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Industry 01

iGaming & Gaming

Licensing, structuring and compliance for online gaming businesses operating across regulated, regulating and grey-market environments.

Topics: B2C & B2B licensingPlayer protectionPaymentsPlatform agreements

Stacks of casino chips and a die on a claret ground.

Who we advise

  • B2C casino, sports betting and poker operators
  • B2B game studios and content aggregators
  • Platform, turnkey and white-label providers
  • Affiliates and marketing partners
  • Payment providers serving gaming merchants
Speak to an advisor

Specialisations

Business models we advise

01Online Casino
Licensing, game certification, player protection and payment access for online casino operators.
02Sports Betting
Licensing, integrity, advertising and payment rules for online sportsbooks and betting products.
03Gaming Platforms
Platform, turnkey and white-label providers, and how licensing responsibility is split between platform and brand.
04B2B Gaming Suppliers
Supplier licences, certification and contracting for game studios, aggregators and technology providers.
05Skin Gambling / Virtual Items
Whether wagering with in-game items or skins is gambling under the applicable law, and how such models can be structured or restricted.
06Loot Boxes & Chance-Based Mechanics
Paid chance mechanics in games and apps assessed against gambling, consumer protection and platform rules.
07Affiliates & Marketing
Affiliate licensing or registration where required, advertising rules and accountability for marketing partners.

Context

The regulatory landscape

Online gaming is regulated market by market, and the map keeps changing. Established hubs revise their frameworks, new regimes open, and operators serving several markets must reconcile different rules on licensing, player protection, advertising and taxation — often under a single brand.

We advise operators, platform providers, studios, aggregators and affiliates on how to structure, license and run gaming businesses across jurisdictions, and on the payment and banking relationships those businesses depend on.

Challenges

Where businesses need support

  1. 1.

    Choosing the licensing hub

    Balancing reputation, market access, cost and banking acceptance across hub licences and local market licences.

  2. 2.

    Multi-licence operations

    Running one platform under several licences with different technical, reporting and player protection rules.

  3. 3.

    Payment access

    Maintaining acquiring and banking relationships in a sector most financial institutions classify as high-risk.

  4. 4.

    Responsible gambling and AML

    Affordability, source-of-funds and safer gambling expectations that regulators enforce with increasing rigour.

  5. 5.

    B2B certification

    Supplier licences, game certification and technical standards needed to supply regulated operators.

  6. 6.

    Marketing and affiliates

    Advertising restrictions, bonus rules and accountability for affiliate conduct in each market.

Services

How we help

  • Regulatory & Licensing

    01

    Licence strategy, applications and regulator engagement for gaming, payments, e-money, investment and crypto-asset businesses.

  • Corporate Structuring

    02

    Group architecture, incorporation, substance and governance built around your licences, banking and investors.

  • Banking & Payments

    03

    Bank account opening, merchant account and acquiring setup, payment flows and safeguarding for businesses banks consider high-risk.

  • AML & Financial Crime Compliance

    04

    AML/CFT programmes, MLRO-as-a-Service, independent AML/CFT audits, risk assessments, monitoring, sanctions and inspection support.

  • Legal Opinions

    08

    Regulatory, business model, perimeter, payment, gaming, crypto-asset and cross-border opinions for banks, partners and investors.

  • Ongoing Legal Support

    11

    Retained senior counsel for day-to-day legal, regulatory and compliance questions across all your entities.

Jurisdictions

Relevant frameworks

Cartography by ROZSUD from Natural Earth data (public domain).

Insights

Related analysis

Questions

Frequently asked

Should we start with a hub licence or a local market licence?

It depends on where your players are. Hub licences can support access to several markets where local licensing is not required, while an increasing number of markets require a local licence to serve their residents. We model both routes against your target player base.

Can you support B2B suppliers as well as operators?

Yes. B2B businesses face their own supplier licensing, certification and contractual questions, and we advise studios, aggregators and platform providers alongside operators.

Discuss your matter with a senior advisor.

Share a few details about your business and plans. We will come back to arrange a confidential initial conversation.

Request a consultation