How to Start an Online Casino in the UK - 7 Easy Steps

 

In no more than a year, the total market value of the online gambling industry is expected to hit at least 90 billion U.S. dollars. No wonder the field of online gambling experience providers is so vast and active - companies and entrepreneurs alike are out there to grab a good chunk of audience and profits. But one must be ready to take on the competition and be able to recognize specific market values.
The big nuance is that markets may differ greatly even regionally. This is exactly why we decided to share some expert knowledge on how to start an online casino in the UK’s market - one of the most dynamically growing online gambling markets out there.
 

Why Start an Online Casino in the UK?

Yes, acquiring a UK online casino license may be a challenging task on the agenda. The United Kingdom’s government is pretty strict and selective when it comes to legal regulations concerning gambling activities of any sort. Still, however, the challenge may be well worth the effort considering what prospects we are looking at - a flourishing market with one of the widest active user audiences to cover and convert.
There is but yet another crucial thing to consider, though. Be it a basic online casino slots website or a full-on platform that hosts multiple online casino operators in the UK - you need to have a plan, properly structure the process of creating and introducing a new solution, and take things stage-by-stage. To make your life easier, we suggest taking a look at an approach well tried-and-tested in the field by the specialists of our own company.
The best algorithm of action is to start with analysis and planning, handle the legal side of getting casino online in the UK, introduce an engaging, high-quality product to the market, and reinforce market positions with focused marketing and traffic generation. Let’s take a look at each stage in more detail.
 

How to Get Started with an Online Casino in the UK?

If you have made up your mind and decided to try and make money on online casino in the UK, here’s the best way to segment the process of entering the new market area.

Researching market

Thorough market environment research should form the basis for all further online casino establishing efforts. At this stage, you want to gather as much information as possible and outline the ultimate online casino project requirements. This should include:

• market research - studying what products there are in the local market, what common tendencies can be recognized, and how the general situation looks for your specific case and project capacities;
• competitor analysis - by inspecting the top online gambling providers in the niche, you may form a big picture of the perfect online casino as well as see what certain websites or platforms may lack that you can add to your solution in order to stand out among the crowd (features, games, extra offers, etc.);
• requirements gathering - based on the information collected during market and competitor research, major requirements as to the scope of the solution, desired features, and its general vision must be formed.

It’s important to notice that you may take two routes here - gather your own dedicated team of specialists to implement a casino website or platform OR simply hire a casino software provider to get the project done and continue supporting it on your own. Along with the requirements and defined scope of work, this decision decides the scope of the required budget. In either case, the best route to take are the following stages below. (You may also consider the idea of launching a white-label casino, which we discuss further below).

Defining a budget

Forming a budget is a very individual thing that is dictated by a number of underlying factors and specifics - from the type of collaboration with software specialists (man-house-based payments, fixed payments, time & materials, etc.) to the desired scope of features that a final product must have. One thing is for sure - an efficient introduction of a new solution to the UK’s online gambling market calls for respective investments, which isn’t a weight that can be lifted by everybody by far.
The essential thing to consider and handle at this stage is the general plan of how exactly you are to monetize your casino site or platform. With a good working plan formed in advance, you get all the chances to get more than compensated for the initial investments in the long run. This is why forming relationships with influencers and ad providers early on is also a good idea.

Also read: How to buy online casino software: features and prices

Acquire online gambling license

And now for a challenging yet necessary part of establishing an online casino in the United Kingdom. Your main takeaway here is the set of UK Gambling Commission’s (UKGC) regulations - namely, a licence for remote platform operation which enables you to run a casino-type online establishment in the first place. To acquire the licence, you must:

• Thoroughly inspect and learn all the requirements, jurisdictions, taxation policies, and other specifics of the remote platform operation licence;
• Pick the most fitting jurisdiction under which to run an online casino;
• Be prepared to register your business locally with the help of a legal entity of some sort;
• Be ready to settle all the paperwork - you may want to start gathering all the papers in advance (a certificate of no criminal record, a bank reference letter, and other types of documents may be necessary);

The UK government must make sure that your online casino’s operation is safe and that both its admins and users follow common regional rules when it comes to various gambling activities.

Enable proper payment capabilities

The aspect of online casino payment is crucial and it influences the way users perceive your casino a lot. Right off the bet, everything must be convenient and secure. This is why it is always great to integrate a casino website with multiple payment systems (for freedom of choice and utter convenience) provided by well-known brands in the field (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, Google/Apple Pay are all well tried-and-tested payment engines that people trust).
It is also essential to set up a proper currency or multiple currencies on the website. For this, you must narrow down your TA coverage by region and see whether you will be servicing people that use currencies other than US dollars, UK pounds, or EU euros. On top of that, multi-currency support is a market trendy feature that may help you attract more traffic.

Choose casino software

To offer a truly engaging, high-quality solution in the world of online gaming of the United Kingdom, you will need a sturdy software foundation. That is, you need to find a reliable casino software provider with a portfolio that includes finished products similar to what you have in mind and enough experience and expertise to deliver cost-efficient, long-term sales converting results.
Based on your budget, requirements, and scope of the software project, you may either hire one or two specialists (a programmer and a designer) or a full dedicated team. An outsourcing opportunity may fit well, too, allowing you to collaborate with a short-term software development partner (almost like renting man-hours).

Create engaging casino game

No matter whether you are working on a single exclusive casino game, a bunch of them, or a whole collection to run on an extensive platform - your games must be smoothly performing, eye-catching AND eye-pleasing, and engaging enough to retain your target users. This is usually best achieved with custom products tailored from scratch to unique brand attributes and details of your product vision.
An alternative to this stage is going for a white-label solution where you rent casino hosting and all other underlying software powers to start reaping profits off it under your own operation. White label casinos allow you to rent an online casino from a supplier that offers all of the operational and technological infrastructure needed to run the business while you focus on branding, client acquisition, and marketing.
The benefits of having a casino like this are obvious. Everything is taken care of without a hitch, from license through payment processing, customer support, operations, and speedy setup. So this may well be a fitting alternative for your case.

Do the best marketing in the UK

It is important to enter the market with a bang, so that people notice what you have in store and become eager to try it out. This is why starting to handle marketing early on can be a good idea. We’d recommend hiring a marketing specialist at the stage of budget definition. This way, he/she will have the time to “warm up the market” and stimulate enough hype among your target audience to get a good, profitable flow of initial traffic from the get-go.

Generate traffic

The rest is about growing your audience of users to convert. You can generate traffic in many ways, but everything usually revolves around direct user benefits and convenience. Thus, online casino players love to get the fastest withdrawal opportunities - you can turn this into a benefit by adopting reliable, high-performance payment engines and paying extra attention to the security of transactions and all other payment processes on the website.

Also read: Build Your Own Casino

Conclusion

Setting up a remote casino in the UK may be challenging and the whole thing certainly requires insights and some business guts to succeed. The competition is fierce and the demands are ever-growing. However, the fruit of it all is more than attractive, too. And having come over all the initial obstacles, you are looking at a long-term profitable business with boundless prospects.
If you are looking to develop, launch, and promote online casino slots in the UK - or any other format of such a product you may have in mind - we have the specialists and the expertise to deliver top-of-the-line results. Contact us to discuss a market-defining online casino project that we will help you establish in the UK market.