Anjouan Gaming Licence Requirements in 2026

An Anjouan gaming licence requires a Costa Rica applicant company, full corporate documents, and certified KYC for every UBO, director and key manager — passport, proof of address, CV and source-of-funds evidence. The Anjouan gaming licence is famous for being fast and cheap, but applications still stall — almost always on the same thing: an incomplete requirements file. The regulator is not slow; the paperwork is what slips timelines, one unresolved UBO document or one policy that needs redrafting at a time. Get the file right the first time and the advertised window is achievable.

This guide is the checklist we work from on our own desk, having taken 300+ operators through licensing end to end, Anjouan chief among them. It covers exactly what qualifies you and what you have to submit, grouped into three buckets — Corporate, Compliance and Technical — plus the point most guides bury: there is no local presence requirement at all, because the applicant company is set up in Costa Rica, not on the island.

The three buckets, at a glance

The Anjouan Betting & Gaming Board (ABGB) issues one B2C permit that spans casino, sportsbook, poker, eSports, lotteries and crypto gaming under the Computer Gaming Licensing Act. To get it, your file has to satisfy three distinct sets of requirements. Miss any one and the application does not clear — the regulator reviews people, structure and technology together.

The rest of this guide walks each bucket in the order you should assemble it. Costs sit outside scope here — for the full fee breakdown see the Anjouan gaming licence cost guide.

Corporate requirements

The applicant can be a company or, in theory, an individual — but international operators almost always apply as a company, and the standard structure is straightforward: the applicant entity is incorporated in Costa Rica. There is no requirement to register a company in Anjouan, keep a physical office there, or appoint resident directors. That single fact is what makes the licence remote from start to finish, and it is the detail cheaper guides get wrong when they assume you need a local footprint.

At application, the ABGB expects a complete corporate pack for the applying entity:

• Corporate documents — certificate of incorporation, articles/statutes, share register and register of directors for the Costa Rica company.
• Business plan — describing your products, target markets, revenue model and the operational setup behind them. This is not a formality; it is where the regulator forms its view of what you actually intend to run.
• Operating model — how the platform, payments and support are organised, including which verticals you will launch.

Pairing an Anjouan licence with a Costa Rica operating company is the norm, not a workaround — when we last analysed the register, a large share of holders sat under Costa Rica corporate IDs. For how the entity, ownership and payment companies fit together, see our Anjouan corporate structure breakdown.

Compliance requirements: UBO, KYC and policies

This is the bucket that decides most timelines. The ABGB runs due diligence on every shareholder, ultimate beneficial owner and key manager — not just the named applicant — and each of them has to clear the same bar.

Suitability of each person. Every individual behind the company must:

• be at least 18 years old;
• carry no criminal convictions, financial crime and fraud in particular;
• appear on no sanctions or watch list;
• show a demonstrable good reputation and clean business history.

KYC file per person. For each UBO, director and officer you submit a certified passport copy, recent proof of address (a utility bill or bank statement), a professional CV and source-of-funds evidence. One incomplete UBO file is the single most common cause of a delay, because the regulator will not proceed on partial identity or funds documentation.

Policies. Alongside the people, you file the programme that governs them in operation:

• AML/KYC policies — drafted to the regulator’s expectations and mapped to the FATF Recommendations, covering player identity and residence verification, transaction monitoring for suspicious activity, and record-keeping to industry standards. Because Anjouan expressly permits crypto, these must extend to the FATF Travel Rule for virtual-asset transfers.
• Responsible-gaming policies — self-exclusion, deposit limits, reality checks and firm controls to protect minors and vulnerable players.
• Supporting documents such as Terms & Conditions and a Privacy Notice.

The obligation does not end at issuance: you carry annual key-person authorisation and compliance renewals, and — crucially — the duty to actually operate the AML programme you filed, not merely to possess it. A written policy that no one runs is a licence risk, not a safeguard. Our primer on iGaming AML and KYC covers what an operable programme looks like in practice.

Technical requirements

The third bucket is about game fairness and platform integrity. The ABGB expects documented technical standards at application, and the depth depends on whether you build games or integrate them.

If you run proprietary games, they must carry an RNG certificate from a recognised independent lab — game fairness has to be demonstrable, not asserted. If you integrate from tested providers, you supply the integration agreements and rely on their certification. Either route is fine; what the Board will not accept is uncertified games with no documented provenance.

Security expectations are conventional but firm: encrypted connections, SSL across all financial and personal data, regular backups and industry-standard cybersecurity controls, all described at application. The platform also has to mechanise the responsible-gaming controls from the compliance bucket — deposit limits, self-exclusion and mechanisms that block underage play — rather than leaving them as paper policies.

B2B and crypto: where the requirements shift

Two situations change the file. First, B2B suppliers. Since July 2025, developers, platform providers, payment-technology suppliers and aggregators serving Anjouan-licensed B2C operators must hold a direct B2B licence or an approved B2B Recognition Certificate. The corporate and due-diligence requirements mirror the B2C file; the technical documentation leans toward platform integrity and integration controls rather than player-facing tools. See the Anjouan B2B gaming licence guide for that variant.

Second, crypto. Anjouan treats crypto as a first-class payment method, but that raises the compliance bar rather than lowering it: your AML programme has to satisfy the FATF Travel Rule for virtual-asset transfers, and your onboarding and monitoring must cover crypto wallets as rigorously as fiat rails. That is a requirement, not an optional extra — and it is one reason crypto-native operators still work through an authorised agent. Our Anjouan payments guide covers how the payment stack — an EMI or neobank account, and where relevant a Cyprus payment agent — fits around these obligations.

Assembling the file in the right order

Requirements are one thing; sequence is another. The order that avoids rework is: incorporate the Costa Rica applicant company first, assemble every UBO/KYC file in parallel, draft the AML/KYC and responsible-gaming policies against the actual operating model, then finalise the technical documentation and game certification before submission. Filing with gaps — a missing source-of-funds letter, an uncertified game, a policy written for a different product — is what turns a four-week approval into an eight-week one.

None of it requires setting foot on the island, and none of it requires a local entity. What it requires is a complete, internally consistent file that satisfies all three buckets at once. If you want the fuller picture of how the licence works alongside these requirements — legitimacy, register checks and market limits — read our flagship Anjouan gaming licence guide.

Ready to assemble your file, or want a second opinion on documents you have already prepared? Our team handles the full requirements pack end to end and will review any file against the regulator’s expectations. Book a free consultation and we will tell you exactly what is missing before you submit.

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional before acting.