Vanuatu Gaming Licence Requirements in 2026

A Vanuatu gaming licence requires a company registered in Vanuatu, a detailed business plan and proof of funds, plus identity documents and criminal background checks for every director and UBO. The Vanuatu gaming licence is one of the cheapest formal permits an operator can hold in 2026, at €10,000 a year with no fixed minimum capital and a term of up to 15 years. A low fee still comes with a full requirements list, and applications stall in the same place they do everywhere else: an incomplete file. One unresolved UBO document or one thin business plan is enough to push the timeline out.

This guide is the checklist we work from on our own desk. It covers what qualifies you and what you have to submit, grouped into Corporate, Compliance and Technical buckets. It follows the requirements document published by the Vanuatu Gaming Authority and the Interactive Gaming Act [Cap 261].

The three Vanuatu buckets, at a glance

The Interactive Gaming Licence is granted under the Interactive Gaming Act [Cap 261]. The Director of Customs and Inland Revenue is the regulator under section 34 of the Act, and applications are filed through VGA Limited, which operates as the Vanuatu Gaming Authority. One licence covers all forms of interactive gaming, including casino, sports betting, poker and lottery-style games. To get it, your file has to satisfy three distinct sets of requirements. Miss any one and the application does not clear, because the regulator reviews people, structure and technology together.

The rest of this guide walks each bucket in the order you should assemble it. Fees sit outside scope here; for the full budget breakdown see the Vanuatu gaming licence cost guide.

Corporate requirements in Vanuatu

The applicant is a company registered in Vanuatu. Section 4 of the Interactive Gaming Act requires the application to be made by a local company registered under the Companies Act No. 25 of 2012, and the VGA requirements document asks for the company’s full name, registration number and a physical and postal address in Vanuatu. The Act does not require on-island staff, and the file itself is submitted online.

At application, the regulator expects a complete corporate pack for the applying company:

• Corporate documents. Certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of association and other relevant corporate documents, with proof of identity for all directors and significant shareholders and an ownership chain traceable to the ultimate beneficial owners.
• Detailed business plan. Your products, target markets, projected revenues, expenses and profitability, marketing approach and the operational setup behind them. This is where the regulator forms its view of what you intend to run, and a thin plan is a common cause of follow-up questions.
• Proof of funds. Evidence of financial stability and of capital adequacy to cover operations and player liabilities, plus a letter from an accountant or lawyer setting out source of wealth. There is no fixed minimum paid-up capital, so this file is how the regulator satisfies itself you are adequately funded.

The absence of a fixed capital floor is what makes Vanuatu accessible, but funding is still scrutinised, and the proof-of-funds file takes the place of a capital test.

Vanuatu compliance requirements: due diligence and policies

This is the bucket that decides most timelines. The regulator runs checks on every director and ultimate beneficial owner, with UBOs typically defined as anyone who directly or indirectly owns or controls 25% or more of the company.

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

• pass a criminal background check;
• declare any past criminal convictions, regulatory actions or bankruptcies;
• provide verifiable source of funds, showing the money invested has a legitimate, documented origin;
• meet the Act’s fit-and-proper criteria, which continue to apply after the licence issues.

KYC file per person. For each UBO and director you submit full name, date of birth, nationality and address, identity documents and the ownership documentation that ties them to the applicant. In our practice we also prepare a CV and proof of address for each person, because one incomplete UBO file is the most common cause of delay.

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

• AML/CTF officer and policy. The VGA requires an appointed AML/CTF compliance officer and comprehensive policies under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act No. 13 of 2014, covering customer due diligence and KYC, suspicious-activity reporting and staff training. If you accept crypto, the policy must extend to virtual-asset onboarding and the FATF Travel Rule.
• Responsible-gaming policies. Self-exclusion, deposit limits, reality checks and firm controls to protect minors and vulnerable players, plus information on problem gambling.

The obligation does not end at issuance. Section 26 of the Act requires reports to the regulator on the operations under the licence, and section 24 requires written notice within 7 days of a key-person change or a reduction in financial resources. Above all, you have to run the AML programme you filed day to day, because a written policy that nobody operates leaves the licence exposed. Our primer on iGaming AML and KYC covers what an operable programme looks like in practice.

Technical requirements in Vanuatu

The third bucket is about game fairness and platform integrity. The VGA requirements document asks for a detailed IT architecture and system design, security measures against fraud and hacking, and data protection measures including encryption and secure storage. Section 19 of the Act adds that a licensee may not run a game until the regulator has approved the game, its software and its rules in writing.

If you run proprietary games, we file an RNG certificate from a recognised independent laboratory to support the section 19 approval. If you integrate from tested providers, you supply the integration agreements and rely on their certification. Either route works; uncertified games with no documented provenance are what hold an approval up.

The platform also has to mechanise the responsible-gaming controls from the compliance bucket (deposit limits, self-exclusion and underage-play blocking) rather than leaving them as paper policies. The Act prohibits internet gambling by anyone under 18.

Banking, payments and the low-barrier reality

Banking is where cost-focused operators are most often caught out. Mainstream consumer processors such as Wise, Stripe and PayPal do not serve this kind of gambling business, and a Vanuatu permit does not change that. What a formal licence does is make you bankable with the providers who do serve the sector: an EMI or neobank account for the operating flow, specialist high-risk acquirers, and crypto rails where the model is crypto-first. Where a payment agent sits in the structure, that agent is incorporated in Cyprus. Start EMI and acquirer onboarding while the licence file is being assembled, because those providers run their own review before they take on a gaming merchant.

Vanuatu gives you a formal, long-dated, cost-competitive permit with a 1% GGR tax and 0% on turnover, which puts it among the cheapest formal routes in 2026. It does not give you access to regulated markets you are not separately licensed in, and you still geo-block sanctioned and FATF-listed territories. If your priority is the fastest issuance or a zero-gaming-tax headline, weigh the trade-offs in our Vanuatu vs Anjouan gaming licence comparison, which sets the two side by side on fee, term, tax and timeline.

Assembling the Vanuatu file in the right order

Work in this order to avoid rework. Register the Vanuatu applicant company and confirm its ownership chain first, then assemble every UBO/KYC and source-of-funds file in parallel. Build the business plan and proof-of-funds pack against the actual operating model, draft the AML/CTF and responsible-gaming policies to match, and finalise the technical documentation and game certification before submission. Gaps such as a missing source-of-wealth letter, an uncertified game or a business plan that does not match the policies are what stretch the timeline.

The file can be assembled without visiting the islands or depositing a fixed minimum capital, but it has to be complete and internally consistent across all three buckets. For the fuller picture of how the licence works alongside these requirements, including scope, term, tax and market limits, read our flagship Vanuatu gaming licence guide.

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

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.