Anjouan vs Malta Gaming Licence (2026): Speed vs Credibility

Operators shortlisting a licence in 2026 almost always end up with these two on the whiteboard: Anjouan, the fastest and cheapest lawful route into online gaming, and Malta (MGA), the most respected credential in the industry. They sit at opposite ends of the market, and choosing between them is really a choice between two priorities — speed and cost, or credibility and banking. Pick the wrong one and you either overspend by six figures on standing you don’t need, or you stall a serious brand behind a permit its banks won’t respect.

In our practice we license both, and the decision is rarely close once you name the two things that actually decide it: which markets you’ll serve, and the banking your model needs. This guide puts the two regimes side by side on cost, timeline, substance, banking and market access — with the real fees, not the marketing ones — so you can slot yourself into the right column.

The core trade-off: speed vs credibility

Every difference between these two licences flows from one thing: Malta demands real substance and Anjouan demands none. That single fact sets the cost, the timeline, the banking and the markets you can reach.

An Anjouan gaming licence is granted by the Anjouan Betting & Gaming Board under the Computer Gaming Licensing Act. One permit covers casino, sportsbook, poker, eSports and crypto, there is no local office or resident director, and the applicant company is set up in Costa Rica — so nobody sets foot on the island. That is why it clears in four to eight weeks and costs a flat €17,828 a year.

A Malta licence is the opposite by design. Malta was the first EU member state to regulate remote gaming, and the MGA still carries the most weight with players, payment providers and tier-1 banks. You pay for that with a Malta company, minimum share capital, local key functions, a compliance/MLRO team and a four-to-six-month fit-and-proper and system-audit process. It is a full-substance, tier-1 regime — not a permit you buy, a business you build.

Anjouan vs Malta at a glance

Here is the head-to-head on the factors operators actually weigh. Note that Malta’s 5% gaming tax applies to revenue from Maltese players — the rest of your base sits outside it — while Anjouan levies nothing on gross gaming revenue at all.

What each licence actually covers

The scope of authorisation differs as much as the price. Anjouan is deliberately broad and simple: one B2C permit covers casino, sportsbook, poker, eSports, lotteries and crypto gaming at once, so you don’t license each product separately — and since July 2025, B2B software suppliers and aggregators serving Anjouan operators hold their own B2B licence or Recognition Certificate. When we last pulled the public register it listed roughly 1,400 active holders, which is both a credibility signal and something players and PSPs can verify for themselves.

Malta segments its permits. B2C Gaming Service licences come in four types — Type 1 (casino and RNG games), Type 2 (fixed-odds betting), Type 3 (peer-to-peer, e.g. poker and betting exchanges) and Type 4 (controlled skill games) — and B2B suppliers hold a Critical Gaming Supply licence. Which types you need drives your share-capital requirement, so the scope decision and the cost decision are the same decision. It’s more granular than Anjouan’s one-permit-covers-everything model, which is part of why the application takes months rather than weeks.

Cost: €17,828 flat vs a six-figure year one

The headline fee understates the gap. Anjouan’s €17,828 is the licence line; the realistic year-one all-in — Costa Rica company, compliance build and payment setup included — lands between €40,000 and €70,000, and it renews cheaply because there is no substance to maintain. Our Anjouan licence cost breakdown itemises exactly where that money goes and separates the official fee from service fees.

Malta stacks up differently at every line. The MGA takes a €5,000 non-refundable application fee and a €25,000 fixed annual B2C fee, then adds a progressive compliance contribution tied to gaming revenue. On top of that you fund share capital of €40,000 to €240,000 depending on licence type, plus local substance, certification and an ongoing compliance function — which is why a Malta launch runs into the low-to-mid six figures for year one before you count the 5% gaming tax. Our Malta gaming licence cost guide models the full economics by licence type.

The tax posture matters as much as the setup. On serious GGR, Malta’s 5% on Maltese-player revenue is modest for an EU regime — but Anjouan’s flat 0% on all gaming revenue is simply in a different class, and for a lean offshore brand it compounds fast.

Substance, banking and market access — the real dividing line

Fees are the visible difference. Banking and market access are the ones that decide whether your business actually works.

Malta’s whole value proposition is banking and standing. A tier-1 EU credential opens accounts, PSP relationships and partnerships that a pure offshore permit never will, and its ten-year term gives banks the stability they want to see. If your model needs mainstream European payment rails and regulated-market credibility, that is what the substance and cost buy you.

Anjouan operates in a different lane. It is authorisation to run a gambling business — not market access — and Anjouan-licensed operators geo-block regulated markets (the US, UK, and EU-regulated territories such as France, Germany and Spain) plus FATF-blacklisted countries, and run in grey markets with no local regime. Banking is offshore-tier: you work with an EMI or neobank account and, for gambling flows, typically a payment agent incorporated in Cyprus — never a mainstream processor, which all prohibit gambling. The upside is crypto: Anjouan expressly permits it and maps to the FATF Travel Rule, so a crypto-first casino is far simpler here than under Malta’s conservative stance.

Which should you pick?

Match the licence to your constraints in this order — market, then banking, then budget — and the answer usually names itself.

Choose Anjouan if you need to be live fast and cheap, you serve grey markets rather than regulated ones, you run a crypto-first or startup model, or you simply cannot justify a six-figure year one yet. It is the natural first licence: one permit across every vertical, no substance, and a product accepting deposits in weeks. Before you file, read the Anjouan requirements guide so the paperwork is right the first time — document readiness, not regulator speed, is what slips timelines.

Choose Malta if credibility and tier-1 banking matter more than speed or cost — you’re building a serious, bankable, long-term brand, you need an EU-regulated credential for players and partners, and you can meet the share-capital and substance bar. It is the strongest credential in the industry, and for the right operator it pays for itself in banking and partnerships an offshore permit can’t reach.

For many operators the honest answer is both, in sequence: launch on Anjouan to prove the brand and generate revenue, then add Malta once tier-1 banking is worth the substance. If you’re already licensed elsewhere and eyeing the switch, our Curaçao-to-Anjouan migration guide and the flagship Anjouan alternative-to-Curaçao guide walk the move. And if you want the full field, the Malta gaming licence service sits alongside our Anjouan desk.

Not sure which column you’re in? We license both, with government cost and our cost shown separately — no blended fees. Book a free consultation and we’ll map the right path against the markets you’ll actually serve.

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