The gambling industry generates millions of dollars each year. This has motivated a growing number of business enthusiasts to join the expanding market. There are so many things you need to arrange when you are thinking about starting an online casino. But the first thing that will obviously come to your mind is how much it will cost to start one.
It all starts with financing. Generally, starting an online casino requires a budget of about $1.86 million. You should be able to recoup the investment in two years if you get enough customers to play at your online casino. Let’s walk you through the process of starting an online casino
Securing funds
You can secure financing through various gambling entrepreneur organizations. There are many people out there who are willing to fund gambling establishments. With online gambling increasingly becoming popular as a lucrative business idea, if you write a good business plan that holds an impressive permeation strategy to the largest gambling markets, you will certainly get an investing partner who will be willing to bankroll your online casino.
Software
An online casino cannot operate without software. Most importantly, without the right software and game selection, you may not succeed in the competitive industry. Your online casino must offer a range of reliable games; therefore, you will need a mix of blackjack, slot machines, roulette, poker, baccarat, scratch cards, and Pai Gow from leading online casino software developers such as NetEnt, Playtech, Microgaming, and Betsoft. This move will attract players to your online casino because you will be offering them different options.
Let’s take Microgaming software package as an example. The company has developed over 450 online casino games. A single poker user requires $250,000 for the main package. The price can increase or reduce depending on the willingness of the operator to pay back loyalty bills, which are usually 15-40% of the profit earned every month.
If you choose Microgaming as your online casino software provider, the company will adjust the establishment to suit your needs, along with providing full assistance, but you have to ensure a website is in place and supervise customer support.
However, the company requires all operators to have an additional $300,000 to $500,000 that they can use for players who cash out.
Playtech’s main parcel package goes for $200,000 to $300,000, whereas that for Rival Gaming starts at $100,000.
Licensing
The next step is working with a gambling jurisdiction. You cannot operate an online casino without a license. Jurisdiction basically means a special field where you get to host your online gambling servers legally.
Since online gambling is not allowed in many countries, online casinos cannot base their sites in any country. The most popular online gambling jurisdictions in the world include Costa Rica, Isle of Man, Antigua, Netherlands Antilles, Curacao, Malta, and Gibraltar.
A gaming license in Antigua costs $75,000 per year, plus 3% of profits earned in the gambling business. In addition, you will need to purchase a wagering certificate in Antigua, which costs $50,000.
Website
You need a good-looking website with all the necessary functionalities. Remember that the website the face of your online casino business; therefore, invest in a design that looks nice. Building a website for your online casino should cost about $3,000.
Staffing your platform
Your platform needs about 12 professionals who will be available 24 hours a day to attend to user’s problems. In addition, you will need affiliate managers who will mobilize affiliate associates to merchandise the platform.
You will also need a Player Retention Manager who will be responsible for maintaining the most valuable players, and a 3-person IT team to deal with IT matters. Wages alone will cost you about $200,000 to $300,000 per year.
However, you can reduce this cost by hiring workers in countries other than North America and Europe. There are many reputable gambling organizations situated in countries like Costa Rica and South Africa mainly because the cost of running a gambling business there is low when compared to other places.
Marketing tools
Marketing your online casino can cost $20,000 to $100,000. When you search “best online casinos,” “top online casino,” or “Online casino,” the results that will appear on the first page are likely to be that of affiliate websites.
If you are looking to partner with the best affiliates to advertise your online casino, you will have to remit 50-60% of your revenue to them. Generally, a startup budget of about $50,000 per month should work for affiliate marketing.
Payment methods
As mentioned above, Microgaming requires all casinos that use its software to have an extra $300,000 to $500,000. You need to provide this money to each payment method you want to list on your platform so that you can quickly cash out winnings to your customers.
Some of the payment methods you can use for deposits include Skrill, PayPal, Neteller, and Mastercard. You can either use a deposit processor or arrange an in-house outlay processing unit. Using a payment processor will cost you $20,000 to $50,000 per month.
How long will it take before your online casino business breaks even?
It should take approximately two years for your new business to break even. But always keep in mind that you cannot become a millionaire overnight. Therefore, be patient and be contented with the profit you make however small it is because you are just starting.