Tobique vs Anjouan Gaming Licence 2026: Which to Choose

If you’re choosing a first offshore gaming licence in 2026, the shortlist almost always comes down to two names: Tobique and Anjouan. They occupy the same corner of the market — fast, low-cost, no local substance, 0% gaming tax — and on paper they look nearly interchangeable. They aren’t. The differences are small but they matter, and picking on the wrong one can cost you fees or coverage you didn’t need to trade away.

In our practice we license operators on both, so this is a genuine head-to-head rather than a pitch for one. Here is how they actually differ, and how to decide.

The two regimes at a glance

Cost: Anjouan wins on the number

There’s no getting around it — Anjouan is the cheaper licence. At €17,828 a year, flat, it has one of the lowest headline fees of any credible offshore regime, and that figure doesn’t change between year one and year two. Tobique front-loads: €36,000 in year one, then roughly €19,875 a year once the licence, the €7,000 compliance fee and the €7,000 DLAG domain subscription (up to five domains) are combined.

Run the maths over three or four years and Anjouan saves you real money on fees alone. But fees are only one line in a year-one budget — the Costa Rica company, compliance build, RNG certification and payment setup are broadly similar between the two, so the fee gap is the fee gap, not the whole-project gap. If budget is the deciding factor, Anjouan is the answer; our Tobique cost guide shows exactly what the Tobique side is made of.

Framework and coverage: Tobique is newer and broader on paper

Where Tobique earns its higher fee is in how it was built. The Tobique Gaming Act 2023 is a modern statute written for contemporary iGaming, with a dedicated commission and a clean process. Anjouan’s regime dates to 2005 and is well-established — a known quantity with roughly 1,400 licence holders on its register — but it is the older model.

On verticals, Tobique explicitly covers bingo and lotteries in its single B2C licence, which matters if those are core to your product. Anjouan’s framework references crypto expressly, which some crypto-first operators prefer to see in black and white. In practice both licences support a broad multi-vertical, crypto-inclusive product — the difference is emphasis, not capability.

Structure and banking: effectively identical

This is where the two are twins. Both use a Costa Rica applicant company — no local Tobique or Anjouan incorporation needed. Both route payments through a dedicated payment agent incorporated in Cyprus, with settlement in an EMI or neobank account rather than a mainstream processor, since Stripe, PayPal and Wise all prohibit gambling. Neither is banked as broadly as Curaçao’s heavier LOK regime, but both are workable for a well-structured operator. Because the plumbing is the same, an operator can even hold both licences and run them in parallel with minimal structural friction.

How to choose

Strip it back and the decision is simple. Pick Anjouan if the lowest recurring fee is your priority, or if seeing crypto named explicitly in the framework matters to you. Pick Tobique if you want the newest statutory regime, need bingo or lotteries covered explicitly, or you’re building a fresh multi-vertical brand and value a clean modern process. Both are excellent first licences, both are fast, and both are lean to run.

If you’re still weighing them, that’s exactly the conversation we have every week. Read the full Tobique picture in our Tobique gaming licence guide and the Anjouan case in Anjouan as a viable alternative to Curaçao — then book a free consultation and we’ll match the licence to your budget, product and target markets.

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