Decision guide // Anjouan vs Costa Rica
Anjouan vs Costa Rica Gaming License
One of these is the cheapest real licence on the market. The other is not a licence at all. Here is the honest difference.
Head to head // and they are not the same category
| AnjouanThe cheapest real licence | Costa RicaNot a licence at all | |
|---|---|---|
| What you actually get | A real, issued gaming licence, bottom-tier but genuine, with a regulator and a public register. | Not a gaming licence. A local company plus a municipal data-processing permit. No gaming regulator exists. |
| First-year cost | €27.5k to €48k (€17,828/yr all-inclusive licence). | ~US$5,000 to US$15,000 for company plus the data-processing permit. No licence fee, because no licence. |
| Time to live | 2 to 4 weeks from a complete file. | ~3 weeks for the company, days for the permit. Fast, but you are not getting a licence. |
| Regulator & supervision | Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority / ALSI. Contested, but a real licensing authority. | None. Online gambling is unregulated and merely tolerated, provided you do not serve locals. |
| Banking & card acquiring | Hard. Most operators run crypto-first. | Harder. With no recognised licence, most acquirers will not underwrite you, so card processing is largely unavailable. |
| Player trust & credibility | Low, and the licence is scam-associated, but it is at least a licence a player can look up. | Lowest. There is no licence to show, only a company registration. |
| Tax | 0% on gaming revenue, corporate income, and VAT. | 0% on foreign-sourced revenue (territorial tax system). |
| Best for | The cheapest genuine licence for a fast launch in tolerant, non-Tier-1 markets. | A low-cost support or BPO base alongside a real licence held in another jurisdiction. |
The first row is the one that matters most. Anjouan is a licence. Costa Rica is not. Everything else, cost, speed, banking, follows from that. The full reality of each is in the Anjouan guide and is a Costa Rica gaming licence real.
The verdict // which one for you
Anjouan wins for you if
- You need an actual, recognisable licence, cheap and fast.
- You want a regulator and a public register behind you, even a bottom-tier one.
- You can run crypto-first and your markets tolerate an offshore licence.
- You want the genuinely cheapest real licensing route.
Costa Rica fits only if
- You already hold a real licence elsewhere and want a tax-efficient support base.
- You only need non-regulated functions in Costa Rica: support, back-office, data processing.
- Your payments and player contracts run through your licensed entity abroad.
- You understand you are buying a company and a server permit, not a licence.
If banking is your worry on either, the better answer is usually a more credible licence: see Nevis vs Anjouan and which gaming licence actually gets you banked.
Find the licence that actually fits your case
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Start the free fit checkCommon questions
Is Anjouan or Costa Rica a real gaming licence?
Anjouan is a real, issued gaming licence, bottom-tier and with a contested legal basis, but genuine, with a regulator and a public register. Costa Rica is not a gaming licence at all: there is no gaming regulator, and what is sold as one is a local company plus a municipal data-processing permit. If you want an actual licence, Anjouan is the one of the two that exists.
Which is cheaper, Anjouan or Costa Rica?
Costa Rica looks cheaper on paper, roughly US$5,000 to US$15,000 to set up a company and the data-processing permit, because there is no licence fee. Anjouan's all-inclusive licence is around €17,828 a year, with a year-one total of roughly €27,500 to €48,000. But the Costa Rica saving buys you no recognised licence, which is why it is usually a false economy on its own.
Which is better for payment processing?
Anjouan, narrowly, and only because it is at least a real licence. Both are hard to bank. Costa Rica is the hardest of all, because with no recognised gaming licence most acquiring banks will not underwrite you and card processing is largely unavailable. Neither is easy; Anjouan at least gives you a licence to show a processor.
When does Costa Rica make sense over Anjouan?
Only as a support base, not as your licence. Serious operators hold a real licence (Anjouan, Nevis, Curacao or a tier-1) and run non-regulated functions through a low-cost Costa Rican company under Law 9050. As a replacement for a licence, Costa Rica does not work; as a complement to one, it can.
So which should I choose?
If you need a real licence cheaply and fast, choose Anjouan, and read its honest catch first. If you already hold a licence and want a tax-efficient operational base, a Costa Rica company can sit alongside it. Do not buy Costa Rica believing it is your gaming licence, because it is not.
Sources & verification
Verified 9 June 2026. Anjouan figures from the Meridian Anjouan guide and the official regulator; its contested basis from the 2024 FATF Mutual Evaluation of the Comoros. Costa Rica facts cross-checked across multiple named-industry and legal sources, consistent that there is no Costa Rica gaming licence and that card acquiring is limited without a recognised one. Figures vary across sources; confirm directly. This page is positioning and qualification content, not legal advice.