White label vs turnkey vs custom
The three ways to get a casino live are priced very differently.
| Route | Upfront | After launch | Control |
|---|---|---|---|
| White label | A setup fee in the low five figures | 10 to 30% of your revenue for as long as you operate | Least: it runs on someone else's platform |
| Turnkey | Mid five to low six figures | A monthly licence fee | Far more than a white label |
| Custom build | A six-figure project over 3 to 6 months | No revenue share | Full: you own the code, the data and the roadmap |
The right answer depends on how long you plan to operate. For a short market test, a white label makes sense. For a business you intend to run for years, owning the platform costs less over time.
The ranges above are typical across the market. Our own white label replicas start at around $4,999 for an exchange like Diamond Exchange and $7,999 for a crypto casino like Stake or BC.Game, with a fixed quote for your scope.
The seven budget lines
Whichever route you take, the same seven lines show up in the budget:
- Licence and company: Curaçao or Anjouan cost tens of thousands a year. Malta costs far more.
- Platform: design, development and the integrations.
- Games: you do not buy games. Studios and aggregators take a percentage of gross gaming revenue on every spin.
- Payments: every deposit and withdrawal costs a percentage. Crypto is usually the cheapest rail.
- KYC and compliance: identity checks and the compliance work your licence requires.
- Running costs: player support, hosting and security.
- Marketing: for a serious launch this is the biggest line of all, often more than the platform itself.
Where one deposit goes
Follow a single deposit and the economics become clear:
- The payment provider takes its cut on the way in, and again on the way out.
- The player plays. What is left after wins are paid is gross gaming revenue (GGR).
- The game studios take their share of the GGR through the aggregator.
- Bonuses, taxes and licence fees come off next.
- What remains is yours. On a white label, the platform takes a slice of this too. On a custom build, nobody does.
What a custom build buys you
The extra money in a custom build buys you:
- a lobby designed around your numbers: registration to deposit, first session length and return rate
- a component kit, so the hundredth screen costs a fraction of the first
- your own originals, with the margin staying in-house
- new channels when you need them, such as a Telegram mini app, a sportsbook module or a second brand on the same platform
- ownership of the code, the data and the roadmap
A custom build, week by week
| Phase | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | 1 to 2 weeks | Markets, payment methods, the game list and the launch date |
| Design | 3 to 4 weeks | Lobby first |
| Build | 8 to 14 weeks | A playable version in your hands every Friday |
| Certification | 3 to 6 weeks | Lab testing, faster when the certification pack is prepared in advance |
| Soft launch | Then | Go live and scale from there |
If you need to be live sooner, a template launch takes about four weeks and you can move to a custom build later.
Five ways to spend less
These keep the budget sane without building something you will replace in a year:
- Launch in one market and get the numbers right before you add the next.
- Start with the aggregator and three originals, not thirty.
- Treat the sportsbook as a second phase, unless sports is the whole point.
- Go crypto first, then add local payment methods market by market.
- Keep the code and the player data yours. That is the one thing you cannot buy back later.
Getting a real number
For a price instead of a range, send us your markets, your payment methods and the launch date you have in mind. We reply within one business day with a scope, a timeline and a price.
