The gambling industry brings huge incomes but have you ever wondered about its expenses? Currently, you will find many gaming arenas, casino titles, and bookmakers in each city across the globe. This tells you this is a profitable business. However, it is worth noting that the online gambling scene is regulated and the competition is high.
In this article, we have discussed how much it will cost to start an online gaming platform. You can become the owner of a successful online casino in several ways. It is possible to get professional help if you plan to fully understand some things like the best software to invest in and other things.
Licensing
Getting your casino license is the most significant expense for those planning to open one. This document gives casino owners the authority to legally run an online gaming platform in certain or many nations. Licenses also come with other benefits as well.
Pros of having a license
You will attract top-quality software providers. The reason is these providers are not interested in scammers and shoddy casinos since they have a reputation to maintain. Because of this, they will only work with licensed casinos.
UK gamblers are attracted to licensed Online Casinos that abide by the law. Working without a license can land you in trouble with authorities. Note that licenses don’t come cheap. A license from offshore nations such as Curacao, Gibraltar, or Alderney can cost around $15000-$20000. These nations are the most popular because of their low taxation. Most reputable casinos use their licenses.
For those who want a license with a higher status, they can opt for German, Swiss, or UK licenses. Note that licensing is more costly in these nations, and you will pay more in taxes. For instance, running a casino in England will set you back $40000 as an initial instalment.
Casino’s website
Note that this is your major business tool. You cannot neglect it if you want your casino to be a success story. The website creation process comes with a number of stages listed below:
- Developing a general concept and the idea of the sire
- Website’s design
- Programming, developing front-end web
- Integrating the site’s software
- Adding content to the platform
- SEO promotion
- Marketing promotion
Doing all this work alone is tough. It makes more sense to outsource to an expert. When you hire a company that specialises in websites, the site will be great in every detail.
Developing a casino site from scratch will cost you around $1000-$5000. However, this depends on your wishes. It might even cost more.
You will incur more costs for promotion. An SEO specialist might charge you around $500 monthly. You might incur extra costs on this task.
Gaming software
This whole idea is very extensive. Your site will need these three types of programs discussed below:
- Gambling platform – all details of your site are built on it. The platform is made to help you manage your whole site, change, and administer gambler accounts.
- Slot machines –these are the popular traditional casino games every player expects in a casino. Slots are different but work similarly and run upon request. In the past, slots mostly came as one package with the system of the game. However, you can now purchase them as a separate package.
- Payment methods – these are ways to transact fast between players and the casino. It is wise to have a variety of payment methods. Currently, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are becoming very popular.
Mostly, a software provider will provide you with all the needed elements, including payment methods as one package. You will pay from $5000 and more for such a package. This depends on what you want, games and configurations you need.
Marketing
Mostly, huge networks such as Facebook and Google do not allow gambling ads. So, where can you market your casino? First, you need to understand the laws.
To easily know your way in the marketing world, you should hire an expert who is familiar with marketing and legal requirements in the online casino industry. Know that each nation has huge fines and even jail terms. You will incur around $1500 a month for this. Be sure to budget more for marketing.
Technical support
To start a successful casino, you will always need to have an effective technical support team. It is responsible for:
- Responding to client queries via email, live chat, phone calls, and others
- Being ready to give professional and friendly assistance
- Multilingual support
- Working 24/7
So how do you assemble such a team? This is something you can do by yourself. The budget for most customer support workers is $400 a month. Ensure that your team has at least one expert specialist. Note that experts will earn more a month.
If your budget for hiring a team is not enough, you can opt to outsource your customer support services for a while. According to our estimates, the total initial capital ranges from $20000-$25000.
What are its advantages?
- You will save on the license cost. The provider of the ready-made online platform creates a new entry that has a license with your site as a subsidiary to enable you to operate legally.
- No need for buying software. The White label models come as a complete package. The providers just make some fine adjustments, and you are ready to go.
- You get a chance to build your own brand and develop your casino as a separate entity. It is cheaper.
