The approach to starting an online casino business may differ from business man to another, in this guide, we will provide information on how to and where to start within this rewarding industry of casinos.
It all starts with the first step forward, then you take the second step – this happens in every business you start, same for the gambling business. Gaming on websites or apps made it easy for people to play and win prizes.
This industry racks in billions of dollars every year, and soon the billions will become trillions. In the online world, it’s much easier to promote your casino business than offline – being part of this is rewarding and exciting at the same time. Growing the business isn’t that simple and straight-lined as most entrepreneurs think.
Online Casino Business
The online casino industry and businesses have been profitable in the last years – they have been entrepreneurs without prior experience who successfully made it. This industry racks in billions of dollars every year, and it became a leading internet business opportunity today, offering maximum profit in a short period of time. There are mostly two ways to start:
- Get into the market as an iGaming casino operator
- Get on board as an online casino affiliate
We would like to compare these two paths. First off, becoming an online casino business operator (iGaming casino) will have costs much higher when it comes to starting this type of business, because there is licensing and there are laws you need to take into consideration. In the end, owning an iGaming business will eventually yield high profits as soon as you bring in casino customers. On the flip side, as an online casino affiliate, it is easier and much quicker to become one, who owns a casino website and knows how to market it on the Internet.
The business is lucrative and highly profitable. It’s important to build your business around what customers like, and to fulfill their satisfaction when it comes to iGaming online. You can be successful in a short period of time. If you’re expecting success, you’ll need to work hard in your filled and perfect your skills and knowledge.
Investing in top technologies is one thing to consider, your online casino needs to have features which please the customers and engages them into the game content; giving away bonuses, promotion and of course, your online casino business must be available or compatible on all platforms (PC, laptop, smartphone, TV, etc). To enjoy profits at high margins, and high ROI, you must be ready to invest into required platforms, tools and marketing.
In order to start an online casino business, there are steps to take which will help you generate profits and money in this amazing iGaming industry.
Important steps to take when it comes to starting your own casino business
- Software providers (choosing the reliable ones)
- Gambling content of your choice
- iGaming license
- Payment methods (which are secure and verified)
- Your online casino website
- Marketing and promoting your casino website
Let’s begin:
Software providers (choosing the reliable ones)
Securing a deal with an important and trusted iGaming software provider is crucial and an absolute must. Your online casino website will depend on the software provider, as it will set the performance expectations and it will determine them.
Take your time, review, and evaluate every detail; go ahead and start reading their terms of guarantees, reviews, pricing, and security features (which are utmost important). Also, you’ll need to keep an eye on certifications, tech support, individual conditions, gaming content, and overall, everything, which is included in the package.
Gambling content of your choice
It is important to pay attention to the game diversity you have on your casino website, as players / customers will judge your entire business based on what games you have, how good they are, and if they have a pleasant visual design. You can include:
- Baccarat
- Bingo
- Slots
- Poker
- Roulette
- Blackjack
Another great plus, and advantage, is to have a live casino dealer or dealers and live streaming feature active in your package, and for your business. Using live casino dealers and having streaming enabled your online casino website will have a real presence for gamblers to purely enjoy. Another great addition to have is: sportsbooks, if you decide to grow bigger and tap into sport’s betting popularity among betting clients.
iGaming license
Each country is different when it comes to the licensing process. In some countries it is easier to obtain the license, in some harder to obtain it. There are actually predefined gambling requirements for many countries, these can be divided into:
- Countries which do not regulate the market
- Countries governing markets and having a monopoly
- Countries which have gambling prohibited
Alderney, Isle of Man, Malta, United Kingdom, Curacao and Gibraltar are the most popular gambling jurisdictions when it comes to choosing to start an online casino business. A few determinant factors which we need to mention, while selecting jurisdiction:
- License price
- License duration
- Reputation
There are companies out there, which can help you fill the licensing documentation for the website one of which is: Slotegrator.
Filling the documentation can last more than 1 month.
Payment methods (which are secure and verified)
Security of the payment transactions is highly important, they need to be verified and secured – if not managed correctly, it can highly impact your business in a negative way. International transactions are made when you own an online casino website, and sending and receiving international payments is important. They all need to be secured and verified payments (as we mentioned earlier).
You’ll need to check this with your iGaming provider and see if it supports the integration of top major Internet payment systems, if not… the players will not be able to deposit or withdraw funds from their account or they will not be able to do any action in regards to payments from their winnings.
The traditional payment methods cannot be ignored. It is a high risk for your business practice – this can put your casino business reputation at risk.
In order to fully commit to this business, signing a handful of agreements with payment systems is a factor to take into consideration.
Your online casino website
UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) counts! Having an attractive website, fully-packed with features will retain customers, make surely it will make them a returning customer. The way your website is designed, landing pages, branding of it, can highly increase its value. Differentiating yourself from the competition with your casino website design, can make all the payments go into your pockets.
Front-end design and integration within the database and your system can surely improve the overall experience. The website layout is critical! We always recommend you go with a unique design, it may be cartoons, luxury, minimal, fully colored design or just the normal gold and white or black design colors. If you don’t have the complete budget to hire designers or a company specialized in creating casino platforms, and assuming you have your own old design, you can always opt for a redesign, which might a cheaper investment.
Marketing and promoting your casino website
When you have everything in place, you’ll need to follow and apply this step as quickly as possible, because it’s yet another key step to take. The marketing part of your online casino website, will need effective marketing strategies, affiliate system strategy, and proper online or offline branding – this will ensure you’ll receive quality traffic.
A few methods which can be used to gain traffic, while performing marketing for your website are:
- SEO
- PPC campaigns (if you’re allowed in certain countries – we’re referring to Google ads here.)
- Social media Ads or organic growth
- Video ads
- TV ads
- Local advertising (newsletter, billboards, sponsoring local events, etc.)
To retain your customers, your casino system needs to introduce loyalty programs, retention campaigns and bonus systems. Customer satisfaction is important for every business, be it online or offline.
Another method to perform marketing, maybe this is an idea to try out: explore your competitors in your niche, identify what are they doing for their marketing, or where are they making mistakes (which you can avoid surely) and improve on their marketing applying it all to your business.
How Much Does It Cost to Open an Online Casino Business?
The answer to this question is not clear because there are minor details to take into consideration, which count. Developing an online casino and its costs can vary. If you are going into this business, from the ground up: unique design – will cost you more than a templated design solution. The more game providers you add, the higher the price overall will go, if you only add one provider the cost will be lower (logically). There are two phases for cost when developing an online casino:
- Pre-launch
- Post-launch
These stages are important in terms of budgeting your investment, balancing everything and making it work out for you.
The first phase will cost you more money, then post-launch phase. Software expenses can cost around 30-40%, marketing about 30-40%, licensing which is critical can be 10-20%; we also suggest you have an emergency investment fund.
Post-launch expenses are lower, and they need to be maintained, after you’ve launched your online casino business, and it is fully operational – usually these expenses are half of the total expenses, to name a few: license charges, hosting, yearly or monthly royalties to game providers, personnel (managers, experts, bookkeepers, etc.).
