There’s no doubt that the online casino industry has been booming for the last couple of years. Revenues are rising rapidly, and the gambling industry is generating millions of dollars each year. Online-Casinos are enjoying increasing popularity, and online-casino reviews, as you can find on https://www.casinomeister.com/, are therefore gaining importance. This, of course, is motivating a growing number of business enthusiasts to join this rapidly growing market.
How Do You Start an Online-Casino?
During the recent crisis, almost every sector of the world economy has been experiencing severe cutbacks. On the other hand, online businesses – from online retail to food delivery – had a head start adapting to the new lifestyle the pandemia imposed on them. Online-casinos was no different. Thanks to the iGaming industry’s flexibility, operators were able to instantly adjust their content offerings. Even though iGaming may be a global industry, would-be operators have to narrow their focus on the audience they want to target when starting an online-casino.
Target audience
It’s essential to learn as much as possible about the target audience. What is the average gender and age of the players? What about their average salary? How much disposable income do they have? What kind of gambling activities do they prefer? Is there a cultural passion for gambling? And through what means can your target audience conduct monetary transactions such as deposits and withdrawals? Some players like to bet big, making a massive deposit every month and hitting the slots whenever they have a free moment. Other players deposit more modest amounts, like in low-income markets. Their habits will certainly affect many aspects of your online casino. Therefore, knowing the betting habits will give you a clearer picture of what kind of revenues you can expect. You’ll also get an idea of how to adjust bet settings, meet changing requirements, as well as what promotions you will be using.
Know your competitors
Analyze the weaknesses and strengths of online-casinos that are already established. What kind of game offerings and bet settings (minimum and maximum bets) do they have? Which payment systems are they using? Do they have particular players’ acquisition and retention strategies? Studying what other casinos do provide will let you see what they don’t. Having done a proper analysis of the online gambling market, you end up having a full picture of your competitors’ operations, thus being able to identify the gap in the market. There are actually two options you have to successfully set up an online-casino to fill this gap. One possible way to proceed is to independently select a team of well-trained specialists who will help to bring your ideas to life. Alternatively, you can refer to specialized B2B services that can help you in starting your online-casino.
How much do slots make?
Besides remote betting, casino games, and bingo, slot machines are the biggest money-makers for casinos all over the world, be they on the Las Vegas strip or on mobile casino apps. Even though it’s difficult to make proper estimations, one can assume that land-based slot machines generate less than online slots. One thing is certain: Individually, slot machines don’t generate that much revenue. Instead, their profitability is cumulative.
How much does it cost to start an online-casino
There are a number of things you need to consider and arrange when you are thinking about starting an online-casino. Obviously, one of the first questions that will come to your mind is how much it will cost to start one? What does an operator have to know before asking himself: Am I up for the gamble?
- Software
- Jurisdiction
- The website
- Staff for the casino
- Marketing the casino
- Paying the players
- Payment Providers
Software
The first investment for an online-casino is the gaming package, the average price being between $200,000 and $300,000. It should contain over 400 different games, which include slots and several variations of them as well as games such as roulette, baccarat, blackjack, keno, scratch cards and at least one type of poker. The software should also contain specials such as new casino bonuses and free deals. The price of this package can vary greatly, depending on the amount you agree to pay back in royalty fees. They can run anywhere between 15% – 40% of the monthly profit. Most available gaming packages require you to show that you have an excess of $300,000 to cover players who cash out their winnings.
Functionality
Since your gambling platform software needs to be functional, secure, and reliable, it would be ill-advised to save some money by using cut-rate software that just barely covers the essentials. Go for mid- to premium-quality software that grants technical support and potential for further development. The server your platform is hosted on should have high bandwidth to ensure a fast loading speed, as well as to allow for as many players as possible. Otherwise, players will bounce from your site to a competitor’s if it is not instantly responsive. Online casinos also draw an international mix of players. Keeping that in mind, your platform should be available in multiple languages.
Visual appeal
A visually appealing platform will grab your players` attention and interest. Create a brand with its own look, touch, and voice. Avoid poor visuals by using the correct image size for the banners and thumbnails. When choosing a game to play, players will be able to scan them more easily
Security
Online casinos are tempting targets for hackers and swindlers. Licensed platform services should come with anti-hacking and anti-fraud security measures. To prevent bonus abuse and other kinds of fraud, as well as underage and problem gambling, your software should secure the players` ID documents. Software providers often add two-factor verification to their security package, like sending a login code to the player’s mobile phone.
Jurisdiction
The choice of licensing jurisdiction is an important step in starting your online-casino business. In most European countries, as well as some countries in Asia, online gambling is legal. Each one of them has its own requirements and licensing process. Online-casinos are required to have a license to operate legally. Some operators try to avoid the cost of around $75,000 every year for a gaming license and the 3% tax imposed on casino profit by running an unlicensed online-casino. They are taking the risk of having to pay heavy fines.
Website
For an online-casino site to be successful and well frequented, it needs to be professionally built. An online-casino website will amount to anywhere from $3,000 or more. Since they are very complicated, it takes many hours to design a website that looks professional and responds quickly to make the gambling experience for the players an enjoyable one.
Staff
An online casino is no one-man show as you might think. For a casino site to work efficiently and smoothly, a team with 8-10 specialists is needed. Different departments have to be staffed: Finance, Anti-Fraud, Marketing, Technical, Data Analysis, and Player Support. The latter even being available 24/7 to answer customer questions. The cost of the staff can run around $250,000 per year.
Marketing
Marketing is an essential part of running an online-casino, since it will encourage players to visit your site.
Affiliate marketing
A top affiliate website that brings in high amounts of traffic can run up to $100,000 per month. Affiliates to strive for are the ones listed as ‘top affiliates.’ They are usually gambling bloggers or streamers who develop a large following and then direct their audience towards online-casino platforms. Unfortunately, top affiliates also need to be paid. It may gobble up to 50% of your online-casino’s revenues.
Bonuses
They play a big role in player acquisition and retention strategies. There are a number of different bonuses you can offer to lure your players: welcome bonuses, deposit bonuses, and reload bonuses, as well as free chips, free spins, and free bets. Bonuses should come with betting requirements (rollovers). They require the player to risk the amount of their initial deposit and bonus a certain number of times. Only then are they able to make a withdrawal. Check BC Game bonus code here.
Loyalty and VIP programs
One way to keep players coming back is to reward them for their long-time commitment. Loyalty programs offer benefits for players who spend enough time as well as money on the platform.
Tournaments
They can increase player engagement by letting players compete with each other for a prize. In slot tournaments, players usually have a limited number of money or spins.
Paying the players
For an online-casino, you have to offer a range of payment options to let the players deposit and withdraw their money. Before you even start, deploying services like VISA, MasterCard, Skrill, Paypal, Neteller, etc., can cost you up to $100,000 each.
Payment Providers
Major e-payment systems should be integrated into the online-casino to make financial transactions run smoothly. Besides credit cards, debit cards, eWallets, and mobile payments, you should also consider payment methods such as bitcoin and bank transfers. It’s essential that these transactions have utmost security. Signing multiple agreements with firms that offer extensive transaction security is therefore advisable.
Conclusion – Starting an online-casino can be daunting but also worth it
Starting an online casino business is not something you should take lightly. Make sure you know about all risks you are facing. After all, there is a serious amount of money you have to invest and the hazards of failure in the first two years until you break even are very great.
