How much does it cost to start an online casino?

How much does it cost to start an online casino?

Online casinos are some of the most popular sites on the market at the moment. This popularity means that it’s quite an enticing prospect for people who to want to set up an online casino. However, what many people don’t realise, is that this can cost quite a lot of money to do. We’ve taken a close look as to how much you will need to set up your own online casino.

Casino Software

This is the first thing that players need to examine when setting up an online casino. Without gaming software in place, there’s nothing to play. Because of this, trying to get access to a high-quality software package should be the first step players make. It’s an important part of online casinos, which is available at pretty much every site out there. A good way to see an example of this, would be to look at other online casinos first, it will be vital research, so you can look for yourself, and here you can check out online casinos in India for more inspiration.

 

In terms of costs, this varies depending on the provider. Big name providers, such as NetEnt and Playtech, will want more from online casinos than smaller companies. The payment is normally made in terms of a percentage of revenue. This will vary as we mentioned, and it can be as low as 15%, but as high as 40%.

 

You’ll also need to prove you have enough money to pay out any winners as well. This means that you will have to have at least $200,000 in place to cover any large payouts.

Licensing

The licensing is a vital aspect of making sure your site is trustworthy. If you have a strong license in place, then you will instantly have a better name on the market. It means that players will regard you as a safer site to play at, and it will be more likely to choose to play there.

 

In terms of costs, this can vary between $50,000 and $100,000 per year for the license. There will also be some additional tax costs on top, depending on where you choose to get your license from. The better the license, the more trust that your site will elicit in players.

 

When getting a regulatory license it is also important to remember that you will have to abide by regulations, or you will lose your license.

Site Design

This is something that a lot of people tend to overlook when factoring in costs. While it’s not quite as high when compared to other costs associated with setting up an online casino, it’s still very important if you want to set one up. After all, a website is what sets an online casino apart from a land-based casino.

 

Site design will cost around $3,000 to set up, as well as monthly costs for hosting and management. It will most likely cost around $10,000 for the first year, and around $7,000 for each year after that, to get the level of site management you will need for an online casino.

 

It’s important to have high quality site design in place. If the site design looks cheap, it will make your site look untrustworthy and put players off. Another part of the site design to take into account, would be marketing. This is often carried out in conjunction with site design, and depending on the level you want to market at, it can cost anywhere between $200,000 and $600,000 per year.

Casino Staff

This is something that a lot of people overlook. They think that an online casino won’t need any staff, because it just runs itself. However, this isn’t the case. It needs a wide range of staff members in place, in order to deal with everything the site needs. For example, customer service staff have to be available to deal with any issues. VIP scheme managers must be in place. Affiliate managers, marketing managers, these are all required to make sure the site runs smoothly.

 

A successful online casino will likely need around 8 staff members, in order to operate in an efficient manner. This means that it will cost around $200,000 per year to control the site.

 

Payment Providers

For each payment provider that you choose to use, you will need to fund it with at least $50,000. It means that you will require a significant amount to offer a wide range of different payment options. However, you can streamline this process by using a payment processor. This will carry out all of your payments across different providers, using a single account to do so.

 

This service is quite expensive, but it will significantly speed up casino operations, and reduce the amount of staff that you need to have in place. It will cost around $420,000 for the year for this service.

Overall Cost

The overall costs are quite high for setting up an online casino. As such, you can probably assume you won’t break even during the first year. However, over time, this should change. For the first year, an online casino will cost around $1.3 million. However, this doesn’t count the revenue costs to software providers, as this will vary depending on your level of business.