Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
The reference
Market Profiles
Every profile answers the same four questions in the same order: what may be offered to local customers, who issues the licence, how an operator obtains one, and what the tax is levied on. The status table at the top of each page is the short answer; the text below it is why.
Licensing is national, and almost nothing transfers across a border. A licence held in one country authorises nothing in the next, products permitted in one are prohibited in another, and two markets with identical headline tax rates can produce completely different businesses depending on what the rate is applied to.
The profiles below are grouped by region because regional patterns are real: the European licence-per-country model, the American state-by-state structure, the Latin American move from unlicensed to licensed, and the Asian and Oceanian split between permitted betting and prohibited casino.
Europe
22 jurisdictions on file
The most densely regulated region in the industry, and the one where the licence-per-country model was established. Nearly every market listed here has moved from a monopoly or an unlicensed phase to a national licensing regime, and most now tax gross gaming revenue rather than turnover.
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casinoTied to land-based sports betting
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casinoState monopoly sports betting
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, with online table games excluded
Germany
Europe's largest economy licenses online slots and poker but not online table games, and taxes stakes rather than revenue.
Partly restricted online casinoLicensed sports betting
Selective licensing, hub jurisdiction
Gibraltar
The original base of the British online betting industry, still an operational hub for several large groups.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, two licence types
Greece
A market that replaced a long transitional arrangement with seven-year licences in 2020.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, phased by category
Ireland
A market moving from almost no online regulation to a full licensing regime under an authority created in 2024.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, hub jurisdiction
Isle of Man
A Crown Dependency used as a licensing and hosting base, particularly by platform and network businesses.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Concession awarded by public tender
Italy
A large licensed market entered only through periodic concession tenders, and closed to advertising since 2018.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, B2C and B2B
Malta
A small domestic market whose importance lies in being the industry's main licensing and employment hub.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing
Netherlands
A licensed market since October 2021, now one of the most advertising-restricted in Europe.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Monopoly, actively enforced
Norway
A monopoly defended with payment blocking and DNS blocking rather than left nominally in force.
State monopoly online casinoState monopoly sports betting
Betting permits only; online casino reserved to the state
Poland
Online betting is permitted to commercial operators; online casino belongs to a single state operator.
State monopoly online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing per vertical
Portugal
A licensed market whose split tax base, stakes for betting and revenue for casino, shapes its product mix.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, with affiliates licensed separately
Romania
One of the few markets that licenses affiliates and payment providers, not only operators and suppliers.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing, two tiers
Spain
A licensed market with a general and singular licence structure and severe limits on advertising and bonuses.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Open licensing
Sweden
A licensed market built around a single national self-exclusion register and a one-bonus rule.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Online casino limited to land-based concession holders
Switzerland
Online casino is lawful only as an extension of a Swiss land-based casino concession, and foreign sites are blocked.
Tied to land-based online casinoState monopoly sports betting
Open licensing, point of consumption
United Kingdom
The largest regulated online market in Europe, and the one whose licence conditions are most often used as a benchmark.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
North America
5 jurisdictions on file
Regulation is set state by state and province by province rather than nationally, so an operator deals with a separate regulator, a separate tax rate and a separate licence for each jurisdiction it enters. Online casino is legal in far fewer places than online sports betting.
Licences for commercial and tribal operators under one framework
Michigan
The state that brought commercial and tribal online operators into a single licensing structure.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Interactive gaming licence, poker only
Nevada
The oldest major gaming jurisdiction, with a long sports betting history but no online casino.
Prohibited online casinoLicensed sports betting
Online permit held through an Atlantic City casino licensee
New Jersey
The state that established the American online casino model, live since November 2013.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Registration with a provincial conduct-and-manage entity
Ontario
The first competitive regulated online market in Canada, open since April 2022 and the largest in North America for casino play.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Interactive gaming certificate held by a land-based licensee
Pennsylvania
A large American online casino market, and the one with the heaviest tax on online slot revenue.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Latin America
5 jurisdictions on file
The region where most of the industry's recent licensing work has been concentrated. Several countries ran large unlicensed online sectors for years and have since written framework legislation, with Brazil the largest of them.
Provincial licensing, applied for separately in each jurisdiction
Argentina
There is no national licence: each province and the City of Buenos Aires regulate separately.
Partly restricted online casinoPartly restricted sports betting
Authorisation per operator, limited brands per authorisation
Brazil
The largest market to move from unlicensed to licensed in recent years, with betting and casino under one authorisation.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Concession to operate a state monopoly activity
Colombia
The first Latin American country to licence online gambling nationally, and the regional template.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Online activity authorised as an annex to a land-based permit
Mexico
A large market with no modern online statute: operators work through holders of permits issued under 1947 legislation.
Partly restricted online casinoPartly restricted sports betting
Authorisation by the gaming directorate
Peru
A quick, comparatively low-cost licensing regime that became a common first step into the region.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Africa
3 jurisdictions on file
Licensing exists in most of the larger economies but is fragmented, and in several countries it is split between national and state or provincial boards. Mobile money rather than card payment is the defining feature of the region's betting products.
National licensing of bookmakers and gaming
Kenya
One of Africa's most active mobile betting markets, and one of its most fiscally unstable.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
State licensing, following litigation over federal competence
Nigeria
Africa's largest population, with gaming regulation now settled as a state rather than federal competence.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Provincial licensing for betting; online casino unlawful
South Africa
Online betting is licensed province by province; online casino games remain unlawful.
Prohibited online casinoLicensed sports betting
Asia
1 jurisdictions on file
Domestic online gambling is prohibited across most of the region, and the licensing that does exist is often aimed at operators serving players elsewhere. Land-based casino resorts, not online licences, are where most regulated activity sits.
State regulator that also operates casinos
Philippines
A domestic licensed market overseen by a body that is both regulator and casino operator, with offshore licensing shut down.
Licensed online casinoLicensed sports betting
Oceania
2 jurisdictions on file
Online sports and race betting is licensed and heavily advertised, while online casino is prohibited for domestic customers. Both of the markets listed here regulate advertising and inducements more tightly than they regulate the products themselves.
State and territory licensing for wagering; online casino prohibited federally
Australia
Heavy online wagering activity, no legal online casino, and advertising rules that keep tightening.
Prohibited online casinoLicensed sports betting
Capped number of online casino licences, awarded by auction
New Zealand
A small market introducing its first online casino licences, with betting still reserved to the domestic agency.
Licensed online casinoState monopoly sports betting