Curaçao vs Anjouan Gaming Licence (2026): A Head-to-Head

Operators comparing offshore gaming licences in 2026 almost always land on these two: Curaçao, the established, most widely-banked offshore regime, and Anjouan, the fastest and cheapest lawful route to a live product. They used to look similar on paper. They no longer do — Curaçao’s 2024 reform made it heavier, slower and pricier, while Anjouan stayed light. Choosing between them is really a choice between banking depth and speed-plus-cost, and picking the wrong column either overspends on substance you don’t need or stalls a fiat-heavy brand behind a permit its acquirers won’t fully back.

In our practice we license both, and the decision is rarely close once you name the two things that actually decide it: how much of your book runs on fiat cards, and how fast you must be live. This guide puts the two regimes side by side on cost, timeline, substance, banking, crypto and market fit — with the real numbers, not the marketing ones — so you can slot yourself into the right column.

What changed: Curaçao got heavier, Anjouan stayed light

Every difference below flows from one fact: Curaçao now demands real substance and Anjouan demands none.

For nearly three decades Curaçao ran on a master-and-sub-licence model — cheap, fast and famously light-touch. That is over. Under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (the LOK), the Curaçao Gaming Authority now issues licences directly: a B2C licence for operators and a B2B licence for suppliers whose services materially affect game outcomes or compliance. There is no more sub-licence to buy. You apply to, and are supervised by, the CGA, and you must build real local substance to do it. The whole point of the reform was to modernise the regime and align it with international AML standards — which is exactly why it costs more and takes longer than it used to.

An Anjouan gaming licence is the opposite by design. 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 July 2025 revision aligned it with the FATF Travel Rule for virtual assets, making it one of the few offshore permits that treats crypto as a first-class payment method.

Curaçao vs Anjouan at a glance

Here is the head-to-head on the factors operators actually weigh. Note the substance line — a Curaçao licence is a business you build locally, while an Anjouan file is a package you submit remotely.

What each licence actually covers

The scope of authorisation is similar in breadth, but the structure differs. Both regimes are generous on verticals: a single Curaçao B2C licence covers casino, live dealer, sportsbook, poker, eSports and crypto gaming, and one Anjouan permit spans casino, sportsbook, poker, eSports and crypto in the same way. You don’t license each product separately under either.

Where they diverge is the B2B split and supervision. Curaçao now issues a separate B2B licence to suppliers — platform, aggregator and payment providers whose services materially affect game outcomes or compliance — and the CGA supervises operators directly, with annual compliance reporting and prompt notification of material changes. Anjouan has run a comparable B2B track since July 2025: developers, platform providers and aggregators serving Anjouan B2C operators need their own B2B licence or Recognition Certificate. Both are verifiable on a public register, which is credibility that players and payment partners can check for themselves — a point that matters more than operators expect when a PSP runs due diligence on your licence before onboarding.

Cost: €47,450-plus vs €17,828 flat

The headline fee understates the gap on Curaçao and overstates it on Anjouan. Curaçao’s €47,450 annual licence fee, plus a levy of roughly €4,592, is only the CGA line. On top of it you fund a Curaçao company, a local registered office, a resident managing director (or local corporate management), a local key person and a dedicated compliance/MLRO function — real recurring substance that has to be maintained year after year. Year-one all-in is materially higher than the headline, which is why we quote precisely per case rather than publish a misleading round number. Older figures around $17,500 you may still see quoted refer to the closed pre-reform model and are out of date.

Anjouan stacks up very differently. The €17,828 is the licence line, and because there is no substance to build or maintain, the realistic year-one all-in — Costa Rica applicant company, compliance build and payment setup included — is far lower, and it renews cheaply. The tax posture widens the gap further: Anjouan levies 0% on gross gaming revenue, so for a lean offshore brand the running economics are simply in a different class. If cost and speed are your binding constraints, Anjouan is the obvious answer — you’re paying for a licence, not a local operation.

Substance, banking and crypto — the real dividing line

Fees are the visible difference. Banking is the one that decides whether your business actually works, and it is where Curaçao earns its premium.

Curaçao’s whole value proposition is payment acceptance. It is the most widely recognised offshore licence among PSPs, e-wallets and acquiring banks — the practical difference between reliable fiat card processing and constant declines. If most of your book runs on cards and you need dependable acquiring at scale, that depth is precisely what the substance and cost buy you. The local company and compliance function you build for the CGA also become a base you can bank, tax-structure and scale from.

Anjouan operates in a different lane. Its banking footprint is growing and perfectly workable for a startup or crypto-first book, but it is narrower than Curaçao’s — you work with an EMI or neobank account (never Wise, Stripe or PayPal, which all prohibit gambling), and for gambling flows typically a payment agent incorporated in Cyprus. The same Cyprus payment-agent structure applies whichever of these two you choose. Where Anjouan pulls ahead is crypto: it expressly permits crypto deposits and withdrawals and maps to the FATF Travel Rule, so a crypto-first casino is more straightforward here. Curaçao crypto is workable too, but it sits under the B2C licence with compliance conditions rather than as an explicit design feature.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Curaçao if you run an established, fiat-heavy B2C brand with real volume, you need the broadest PSP and acquiring acceptance an offshore regime can offer, and you can carry a local company, resident director and compliance function plus a 3–6 month process. It is the strongest offshore credential for banking, and for a serious operator it pays for itself in payment reliability a lighter permit can’t match. Our flagship Curaçao LOK/CGA licence guide walks the full framework, fees and substance requirements in detail.

Choose Anjouan if you need to be live fast and cheap, you’re a startup or crypto-first operator, and you can’t yet justify Curaçao’s substance and cost. One permit covers every vertical, there is no local presence, and a product can be taking deposits in weeks. The flagship Anjouan alternative-to-Curaçao guide covers cost, process and legitimacy end to end.

For many operators the honest answer is both, in sequence: launch on Anjouan to prove the brand and generate revenue, then migrate to Curaçao once the volume justifies broader fiat processing and the heavier credential. It is one of the most common paths we run — our Curaçao-to-Anjouan migration guide walks the move in both directions and the practical mechanics of switching without downtime.

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 and payment stack you’ll actually run.

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