Start an Online Casino: 5-Step Guide
Many new and established business owners are looking to start an online casino as this industry continues to be a booming trend and grants significant business opportunities. However, compared to other niches, the gambling one has a fairly high entry point that requires a lot of preparation and consideration.
With a rapidly changing environment of gaming innovations, flexible changes to the jurisdictions, and progressive business strategies, there’s never been a better time to become an owner of an online casino business. In 2024, many data analysts predict that the near future of gambling is looking more promising than ever.
This is why we are here to share important insights and help you with how to start an online casino. Today, you will learn the eight basic steps of creating a platform of your own that will steer you away from time-consuming and financial missteps. We will also touch on factors that make up the cost of entering the sector, so stay tuned.
What is an online casino business?
A typical online casino refers to a web platform that offers users the ability to wager money on various gambling activities. These websites often provide games similar to those that users can find within brick-and-mortar casinos, simulating the experience of being within a physical gambling club. Some of the most popular games you can find on a casino website are the following:
- Slot machines. In these games, the player pays a symbolic token and presses the button that reveals a combination of symbols, which can be winning or losing.
- Blackjack. During this game, a player is dealt a random hand that needs to be as close to number 21 as possible, otherwise, the game is lost.
- Roulette. At roulette, the player bets on a certain number and color on the wheel, predicting whether this is where the ball will land when the wheel gets spun.
Many other popular games are also commonly available to the players, like poker, baccarat, bingo, etc. Therefore, to compete with other casinos, it is necessary to have a basic set of games like these.
Speaking of competition, it is not surprising to see an increased interest many business owners have in starting an online casino. If we take a look at various market studies of the gambling sector, the significant and continuous growth of this niche speaks for itself.
For example, in the year 2023, the global gambling market is estimated to be worth $95.05 billion, with $34.80 billion being the share of online casinos specifically. This number is projected to increase over the coming years, showing a compound annual growth rate of 8.54%.
Online gambling market report.
It is also evident that the interest of players within this niche will continue to expand as more regions change their regulations on online gambling to more open-minded standards. In fact, the same study estimates that by the year 2027, the approximate number of users in the global gambling market will reach 233.7 million.
Hence, it is only natural that the increased interest in entering this sector is conditioned by the ever-growing demand of the users and the stable economic growth. Luckily, we are here to tell you exactly how to become an online casino business owner, so let’s get right into it.
8 steps on how to start an online casino
As one of the leading casino software providers in the iGaming environment, the Limeup team has 10+ years of experience and launched dozens of online casinos from scratch. Our team of over 50+ adept developers and marketers is always ready to share their industry experience. Contact us to consult on all issues when setting off a casino, regardless of size and location.
FACT! A unique background in the design of the gaming platform, assistance in acquiring a gaming license, and customized software from Limeup will allow you to bypass financial losses and save time.
We do not clone gambling projects. Each new case confirms these words directly. A client-oriented approach, individual solutions, flexible planning, and constant interaction with our team can transform an ordinary business idea into a successful project! Now, let’s lift the veil of secrecy and review the main stages of launching a virtual casino.
Step 1: Do market research & analysis
The question of “How do I start my own online casino?” can seem daunting since thorough research, analysis, and planning are necessary. Based on the collected data, you must assemble a detailed business plan that encapsulates your strategy for success.
At this stage, you must focus on understanding your target audience, current market trends, and the competitive advantage you will bring. Let’s take a closer look at each of these factors.
- User research. Understanding and catering to the needs of your target audience is a crucial parameter to the success of your casino. Your solution must account for the consumer expectations, needs, and potential users’ behavioral patterns to attract them.
- Market research. Gambling industry trends are constantly transforming, hence, you should always strive to stay tuned for the latest developments and market opportunities. As a result, you can stay ahead of the competition, delivering innovative iGaming solutions and services that can expand your customer base.
- Competitive analysis. You must clearly understand your rivals, their offerings, marketing strategies, and the points where you can beat them. This will help to capitalize on competitors’ mistakes, learn about their blind spots, and create a casino that will compare favorably with other operators.
Example of the components of market trends.
Step 2: Aquire a license
There are clear laws and regulations regarding the casino industry, both local and international. The primary legal requirement to open an online casino is to obtain a gambling license from a regulatory body like the Malta Gaming Authority. Failure to comply with laws once licensed can result in severe legal sanctions, fines, and irreparable damage to your brand’s reputation.
Top countries for licensing jurisdiction.
Each jurisdiction has a clear set of rules and a financial entry threshold to remember before choosing the proper jurisdiction. Here is a brief overview of the top licensing jurisdictions and bodies that regulate gambling:
- The UK – the United Kingdom Gambling Commission
- Curacao – the Curacao eGaming Authority
- Gibraltar – the Gibraltar Gambling Commission
- Malta – the Malta Gaming Authority
- The Isle of Man – the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission
Deciding on the proper jurisdiction is a life-changing decision that will significantly impact your business achievements. Some gambling licenses have more assertive international recognition and are fitted in most countries.
For example, if you want to establish a casino in the UK market, you must enlist the United Kingdom Gambling Commission’s support. The cost of obtaining the license can vary from $2.640 (intermediary license) to $57.746 if it concerns a full-fledged license for a remote casino.
Taxation is also integral to a business plan when choosing a jurisdiction to obtain a gambling license. Ensure you fully understand your target market’s tax laws and regulations so you don’t get fines or legal sanctions from the regulator. By understanding all the features of taxation, you can choose the appropriate jurisdiction, optimize your income, and ensure the timely submission of financial reports to government agencies.
Step 3: Design the website
At Limeup, we are concentrating on reimagining online casino design and improving user experience. We can ensure that your online casino will stand out from the competition by providing an engaging, seamless, and immersive experience for an end user.
We offer the opportunity to create a custom online casino that will stand out from the out-of-the-box platforms of most competitors. A seamless interface, sleek design, intuitive navigation, and enhanced user experience are the backbones we deliver to contribute to your casino’s success.
Our design team will accompany you at every stage of UX research and share all the intermediate results so that the final result can ensure an unparalleled casino experience for your users. Then, we focus on delivering wireframes and prototypes that outline the user journeys in detail to agree upon further design steps.
After the basic picture of the design is approved, we move forward with creating an overall visual appearance of the platform. At this stage, color schemes, themes, icons, and other elements are designed according to the branding guide to correspond with the image you want to portray.
Remember that a structured approach to UI and UX design is the only solution if you want to start an online casino with a high chance of success. Moreover, thoroughly analyzing the user base and behavior is a solid basis for confirming or correcting your hypothesis about the ideal platform.
Step 4: Build the software
The software is the backbone of the entire platform, so keeping a strong focus on this step is essential if you want to make an online casino that will be profitable and operational. There are several stages of the development process, which can differ slightly based on your specific project requirements.
Online casino platform development process.
Every development process starts with thorough planning. Based on the documentation and architecture of the project, our iGaming software providers schedule tasks according to their priorities and initiate platform development. Meanwhile, our project manager oversees the entire process at every stage and provides reporting to a customer.
Detailed and well-structured documentation is a complete package of documents that allows customers to understand and use all the platform’s features fully. Moreover, the documentation will enable you to manage and scale an online casino efficiently. We also build the architecture of the future platform, taking into account the potential load on the infrastructure and possible scaling.
Taking care of the payment system becomes the next goal. Fail-safe receiving, processing, and sending payments are the most critical parameters for successful operation if you want to build your own online casino. A wide range of flexible and popular payment tools is a great way to attract a global audience and ensure a seamless 24/7 transaction process.
By the end of this stage, you will have a fully functional platform with a completely implemented design and integrated database. Our experts will walk you through all aspects of the development to ensure every element meets your requirements.
Step 5: Decide on the gaming library
This stage is vital since the choice of game types and game providers defines the interest of the users in your casino platform. Each type of game has different profitability and favor among users. That is why it is imperative to understand your customer pool and their interests and preferences in gambling.
Some prefer table games, including Poker, Blackjack, and Baccarat. Others may spend hours on end playing Roulette or progressive jackpot slots. So here are a few fundamental parameters that you should pay attention to when creating a game library:
- Game providers
- House edge
- Versatility for different types of devices
Remember that your online gaming customers may be gambling on older smartphones. Therefore, choosing powerful 3D graphics for slots can become an obstacle for ordinary users. On the other hand, if you are targeting a solvent audience, such finer points can be left aside.
Collaboration with Tier-1 software providers of game content is no small undertaking for any online gambling business. Some providers prefer only trusted online casinos with a solid background and an impeccable reputation.
Limeup is ready to integrate online entertainment from top software developers and handle all the most complex aspects of the negotiation process. Here is just a short list of casino game providers we work with:
- Playtech
- NetEnt
- Evolution Gaming
- Microgaming
- Quickspin
List of game providers.
Keep in mind that user retention when opening an online casino is a constant and thorough job to do. Players must regularly return to a gambling platform and spend the maximum amount of time enjoying the most diverse types of online entertainment.
Regular updates are one of the most effective ways to retain users. In this case, the ideal approach means you will need to add new games, update features, and run dozens of promotions on time to keep every element of your gaming portfolio fresh and exciting.
Step 6: Launch and maintenance
The long-awaited launch of an online casino is the first step toward building a sustainable business and a successful gaming network. Achieving long-term success will require focusing on essential elements such as growth and maintenance.
Once your platform is deployed into the servers, the work does not end there. You must analyze key performance indicators and anticipate possible areas for optimization or improvement. This will allow you to strengthen your competitive advantages and quickly implement technological and marketing innovations.
Scaling is one of the stages after launching a casino and debugging all processes, from attracting a user to paying out winnings. For example, expanding the list of quality games is one of the most common updates you can implement when maintaining online casinos.
Example of performance indicators analysis.
Now that you know how to create a betting website, you must remember that technical maintenance is also one of the most significant factors for consideration in the long run. Our experts systematically monitor server load to ensure the smooth operation of the entire infrastructure.
Limeup specialists built an easily scalable architecture, allowing us to implement additional functionality at the customer’s request quickly. That way, our clients can stay ahead of the curve in such a competitive industry.
Step 7: Provide exceptional customer support
A customer-centric approach and exceptional user support are central when starting an online casino. These approaches are critical to the implementation of long-term business development strategies. However, providing exceptional customer support and retention service will require significant resources and a balanced approach.
Remember that a certain percentage of the players coming to your gaming site will be newbies. A FAQ or a chatbot will unlikely be able to handle all of the queries. Therefore, ensure that your brand representatives can respond to user requests and be as helpful as possible to players of any level. Here are some practical tips on providing top-notch support if you are looking into how to start an online casino business:
- Offer the maximum variety of communication channels. The rule here is that more channels will provide more efficient customer service. Don’t limit your customers to email and feedback forms on a gaming site. Diversify this list with live chat, email, social media accounts, etc.
- Respond promptly. Quick responses to user requests are the best way to build brand loyalty. Some questions will be repeated, so you can take care to create template answers to the most frequently encountered pains. In this way, you will be able to answer questions almost instantly.
- Hire professional staff. Qualified support representatives must be constantly trained and know how to provide helpful information to players in the shortest possible time.
- Build a help desk that works non-stop. 24/7 access means that users will not be left alone with their troubles and can count on the help of your staff at any time.
- Offer user support in different languages. If your customer segment speaks more than one language, the helpdesk should be able to provide information accordingly. It often depends on your market’s geographic location and local users’ preferences.
Step 8: Set up a marketing strategy
Forming a loyal customer base, retaining, and attracting new players are the top priorities of marketing and promotion. A detailed marketing strategy is critical to increasing traffic to an online casino site and maximizing your user base.
Marketing strategy process.
Gambling is among the most highly competitive niches, so a well-thought-out and robust marketing strategy covers two main issues: increasing brand awareness and attracting new users. For this reason, loyalty bonuses and promotions are the keys that can help you start your own online casino. Consider implementing a bonus program with some of the common offerings:
- Welcome gifts. Offer users generous welcome bonuses to motivate newcomers to join your online casino.
- Deposit bonuses. Reward every player who deposits by providing bonus funds, loyal terms, and access to limited promotions.
- Free spins. This is the most common type of reward you can find in an online casino. Free bet gifts can be used to promote specific slots or increase user engagement in the gaming experience.
- Cashback rewards. Activate cashback promotions so users can return at least a small percentage of the lost funds and get a second chance.
As with bonus programs, marketing tools require constant updating and monitoring of performance. Optimizing your marketing efforts will allow you to pinpoint which areas or advertising tools need refinement to allocate resources more efficiently.
How much does it cost to start an online casino?
The cost you can expect to pay to open an online casino can vary greatly depending on a few crucial factors. Overall, we can separate the fundamental factors that make up the price into two categories: the expenses on the development and the fees associated with acquiring a license. Let’s stop to discuss what both of these factors entail.
Expenses to start an online casino.
It is highly difficult to estimate the development costs without getting a direct quote from a software development provider. Regardless, by learning the aspects that go into the pricing, you can get an approximate idea of how much you can expect to pay.
First and foremost, the complexity of the website and the scope of work that needs to be done to build an online casino is typically the dominant factor in the cost. Platforms with a large amount of customized features and bespoke designs will take more time and resources to complete, consequently increasing the working hours of the specialists.
Most software vendors charge on a per-hour basis, with prices ranging anywhere between $50 to $300+, based on the experience level and the location of the specialists. Some organizations also offer a fixed-price or a retainer agreement model, which can sometimes be more beneficial depending on the type of project, as such websites can take months to develop.
The second factor, licensing fees, is much more straightforward regarding how the pricing is formed. Based on the country’s jurisdiction where you plan to obtain a license, there is an established set of fees that you are expected to pay. Still, there is more nuance to this factor than meets the eye.
The costs associated with obtaining a license are divided into three categories: application fees, license fees, and annual fees. What those numbers will look like for you will depend on the expected annual gross revenue of your online casino site. On average, these numbers range between thousands to tens of thousands of USD.
Hopefully, this helps you get a more comprehensible idea of the prices related to how to make an online casino. You are always free to reach out to our experts, discuss your casino platform idea, and receive a direct quote for your project.
How can Limeup help open an online casino?
Launching a casino in 2023 is a profitable endeavor with heightened potential. However, the highly competitive environment of the global online casino market and rivalry among major players require vigilant groundwork, ongoing reliable management, and 100% involvement in each stage.
At Limeup, our seasoned specialists in design and software development have vast experience helping business owners start an online casino that adheres to the current standards. With our assistance in careful planning and execution, you can be assured your project is cost-effective and successful regardless of the market’s geographical location.
If you are interested in starting an online casino, be sure to drop us a line anytime. Our experts will consult you on the scope of the project and provide a tailored quote so you can begin your journey in the gambling industry right away.