How to make a casino website: design, features, licensing
The online gambling industry has significantly increased due to the growing global population and Internet penetration. Another market driver has been the relaxation in the requirements and regulations established by countries like Singapore, Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, and Australia. According to Coherent Market Insights, the worldwide online gambling and betting market is anticipated to rise from $ 46.9 billion to $123.5 billion by 2026 , progressing at a CAGR of 11.4% over the indicated period.
The COVID-19 pandemic also affected the evolution of the online gambling business, including casinos. The coronavirus outbreak forced the majority of players to switch from traditional brick-and-mortar casinos to digital platforms. Now, with the re-opening of physical casinos, many users continue playing via their tech devices. Therefore, online casino development has promising prospects. In this article, our software experts will consider how to make a casino websites, from licensing to design and functionality.
How do you start an online casino in 5 steps?
1. Acquire a gaming license
Obtaining a gaming license is among the main requirements for a company to start an online casino. With a license, an organization is able to legally deliver gambling services, open a bank account, and cooperate with casino software providers. Furthermore, securing a gaming license enables platform operators to improve customer credibility.
Speaking of jurisdictions that permit online gambling, casino operators can get a license from the UK, Curacao, Malta, Antigua, Gibraltar, Denmark, Belgium, and other countries.
Let’s review a few popular licenses:
- Gibraltar. With the goal to obtain a license, a company has to showcase a business plan and proof of its financial stability while performing transactions through Gibraltar’s banks only. Licensees have to pay 1% of their annual revenue but no less than £85.000.
- Curacao. The cost of a gaming license generally does not exceed $150,000. The island imposes no tax on casino profit and low ongoing expenditures. The licensing process usually takes 1.5–2 months, which is rather fast. However, there are some restrictions, for instance, casino website owners have to place servers in the territory of Curacao. In addition, license holders have to pay 2% corporate taxes.
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The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC). Released under the Gambling Act 2005, the Gambling Commission is responsible for regulating commercial gambling in Great Britain. Representing one of the worldwide largest authorities to control gambling, the UKGC requires licensees to pay a fee when a casino founder submits an application. To provide online casino services, it is also necessary to pay an annual fee.
The price of a license depends on its type and other factors. Basically, the UKGC charges a fee between 15%–50% of the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) depending on its amount. In order to receive a license from this authority, businesses have to demonstrate a business plan, prove their financial solvency, and confirm no criminal conviction.
- Kahnawake. Introduced, Kahnawake Gaming Commission enables organizations to secure a license—so-called Client Provider Authorization—to open an online casino in Canada. The license charges the first annual fee of $40,000 and the annual renewal fee of $10,000. What’s more, casino website operators have to pay software inspection costs amounting to $15,000.
When choosing a license to open an online casino, it is essential to consider the countries in which it is valid, terms of cooperation, license duration, price, submission review time, and other aspects. Business owners should take into account that some countries legislate against online casino games, involving France, Poland, and the majority of the US states.
2. Turn to trusted casino software providers
To start an online casino and attract an audience, a company has to add numerous games like poker, roulette, baccarat, bingo, slots, and blackjack. There are two options to incorporate games into a casino website. The first way is to choose a provider of casino software that offers application programming interfaces (APIs) for game integration.
Popular vendors are Vivo Gaming, NetEnt, Ezugi, Pragmatic Play, Evolution Gaming, EGT Interactive, Playson, Betsoft, Digitain, and TVBET. Evolution Gaming, for instance, contains more than 40 games that are optimized in a way that users can play them on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones (iOS, Android). In order to enforce security, the system utilizes an SSL protocol.
3. Choose casino gaming content
Since the majority of users enjoy having the possibility to play different games, a company should offer a diversity of gambling content. Basically, an online casino platform should provide the most popular games like poker, roulette, and baccarat. However, to meet customer needs and expectations, it is advisable to conduct an audience analysis before building a casino website.
4. Design a casino website
When building a casino website, it is important to focus on the user interface (UI) / experience (UX) design. The design appeal has a direct impact on customer engagement and, this way, return on investment (ROI). According to Adobe, 38% of users are likely to discontinue interacting with a web solution if the layout is unattractive. SWEOR reports that the first impressions of visitors entering a website are 94% design-related.
Analysts also note that survey respondents negatively react to factors such as the lack of navigation aids, small print, inconvenient search, excessive text and pop-up advertisements. Additionally, SWEOR informs that 94% of negative feedback is associated with website design while a modern intuitive UI contributes to improved user satisfaction. Therefore, creating a user-friendly design of an online casino platform should be a top priority.
5. Build and test a casino website
Before creating an online casino, a gambling business owner has to identify the key functionality for the first product version. For this purpose, a company has to analyze the audience’s needs. Here at Arateg , for example, we can help clients develop impact maps and user personas that showcase what actions different parties—players, dealers—should be able to perform when using an online casino platform.
What’s more, our business analysts create user stories describing product features from an end-user perspective, for instance: “As a player, I want to have access to games like poker, bingo, baccarat, etc., as well as deposit and withdraw funds”.