Online gambling is one of the most profitable businesses, so that’s why opening up an online casino is the most engaging business idea for many businesspersons. Most of them are interested in how to start or own an online casino, especially those who live in countries with bans on land-based casinos.
That's why we decided to do deep research on this topic and write this article, trying to explain step by step the nuances of starting, owning or buying an online casino, help you understand what essential questions you need to solve in order to have such a profitable business, approximately how much it will cost, what difficulties you may face and what you can do to overcome them.
Since the business is up-and-coming, it naturally also has many nuances and secrets that you must learn and apply if you want your online casino to be successful and stand out in no time.
Let's explore the global online casino market and understand the whole deal in a few steps.
So what do you need before starting an online casino business? Let’s take on board this guide:
- Explore the global online casino market
- Decide on the region of operation
- Establish the proper corporate structure
- Getting a gambling licence
- Pick a trusted casino software provider
- Pick a payment service provider
- Website creation
- Marketing strategies: Affiliate marketing: Customer acquisition and retention
See also this article։ How to Start a Crypto Casino?
Step 1. Explore the Global Online Casino Market
The global economy has recently experienced crises due to the pandemic and many other political circumstances. However, amid all this, any online business, from food delivery services to online casinos, saw growth. People locked at home for various reasons started changing their lives by moving to online platforms. The iGaming industry, thanks to its flexibility and ability to change quickly, taking into account all the preferences of players, has been able to record a considerable increase in both the number of players and revenues․ Various operators instantly adapted their content offerings to the new reality, making their business one of the most profitable in the world.
Conclusion
Research the market and understand what you need, what you expect, and how long you need. Get to know the experience of successful companies in the industry, all their strengths and weaknesses to understand what kind of business yours will be to stand out from the competition.
Step 2. Decide on the Region of Operation
Even though iGaming is a global industry, you still need to draw some boundaries for yourself. Which region do you want to work in? A lot can depend on it, for example, what kind of license you will need, what popular games you will choose in that region, and how much money will be required to set up the business or buy the existing one.
Conclusion
The online casino business has a license issue and certain restrictions depending on the area. So before starting, it is essential to understand the region of your business and the licensing issues there, whether there are any restrictions or not.
Step 3. Establish the Proper Corporate Structure
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything”, says a quote, so give the most importance to the planning process and the long way of creating your own online casino.
Before getting down to business, ensure you know what you need. Here's a quick rundown of what you'll need in the pre-planning phase of your business. So you need to understand the following:
- Make sure you have enough time, money and patience to start such a business.
- Which is the Best for Starting an Online iGaming Business - White Label vs Turnkey vs API?
- Get licences for starting a legal online casino.
- Choose or create competitive and attractive game content.
- Prepare the most flexible payment system and security tools.
- Make a substantial, long-term, well-thought-out marketing plan.
- Study competitors' experience.
Conclusion
The essential part of your business is planning and understanding what you need, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
Step 4. Getting a Gambling Licence
Getting a license to start an online casino business is arguably the most critical step. In other words, the casino cannot work legally without permission or a license. Therefore, this issue should be a priority for you.
Each country and region has its own legal framework and issues, but licenses from several countries regulate the entire market; Malta, the United Kingdom, Curaçao, Gibraltar, etc., issue licences that are valid in many countries. The question arises: which license to buy?
Many factors influence the choice of license: authority, duration and geography of exposure.
What should you consider when choosing a licensing jurisdiction?
There are many online gambling jurisdictions around the world. To start an online gambling operation, it is essential to research and understand what is best for your business, location and budget. Our curated list of online gambling licenses will help you narrow your search as much as possible and decide which is the best fit for your business.
Most popular:
The Curacao Gambling Board is Curacao's gambling regulatory body. The Board issues licences, monitors compliance with licensing requirements, and enforces gaming laws and regulations. The Council consists of seven members, whose composition changes every four years. Curacao license is one of the most popular and relatively cheap.
- Malta
Malta has licensed gambling since 1965. An interesting fact about Malta's gambling taxation is that it favours online gaming operators as they are taxed at a lower rate than land-based casinos. The effective tax rate for online gaming operators is 5%, while the tax rate for land-based casinos is 30%.
- Alderney
This island is also very famous for issuing gambling licenses. Alderney Gambling Licensing Authority The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) is Alderney's gambling regulator. It is one of the most trusted gaming authorities in the industry and is known for its strict standards.
- The Isle of Man
The licensing regulatory bodies and government of this island are very attentive and consistent with the development of this industry, which is why the licences they issue are known and trusted. However, the company applying for the license must have its head office on the island. However, the License application procedure is not that complicated. All necessary documents can be sent online, which allows you to save time and money. The Commission also only requires small amounts of initial capital from new companies seeking a license.
- Gibraltar
The Gibraltar license is one of the most popular. Several popular online casinos are licensed through this jurisdiction. The main advantages of obtaining a gambling license in Gibraltar are low taxes, the authority's reputation and high reputation, and the possibility of getting a legal trading account.
- The UK
UKGC regulates all gambling-related businesses remotely operating or being promoted in Great Britain, including arcades, sports betting, bingo, casinos, and lotteries.
UK Gambling Commission is one of the most trustworthy gambling license providers, highly respected by players and operators. The UK's clear legislation and strong regulation make this region an attractive operator market.
If you want to learn more about the licensees, and the procedure for applying to them, read this article.
Conclusion
Research licensing organisations, their benefits, and their features to determine which one is right for you. Or explore the shortest option, the White label solution, which will save you from all the above steps.
Step 5. Pick a Trusted Casino Software Provider
An online casino platform is a foundation for an online casino site. Therefore, in order to have a good website and, as a result, a good business, you need a reliable software provider who will ensure you with a platform and monitor the launch and integration of the main functionalities of the platform. In other words, finding a reliable supplier for you should be the most essential step. The functionality of the website and the quality of the provider's technical support are important features to consider when making a choice.
Software solutions
There are currently 3 types of services: White Label, Turnkey and API integration. It's important to know that White Label and Turnkey are Web Solutions, and API is considered data integration.
Acquiring high-quality gambling software is the most critical foundation for starting an online casino. Even if you spend huge amounts of money and create distinctive and engaging content, your business will never succeed if you don't have a reliable, proven and industry-recognized software provider.
Pay special attention to the game content, individual terms of cooperation, licenses and technical support that should be part of the program. In short, a complete package.
A partner offering such a comprehensive and reliable package is the BetConstruct, with years of experience and a large army of partners who have entrusted their business and dreams to this leading company for many years and achieved their goals.
Conclusion
Here is a checklist for reliable software providers:
- availability of various service programs,
- availability of different payment systems,
- availability of customer support services,
- multilingual capability,
- availability of license support
Step 6. Pick a Payment Service Provider
In order for people from different parts of the world to be able to use your casino, you need to make the payment system as flexible, convenient and, most importantly, reliable as possible. You need a provider that offers multiple and reliable payment methods to achieve this.
To have a successful and reliable online casino, you need a payment system with the following payment methods:
- Credit cards,
- Electronic wallets,
- Cryptocurrency,
- Mobile payments,
- Bank transfers
- Prepaid cards
Conclusion
An online casino involves a large turnover of money, so the most important thing for both you and your users is the reliability and speed of money transfers. Therefore, choosing a reliable payment provider is very important for your business. From this point of view, BetConstruct is also extremely convenient because it has 500+ payment methods.
Step 7. Website Creation
A well-designed and user-friendly website is the face of your business and the most important way to attract and retain customers. Design, content, backend and frontend, speed and visual effects should serve your business as much as possible.
If you want to create a unique website for your casino but are still not sure if you can do it yourself, BetConstruct can solve all problems at once with its iGaming website builder. The company's many years of experience and numerous awards prove that you can trust them in every transaction and stage of creating an online casino.
Conclusion
The website is the face of your business, so it should express your features to the maximum, be comfortable for users and be maximally thought out by you.
Step 8. Marketing Strategies: Player Acquisition and Retention
Developing a marketing strategy is the final and very important step of a business plan.
To attract new audiences and keep loyal visitors always satisfied, you need to:
- Choose a target audience,
- create unique content for each audience,
- set up an effective affiliate system,
- create bonus systems,
- conservation campaigns,
- identify competitors,
- find out their mistakes,
- try to avoid them in your own platform activities.
In short, all this serves two main purposes: to attract customers and to retain them․
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is in high demand these days. Affiliate organisations develop a following and then refer their audience to online casino platforms in exchange for a commission. This is a fairly popular strategy due to both its ease and effectiveness. However, if all this were so easy, then all businesses would turn to the help of affiliate marketing and definitely benefit.
In this matter, as in all previous cases, you should be able to choose a reliable organisation that has proven its high quality and reliability with years of experience and a list of partners.
In order to be able to make the right choice among the many offers, you must first understand what they offer and how you will pay for their services.
Sharing a certain percentage of income
While the affiliate marketing company is working for you, you have to pay them a certain percentage of the income according to the initial agreement.
Cost Per Acquisition
The company can also sign a contract according to the involvement of each player.
Hybrid model
This option can also be considered when signing a contract. A certain percentage of revenue (in this case lower than in the first case) plus a certain fee for each new player (in this case, an even lower price than in the second case mentioned above).
Using a complete affiliate management system will increase your online casino traffic, attract players and achieve maximum revenue.
Betconstruct offers software built on the latest technology to run your affiliate business. The software is fully designed for the gaming industry and supports all devices. You'll get comprehensive reports, types of commissions to sell, and the marketing tools you need to make your business thrive.
Customer acquisition and retention
There are a number of important methods to attract and retain customers, which are especially relevant in the case of casinos. Let's list some of them.
Important Features
Security
In order to keep the client with you for a long time, the essential condition that you need to ensure is security. The client should be sure that his money will not be lost, that there will be no problems on online platforms, that nothing will be disrupted or lost in the case of payments and withdrawals, and that everything will be safe and secure with his accounts because your site will ensure the safety of everyone.
Licensed Platform Services must provide anti-fraud and hacking security measures. Know Your Customer (KYC) measures, such as manual verification of identity documents, are essential to prevent all types of fraud.
Customer support
Customer service is the most important thing in any business, and in the casino industry, where endless questions and claims can arise, you simply need to have good customer service. A support team with high professionalism, a special approach to communicating with customers, being aware of any situation of your business and working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Your customer service team should be equipped with employees who speak all the languages of your casino users, i.e. your employees should speak the language of your target market. You should also have a special service team for VIP customers in the casino industry. In addition, your customer service staff should be multilingual. At the very least, they should speak the same language as the target market. Hiring a team of professionals is crucial.
Bonuses
First Visit Bonus, Deposit Bonus, Loyalty Bonus, Holiday Bonus, Win Bonus and Lose Bonus, Free Spins, Chips and Bets... All this can be arranged to attract new players to your casino and to excite and retain existing ones.
However, so that your bonuses are not just gifts and do not harm you financially, they should be developed with a specific strategy. The bonus should serve as a further game step, i.e. not allow withdrawing money, but serve as a way to keep players in the game for a long time.
However, since everyone knows that bonuses are bait, it is not worth abusing them too much. In addition, players know many tricks to use casino bonuses and not spend money.
Free Spins
Free spins are actually the same bonuses. They are also advertising tricks that casinos use for customer acquisition and retention.
Loyalty Programs
These programs are usually made for regular and regular customers to reward them with special offers and further stimulate activity. Thanks to these rewards, they stay longer at your online casino and feel valued as regular and regular players.
Tournaments
Casinos often offer gaming tournaments where players compete against each other for certain prizes. Tournaments significantly increase player engagement.
Conclusion
Obtaining/opening up an online casino is a very profitable but also complicated process. You need to study the market well and understand your area's peculiarities and where your target is located. You need to be able to have an attractive game portfolio, quality streaming, professional staff, licenses, ensure security, proper marketing campaigns, etc.
BetConstruct's professionals and years of vast experience are ready to help you with all these types of problems and questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Question: Is owning an online casino profitable?
Answer: Yes, online casino is one of the most profitable businesses, but before earning, you should be prepared to overcome many costs and problems.
Question: How much money do online casinos make?
Answer: The revenue of the online casino business can vary from $40 billion to $50 billion a year.
Question: How much money does it cost to open a casino?
Answer: To start an online casino business, you need to acquire licenses, create a website, have staff, pay for marketing, etc. You may need experts, tax advisors and lawyers to create a successful business plan. According to recent estimates show you will need about $1.5 to $2 million.
Question: How long does it take to start an online casino?
Answer: It can take several months to a year to start an online casino, depending on the complexity of your project and the speed at which you can complete the necessary steps. These steps may include obtaining a license, setting up your website and software, integrating payment processing, and testing your casino to ensure it is functioning properly.
But if you don’t want to waste your time, you can contact BetConstruct. The standard offer will be ready within 4 weeks.
Question: What are the potential risks of starting an online casino?
Answer: There are several potential risks to consider when starting an online casino, including:
- Legal risks: There are strict laws and regulations governing online gambling, and you could face legal consequences if you do not comply with these laws.
- Reputational risks: The online gambling industry has a reputation for attracting unscrupulous operators, and it is important to ensure that you maintain a good reputation to attract and retain players.
- Security risks: Online casinos handle sensitive financial and personal information, and it is important to ensure that this information is kept secure to protect your customers and your business.