Costs Of Starting An Online Casino

Black21Jack

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Mar 1, 2004
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I was just wondering how all of these rogue casinos fund their startup costs. The people that start these casinos must have a considerable net worth to be able to get their operations rolling as far as licensing the software which I have read can range in the hundreds of thousaands of dollars, customer service support, hosting, merchant accounts as well as having a large sum of money to fund player payouts in the early stages before they are really bringing in a profit from the gaming. Are most of these owners big shots with large amounts of cash from other business ventures? or would they most likely work off of loans? Another question I had is what is the startup costs on getting a casino running such as RTG or Microgaming?
 
It will be offshore wedges of cash for the lesser known, non-corporate places.

There's a huge amount of offshore money looking for investments that provide a return.

(If it hits the onshore places,(UK. USA etc) it would trigger the money laundering regulations.)
 
Black21Jack said:
I was just wondering how all of these rogue casinos fund their startup costs. The people that start these casinos must have a considerable net worth to be able to get their operations rolling as far as licensing the software which I have read can range in the hundreds of thousaands of dollars, customer service support, hosting, merchant accounts as well as having a large sum of money to fund player payouts in the early stages before they are really bringing in a profit from the gaming. Are most of these owners big shots with large amounts of cash from other business ventures? or would they most likely work off of loans? Another question I had is what is the startup costs on getting a casino running such as RTG or Microgaming?

i asked that same question of someone i dealt with in the division of gaming enforcement. You know what he stated?

"if you have about 100,000 dollars you can go to antigua or south africa and open up your own online casino"

i know places such as golden palace are owned by a family "or partnership". Basically anyone can open an online casino if they have the money and it doesnt cost all that much for the basic casino from what I gather in my inquiries.

I have no idea the cost of MG or RTG though.
 
jerseyguy11 said:
I have no idea the cost of MG or RTG though.
Again some newbie questions... I'm assuming MG is "Microgaming" which from this site I gather is a fairly reputable software provider. What is RTG? "real time gaming"? Is that a company? Are they reputable company? Why the notice on the front page about the "first RTG casino" added... are they just very new or something?

Thanks...
 
natophonic said:
Again some newbie questions... I'm assuming MG is "Microgaming" which from this site I gather is a fairly reputable software provider. What is RTG? "real time gaming"? Is that a company? Are they reputable company? Why the notice on the front page about the "first RTG casino" added... are they just very new or something?

Thanks...

MG = Microgaming, RTG = RealTime Gaming - both software providers as you sussed.

Not meaning to sound like one of those holier-than-thou Newsgroup geeks Nat, i'd suggest looking back through this forum and the one below it - that will give you plenty of insight into the world of RTG and save this one going off topic :)
 
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I believe the RTG software goes for around 150K - Microgaming is a lot more expensive - like 400K
 
I highly doubt anyone with $100000 would be able to start an online casino. That money would be eaten up from the licensing cost alone. I would think you would need a bankroll in the millions to cover intial payer payments, hosting, customer service, merchant accounts etc. Anyone informed?
 
You could easily start an online casino with 100K - not an RTG or MG though. If RTG I'd say max 150 for software and at least another 150 for marketing and stuff. Hosting, support etc. is paid pr. month to one of the companies that offer stuff like that. You don't have to rent officespace and buy servers etc.
 
I am sure you can do it with much less money, I am not saying it will be a good or successful casino. The now defunct Play4treasure was run by a college student, I don't think many college students have $100000.
 
yep, when i spoke to the division of gaming, they made it clear to me that it doesnt take much money. his words were "100,000 you could start your own..." these guys know these things.

im sure MG would cost more, after all they are more strict it seems on who they license oppose to some other sotware providers.
 
GrandMaster said:
I am sure you can do it with much less money, I am not saying it will be a good or successful casino. The now defunct Play4treasure was run by a college student, I don't think many college students have $100000.

Do you recall what software they used for this casino? I went to the website and it just had a message stating they will no longer take players or conduct business, so I went to www.archive.org and looked at their website as it was when they were in business. It seemed to be a flash no download casino. Did anyone ever play there?
 
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As I recall they went out of business owing alot of people money. Do a search here for it, I remember a discussion about this place a couple of months ago.
 
I was just at Montana Overseas licensing information page Old / Expired Link and just as I figured you would need at least 750k to a million dollars in investment to get the casino up and running. Their license may be 150k but like I said you need a float to cover expenses and payer payouts. I do not know how these people start up with such low investment like 100k, I guess that is why they go T's up like that IGS operation run by the college student. The rogue RTG operators must have had a nice chunk of change to be able to start up, most likely from some other shady business dealings or illegal operation.
 
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QUOTE Do you recall what software they used for this casino? UNQUOTE

I was involved in the disgraceful Play4Treasure issue, as was the 'Meister. The provider was the Argentinian Futurebet lookalike IGS. They had other hassles with players which were equally difficult to resolve, and I have always regarded them suspiciously as a result although it has to be said that I have not seen recent complaints against them.

For those enquiring about starting an online casino, take a look at Start Casino.com - he's got a lot of basic stuff over there.
 
Black21Jack said:
I was just at Montana Overseas licensing information page Old / Expired Link and just as I figured you would need at least 750k to a million dollars in investment to get the casino up and running. Their license may be 150k but like I said you need a float to cover expenses and payer payouts. I do not know how these people start up with such low investment like 100k, I guess that is why they go T's up like that IGS operation run by the college student. The rogue RTG operators must have had a nice chunk of change to be able to start up, most likely from some other shady business dealings or illegal operation.
Not many RTG-owners came with a million dollars. They never thought of having to do payments :)
The right licensee can get the license for a lot less than 150K. Besides from the license the biggest expense is marketing - and the right licensee might not need invest that much either. If you own a sucessfull portal you could get a good start promoting it to your "own" players.
 
If you are really interested in owning something like that online you can buy "skins" which are something much like a franchise for a few thousand dollars in a poker room. Dobrosoft, the software provider for Americas Card Room, Poker World, Popular Poker, the now defunct Choice Poker as we as other small rooms willl sell you an ACR skin for around $3000, I am not sure how casinos do this type of skin or if there is such a thing. With these skins you get a cut of the rake (20% I think) and do nothing but advertise. The main room handles all the support, banking etc.
 
Gambling Fuckeration do these kinds of skins. And they suck.

Sorry to be off-topic, but I felt I had to post about this. I've had really good luck with G-Fed casinos as of late. Pulled at least a couple of hundred dollars out of Winner's Online and Vegas Paradise each.

A couple of problems with depositing through NETeller, but withdrawals back into NETeller have gone just fine.

Maybe it's just me. :thumbsup:
 
jyde said:
Gambling Fuckeration do these kinds of skins. And they suck.

I would not even bother especially if you have to pay for them. I would rather just be a free affiliate for a casino and get paid more than what they pay for those "start your own casino" programs that cost in the thousands.
 
Macgyver said:
Sorry to be off-topic, but I felt I had to post about this. I've had really good luck with G-Fed casinos as of late. Pulled at least a couple of hundred dollars out of Winner's Online and Vegas Paradise each.

A couple of problems with depositing through NETeller, but withdrawals back into NETeller have gone just fine.

Maybe it's just me. :thumbsup:

You probably will do ok at first, I did too, but then things turn around and you start hitting runs of cards that make no sense. I'd quit while I'm ahead if I were you.
 
jpm said:
You probably will do ok at first, I did too, but then things turn around and you start hitting runs of cards that make no sense.


This was exactly my experience. Remarkably "random" cards at first, felt really wierd for an online casino.

Then, the five standard deviation (almost impossible) session hit.

I've still yet to see anyone else post a corroborated result anywhere close to that in terms of staggering improbability.
 
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The videopoker played quite non-randomly as well. I remember playing multihand jokers wild and never getting anything higher than a flush. Even those were tough to get at times despite getting dealt 4 to the flush. Deuces wild was similarly tight, and forget about Jacks or Better. I've never played vp like that anywhere else.
 
And not to forget that over the years there has only been one confirmed instance of a player hitting a Royal at Gambling Fuckeration (of course lots of proud GF owners will now step in and tell that players hit Royals every day at their casino).

They also have a problem confirming their jackpot winners actually exist. Here's a fun thread from Old / Expired Link :lolup:

Edit: Made it more clear
 
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jyde said:
And not to forget that over the years there's been one confirmed instance of a player hitting a Royal at Gambling Fuckeration (of course lots of proud GF owners will now step in and tell that players hit Royals every day at their casino).
Did you mean to say not one confirmed instance or only one confirmed instance? Either one would not surprise me.
 

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