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iGaming licence comparison · 2026

Curaçao vs Anjouan Gaming Licence.

The two cheapest offshore iGaming licences in 2026 — compared on what actually matters: how much it costs to operate, how long it takes to go live, and which licence your bank or EMI will actually accept.

By · Banking LeadUpdated May 2026

Pick Curaçao if

  • · You already have banking that accepts Curaçao licences.
  • · You need a 5-year licence for board / investor stability.
  • · You can absorb the local-personnel and supervisory contribution costs.

Pick Anjouan if

  • · You want the fastest setup with no local-presence requirement.
  • · You’re cost-sensitive on the operating-entity side.
  • · You’re structuring a multi-licence stack and want the offshore leg cheap.

The honest answer

The cheapest licence is the one your bank already approves. Run pre-approval first, then choose. We do this in 24 hours, free.

Free pre-approval

Side-by-side

All figures from the same dataset our licence-cost calculator uses, sourced from regulator-published fee schedules.

Dimension
Curaçao
Anjouan
Regulator
Curaçao is a state regulator post-LOK; Anjouan is administered by ALSI under AOFA + ABGB.
Curaçao Gaming Authority
Anjouan Gaming Board (ABGB) / AOFA — administered by ALSI
Application fee
Curaçao's headline fee is lower but the all-in cost picture flips once annual + setup costs are added.
€4,592
Edge
€17,828
Annual licence fee
Curaçao annual = €24,490 treasury + €22,960 supervisory. Anjouan is a flat €17,828 single-year licence.
€47,450
€17,828
Edge
GGR tax
Both jurisdictions impose zero tax on gross gaming revenue. The cost is regulatory, not fiscal.
0%
0%
Capital requirement
None
None
Local personnel required
Post-LOK Curaçao requires a local representative; Anjouan does not — relevant when costing the operating entity.
Yes (local rep post-LOK)
No
Edge
Player-fund segregation
Neither licence forces segregation, but most banking partners ask for it regardless.
Not mandatory
Not mandatory
Setup time
Anjouan has the faster regulator turnaround in 2025-26; Curaçao backlogs persisted through the LOK transition.
~14 weeks
~8 weeks
Edge
Licence term
Curaçao's 5-year term is a stability advantage; Anjouan's 1-year renewal is operationally lighter.
5-year
Edge
1-year, renewable
Setup cost (legal + structuring)
€35,000
€25,000
Edge
5-year total cost (operator-side)
Annual compliance staffing dominates either total. Anjouan saves roughly €130k over 5 years at our default staffing assumptions — use the calculator for your own numbers.
€776,842
€491,968
Edge

Cost assumptions for compliance staffing and audit are GetBanked’s mid-range estimate. Use the interactive calculator to set your own staffing assumptions and target GGR.

§01 · Banking reality

Licence cost is the smaller question.

Banks underwrite operators, not licences. A €5M GGR Curaçao operator with three years of clean processing history will out-bank a €15M GGR Anjouan operator with chargeback issues every time.

That said, banks do have institutional preferences. EU EMIs in 2026 are warming to Anjouan because the regulator publishes clearer fee schedules and the framework is fully online. Caribbean private banks still prefer Curaçao because the framework is older and the audit trail deeper.

The practical decision: pre-approve with both licences in the room. We model both paths against our partner network and tell you which licence each bank is actually willing to onboard, given your specific profile.

Get a banking match for both licences

Frequently asked

Curaçao vs Anjouan — the real questions.

Is Anjouan a legitimate iGaming licence in 2026?
Yes. Anjouan licences are administered by Anjouan Licensing Services Inc. (ALSI) under the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority (AOFA) and the Anjouan Gaming Board (ABGB). The legal framework dates to 2005 and was modernised in 2024-25 to support a fully online operator workflow. Most major payment-processor compliance lists now recognise Anjouan as a regulated jurisdiction. The relevant question is not legitimacy but banking acceptance — see below.
Why did Anjouan become popular after the Curaçao reform?
Curaçao's 2024 Landsverordening op de Kansspelen (LOK) reform wound down the old Master/Sub-licence structure that thousands of operators relied on. Operators who couldn't — or didn't want to — comply with the new direct CGA licence requirements (local rep, supervisory contribution, etc.) needed an alternative offshore home. Anjouan offered a near-zero-tax, no-capital, fast-setup alternative and the regulator was actively courting the relocation.
Which licence is easier to bank?
Curaçao still has the deeper banking-partner network in 2026 because banks built compliance playbooks around it over 20 years. Anjouan is bankable but the partner list is narrower — typically offshore EMIs and a small set of specialist banks. The "easier to bank" answer depends on which EMI you can credibly reach: if you already have a relationship with a Curaçao-friendly bank, staying on Curaçao is operationally cheaper. If you're starting cold, Anjouan's shorter path to licence + the banking partners GetBanked maintains often gets you live faster.
Can the same company hold both licences?
Technically yes, but it's rare. Holding two licences doubles compliance overhead and confuses bank underwriters ("which entity is acquiring?"). The more common dual-jurisdiction pattern is one operating entity licensed in one of them plus a payments entity in an EU EMI jurisdiction (Lithuania or Estonia) that fronts the fiat rails.
What happens if Anjouan loses recognition?
Anjouan licences have historically faced periods of payment-processor caution — for example, parts of the Visa/Mastercard merchant approval workflows. The risk is real but currently manageable: if you operate on Anjouan, maintain at least one back-up route (EU EMI partnership or a parallel Curaçao or Kahnawake structure ready to spin up) so payments don't go dark if any single network turns cautious.
What does the all-in 5-year cost look like at €5M GGR?
Use the licence-cost calculator for your specific GGR. As a rough indication at €5M GGR over 5 years: both licences land in the €600k–€900k range once you include compliance staffing and audit. Curaçao is higher because of the local-personnel requirement; Anjouan is lower but assume a higher banking-introduction cost. Neither is "cheap" — the cheapest licence is the one your bank already approves.
How does GetBanked help operators on either licence?
GetBanked maintains direct relationships with banks and EMIs that actively onboard Curaçao and Anjouan-licensed operators. Pre-approval tells you in 24 hours whether your specific profile (jurisdiction of incorporation, processing history, UBO geographies, monthly volume) is bankable in 2026 — before you commit to either licence. Most operators choose the licence after they know which bank will accept them, not before.