Vanuatu Gaming Licence Cost in 2026: The Full Breakdown

If you have priced a Vanuatu gaming licence online, you have probably seen the €10,000 annual fee quoted as if that were the whole cost of going live. It is not — but Vanuatu is one of the rare jurisdictions where the headline number is genuinely low and the gap to the real budget is small. Vanuatu keeps coming up for the same reason: a €5,000 application, €10,000 a year, no fixed minimum capital, and a licence that can last 15 years.

This guide breaks down the real cost of a Vanuatu gaming licence in 2026 — the government fees and what they include, the mandatory pieces that sit outside them, the 0% turnover / 1% GGR tax, and a realistic year-one range. Every line is itemised, so you can read any provider’s quote against it and see exactly what you are paying for.

The government fees: €5,000 + €10,000, and what they buy

Order No. 110 of 2024, made under the Interactive Gaming Act [Cap 261], sets two headline figures: a €5,000 application fee and a €10,000 licence fee payable on grant and on each anniversary. The licence fee covers one domain; each additional wagering domain is €1,500. There is no fixed minimum paid-up capital, so you are not asked to lock away a deposit, although you do have to show capital adequacy for the operation you plan.

What makes those fees unusually good value is coverage. The licence fee covers all forms of interactive gaming, so a single Vanuatu Interactive Gaming Licence spans online casino, sports betting, poker and lottery-style games and you do not stack per-vertical fees. The Act has no crypto-specific rules, which is why the permit is used by crypto-first casinos that still want a formal, recognised authorisation. For the full legitimacy and scope picture, see our flagship Vanuatu gaming licence guide.

The 15-year term: why Vanuatu removes renewal friction

Most offshore permits are issued for a single year and re-approved annually — you re-file, the regulator re-assesses, and each renewal is a small re-application with its own risk of delay or new conditions. Vanuatu is different. The Act allows a term of up to 15 years, and the VGA states that licences are issued for 15 years. You still pay the €10,000 fee each year, but you are not re-applying, and that distinction matters more than it first appears.

A 15-year horizon means you can build banking relationships, marketing spend and partnerships on a permit that is not up for reconsideration every twelve months. It removes a recurring administrative cost and a recurring point of uncertainty. For a long-horizon operator (anyone building a brand rather than a short-lived skin), that certainty is worth as much as the low fee itself.

Why the real year-one budget is ≈€25,000–€45,000

The €10,000 buys a licence for a business that does not exist yet. To reach that permit, and to operate lawfully once you hold it, you need a Vanuatu-registered applicant company, a compliance stack the regulator will accept, key-person due diligence, RNG certification and payment rails that survive a high-risk category. None of that is inside the government fee, and none of it is optional. Here is how the year-one total is built, line by line.

The spread is wide for a reason: a crypto-only casino licensing third-party games and running a lean EMI-only stack lands near the bottom; a multi-vertical brand with proprietary-game certification and a full Cyprus payment-agent structure lands near the top. Two lines swing the total more than any other — certification and payments. If you license only third-party games from studios that already hold their own RNG certificates, certification is small; if you run proprietary games or an in-house RNG, independent-lab testing is unavoidable. Decide those two things early and your year-one figure stops being a range and becomes a fixed number. For the full document and eligibility checklist behind the compliance line, see the Vanuatu licence requirements.

The applicant company: a Vanuatu entity with light substance

Section 4 of the Interactive Gaming Act requires the application to be made by a company registered in Vanuatu under the Companies Act No. 25 of 2012, and the VGA asks for its physical and postal address in Vanuatu. The Act does not require on-island staff, and the file is submitted online without travel. That keeps the incorporation line modest compared with jurisdictions that expect a local office and team, and it is a large part of why Vanuatu’s total cost of ownership stays low.

The corporate structure is straightforward: the Vanuatu applicant with documented ownership, fit-and-proper UBOs and directors, and the AML/CTF and responsible-gaming policies the regulator requires. Background checks on owners and directors, source-of-funds evidence and a detailed business plan complete the file.

Payments in Vanuatu: the line most budgets get wrong

In Vanuatu the payment stack takes more money and time than the licence. Gambling is a high-risk category everywhere, and offshore gambling even more so, which is why you do not use a mainstream consumer processor. Wise, Stripe and PayPal do not serve this kind of gambling business, and building on them is the fastest way to hold a valid licence and still be unable to accept a deposit. The right setup is an EMI or neobank account, often paired with a payment-agent company incorporated in Cyprus to hold PSP relationships and handle settlement, plus crypto rails where the model calls for them.

Put the payment stack in the budget from the start. Without it, a Vanuatu licence goes live on paper only. Before you file, plan which PSPs accept Vanuatu-licensed merchants, where the Cyprus settlement layer sits and how crypto fits.

Vanuatu vs Anjouan on cost

Anjouan is the permit operators most often shortlist against Vanuatu. Side by side, Vanuatu wins on annual fee and licence term, and gives back a little on tax. The €10,000 annual fee undercuts Anjouan’s €17,828 by nearly half, and a term of up to 15 years removes the annual re-approval that Anjouan carries. The trade-off is the 1% GGR tax: Anjouan charges 0% on gaming revenue, so on a high-GGR operation that 1% eventually matters. On a modest or early-stage book, the lower fee and longer term more than cover it.

Both sit firmly among the cheapest formal licences available in 2026, and both are legitimate, recognised permits rather than grey-market setups. Which one fits comes down to your GGR profile, how much you value a long fixed term, and your banking needs — read the full Vanuatu vs Anjouan comparison for the detailed trade-off, and see where both rank in our roundup of the best gambling licences in 2026.

Budgeting Vanuatu right the first time

The Vanuatu number is two numbers: €5,000 + €10,000 for the licence, and ≈€25,000–€45,000 for the year-one business around it. That is low for a formal, recognised permit, and a term of up to 15 years means year two onward is the €10,000 anniversary fee, keeping the Vanuatu company and any Cyprus payment agent in good standing, and a light compliance retainer. A quote that lists only the government fee leaves out most of the real cost, and a provider that folds its setup work into “government fees” is concealing its own margin.

We handle the full Vanuatu file end to end and itemise every line, from the Vanuatu applicant company and the application to RNG certification and a working EMI/neobank payment stack. Want a real quote for your model rather than a headline figure? Book a free consultation or explore the Vanuatu gaming licence service.

Iryna H.

Gaming Licensing at Vantegris

Iryna H. is part of the Vantegris team, which prepares and files licence applications across 40+ jurisdictions. This article was reviewed by Vladyslav S. (Compliance & Legal).

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