Curacao alternative: Georgia issues gambling licenses for foreign traffic

The Georgian authorities have decided to challenge Curacao and other offshore jurisdictions by launching a simplified licensing scheme for online casinos and bookmakers. Licenses will be issued for a 5-year period for reasonable money, but with one condition — operations are restricted exclusively to a foreign audience. 

What is on offer

The state aims to attract foreign investment, so the conditions for international operators have been made as attractive as possible. 

• Cost. The license will cost 100,000 lari per year — which is about $37,800. For comparison, a standard Georgian online license costs nearly $1.8 million per year, but it allows working with the local market.

• Taxes. The tax on Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) will be just 5%, while regular casinos give away 20%.

• Processing time. Documents are prepared in 20 days. For an additional fee, the process can be expedited to 5-10 days. 

• Rules. One license per website. Previously, several domains could be launched under a single license, but this loophole has now been closed. 

While Curacao is tightening the screws and introducing LOK licenses, Georgia has quickly adapted and wants to offer operators a simplified framework. For media buyers, this opens up interesting prospects:

• New brands will enter the market and actively buy up traffic.

• An increase in CPA rates is expected — new players always offer higher payouts to compete aggressively.

• A Georgian legal entity is not a toxic offshore jurisdiction for banks, so merchant acquiring will work seamlessly, and deposit conversion rates will increase simply because payments will stop failing.

The launch of new licenses in Georgia will inevitably trigger a mass migration of gambling brands to this jurisdiction. For webmasters and affiliate marketers, this is a signal to closely monitor listing updates in affiliate networks. Those who are the first to enter new products and deliver traffic volumes will be able to secure exclusive conditions from advertisers and squeeze maximum profit out of fresh offers.