers? as they are not allowed to do so in most, if not all, of the incorporating jurisdictions?
Click to expand...

Most are hosted with AWS and other major hosting providers, with Cloudflare or similar to obfuscate the location. Just be ready to make a quick switch if anything happens.

JamesFriday said:
2) I see Costa Rica has been recommended several times for the purpose of unlicensed crypto casino incorporation. Are there any other viable options? I have heard St Vincent Grenadines would be good, but im not sure about the legality here.
Click to expand...

Costa Rica doesn't have any laws that allow or any laws that prohibit online gambling, which is why it's so popular. There are other places in the world with similar legislation but the advantage Costa Rica has is that it's well known. It's also not a problematic tax haven or considered high risk, like SVG and similar places are.

JamesFriday said:
3) Are there any operational considerations to keep in mind in terms of AML compliance when accepting crypto payments in Costa Rica for example?
Click to expand...

AML laws apply the same regardless. You need to have an AML framework in place that ensures your platform is not used for criminal activities like money laundering or financing of terrorism.

Toggle signature
This is the probably the answer to your question.

 

[JamesFriday]

Thank you for your thorough reply, @Sols

As it might be one of the easiest laundering strategies available at the moment setting up your own unlicensed crypto casino to dump ill gotten gains, I feel it would be wise to steer clear of accepting customers from jurisdictions who actively pursue offshore casinos accepting their locals. As they often do so in the name of fighting money laundering.
Even if you do not engage in such activities I feel like there are some risks of interference and potential investigations here especially being 100% crypto and lets say you accept privacy coins like XMR on top of that to make it even more interesting.

That being said it might be wise to enforce some geoblocking of certain countries. From what I could gather these 5 are supposedly known to actively attempt prosecution of offshore unlicensed operators allowing their citizens to play.
United States
France
Belgium
Italy
Australia

To expand this list with other countries where its supposedly illegal for the player to use offshore unlicensed operators and/or strictly enforce the national license requirement as well:
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Australia
4. France
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. Belgium
8. Netherlands
9. Sweden
10. China
11. Turkey

Would you agree on this list or have some input to the thought?

Sols said:
You can take players from EU under offshore licenses like Curaçao, Anjouan, or Tobique. Those licenses require you to block certain markets, though, but not everyone follows that.
Click to expand...

When you say you can take players from the EU with offshore license, do you mean like with the Spanish example, where Spanish law prohibits, but Curaçao law accepts?
Being able to accept these EU countries would be just as possible in terms of legality if unlicensed compared to offshore licensed?
And may I ask what markets one would be asked to block?

 

[Sols]

JamesFriday said:
That being said it might be wise to enforce some geoblocking of certain countries. From what I could gather these 5 are supposedly known to actively attempt prosecution of offshore unlicensed operators allowing their citizens to play.
United States
France
Belgium
Italy
Australia

To expand this list with other countries where its supposedly illegal for the player to use offshore unlicensed operators and/or strictly enforce the national license requirement as well:
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Australia
4. France
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. Belgium
8. Netherlands
9. Sweden
10. China
11. Turkey

Would you agree on this list or have some input to the thought?
Click to expand...

US is scary on paper but isn't do much if anything right now. Wise to stay away from, though.

Turkey can be aggressive. Don't go to Turkey for vacation if you run a big gaming company focused on Turkey and your involvement is publicly known.

The worst the rest do is send warning letters to you and they might issue public warnings. Some countries have DNS blocks. Fines are possible but usually not enforced (if enforceable). It's at the end of the day a risk-based decision you take.

JamesFriday said:
When you say you can take players from the EU with offshore license, do you mean like with the Spanish example, where Spanish law prohibits, but Curaçao law accepts?
Click to expand...

Exactly. Curaçao law doesn't prohibit you taking Spanish player. Spanish law prohibits you offering gambling to Spanish players without a Spanish license.

JamesFriday said:
Being able to accept these EU countries would be just as possible in terms of legality if unlicensed compared to offshore licensed?
Click to expand...

Effectively, yes. You are considered unlicensed because you don't have a local license.

JamesFriday said:
And may I ask what markets one would be asked to block?
Click to expand...

Depends on your license. IIRC, it's something like...

Curaçao: UK, US, Netherlands, France.
Anjouan: US, Germany.
Tobique: US, UK, and parts of Canada.

Plus high-risk territories like Iran, North Korea, Yemen, and such.

Toggle signature
This is the probably the answer to your question.

 

[aniglo22]

You also need to consider the risk of customers suing you when operating under an offshore license.
The customer may be able to reclaim their funds if you are operating without a local license or a recognized authorization in their jurisdiction.
Numerous specialized law firms handle such cases , especially targeting casinos in Curacao ( e.g https://www.redell.com/blog/online-glücksspiel/gericht-verurteilt-araxio-development-n-v-aus-curacao-zur-rueckzahlung-aller-spielverluste )
And also Curacao is a part of the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matter , which makes it much easier for the customer to "reclaim" his lost money while gambling

Last edited: Feb 10, 2025

 

[JamesFriday]

Some great inputs here, thank you both for sharing
If anyone else has anything to add or thoughts i'm eager to hear.

In the mean time i have posted another thread about the Income one might have from such a online casino.
Its pretty relevant to this one, but i felt it deserved its own place.

If you are interested and/or have some thoughts to share, please have look;
[COLOR=#ea80fc] J [/COLOR]

Thread 'Unlicensed Gambling Crypto Income'​

Feb 11, 2025
Thought it would be fun to dive into some hypotheticals, my friend needs some help scenario.

Lets say you want to withdraw big crypto winnings from your favorite online unlicensed casino, sports book or poker room. A six figure EUR sum.
The site you have been using bear no marks of any license and might just be a phantom casino for all you know with no real company behind.

You can prove your crypto deposit on the site, and that the crypto deposited was bought with your own hard earned money from many hours of flipping burgers at BurgerKing.
You have a PDF from the site with your whole...

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