Budget intelligence

iGaming operator budgets

What iGaming operators plan to spend, and on what: cost shares by category, read from the business plans filed with Curaçao licence applications.

304 companies · 1,192 documents read · 291 linked operator pages · updated Oct 22, 2026

Block 01

Budget breakdown by category

Every category with its median share where budgeted, the plans that budget it, the middle half of those plans, the average share across all plans and the cost lines most often printed under it.

Business model

Budget period

Category	Median share where budgeted	Plans budgeting it	p25–p75	Average share (all plans)	Example cost lines
Marketing & acquisition	32.3%	141 of 149	11.3%–44.6%	28.4%	Marketing Advertising costs Marketing Expenses
Salaries & personnel	23.5%	108 of 149	11.2%–29.8%	17.2%	Salary Additional staff costs Training/Team Expenses
Bonuses & promotions	21.0%	23 of 149	16.7%–27.8%	3.3%	Bonuses
Gaming content	15.7%	57 of 149	12.1%–27.6%	9.1%	Aggregator Royalties Royalty Fees
Platform & technology	14.5%	110 of 149	8.2%–28.8%	16.5%	Hosting Office equipment maintenance IT Services
Licensing & legal	7.7%	102 of 149	2.3%–11.3%	6.0%	Professional Fees Accounting Legal support
Payments	7.4%	79 of 149	1.9%–15.9%	5.4%	Bank Fees Banking fees Bank services
Customer support & operations	3.9%	114 of 149	1.7%–8.2%	4.8%	Office rent Office Expenses Telecommunication Expenses
Compliance & risk	0.9%	27 of 149	0.4%–2.9%	0.5%	Compliance & Audit System Review System Audit
Other / unclassified	5.0%	124 of 149	2.3%–16.8%	8.9%	Depreciation Other expenses Business Relation Other Costs

Figures are aggregated from 149 analysed business plans and reflect the cost structure stated in those documents. Last updated Oct 22, 2026.

Budget shares by business model and period

What each selection of the table above shows, in figures: the categories most plans budget, by median share where budgeted.

All business models, Year 1

Of 149 plans, the largest median share where budgeted goes to marketing & acquisition, 32.3%, followed by salaries & personnel at 23.5% and platform & technology at 14.5%.

Online casino, Year 1

Across 41 plans the order is the same as for all business models: marketing & acquisition at 36.3%, salaries & personnel at 23.6% and platform & technology at 13.4%. Compared with all business models, the median share of payments is higher: 11.7% against 7.4%.

Casino & sportsbook, Year 1

Across 50 plans the order is the same as for all business models: marketing & acquisition at 41.6%, salaries & personnel at 24.0% and platform & technology at 11.5%. Across all business models the median share of marketing & acquisition is 32.3%.

All business models, Years 1–3

Of 131 plans, the largest median share where budgeted goes to marketing & acquisition, 31.8%, followed by platform & technology at 20.5% and salaries & personnel at 16.7%. In Year 1 the median share of salaries & personnel is 23.5%.

Online casino, Years 1–3

Of 38 plans, the largest median share where budgeted goes to marketing & acquisition, 35.7%, followed by salaries & personnel at 21.0% and gaming content at 15.2%. Compared with all business models, the median share of platform & technology is lower: 14.6% against 20.5%.

Casino & sportsbook, Years 1–3

Of 35 plans, the largest median share where budgeted goes to marketing & acquisition, 37.2%, followed by payments at 15.3% and platform & technology at 10.2%. Across all business models the median share of platform & technology is 20.5%.

Methodology

The source is the business plans that companies filed with their applications for a Curaçao gaming licence. A plan is a statement of intent written for the regulator, not audited accounts: it shows what a company planned to spend. Only plans that say they run an online casino or a sportsbook enter the market figures; game studios, other B2B companies and plans that name no business model are left out of them, and their own pages still show their plans.
Cost lines are transcribed as printed, label and amount, and every amount is checked against the text of the page it is printed on, in the unit the page states. Totals, shares, medians and conversions are computed by us from those amounts. Not published: transcriptions we are not confident in, plans that name another licensed company but not this one, and cost tables whose main line is the players’ winnings rather than the operator’s costs.
The breakdowns keep a pre-launch budget, Year 1 and Years 1–3 apart and never add them together. Year 1 is the first full twelve-month year of the plan’s forecast; columns of actual results are left out.
Each company counts once, with the latest plan it filed. Plans of different companies with the same figures – a consultant’s template – count once. Plans a consultant built on the same model but with each company’s own figures count separately: about a quarter of the first-year sample shares one such model. A plan whose total budget is under $500,000 (converted at the ECB annual average rate) is left out of the market figures; its operator page still shows it.
Each cost line goes to one of ten categories. Other / unclassified holds lines that name several categories at once and the part of a printed total that no line explains.
The headline figure is the median share where budgeted: the median over the plans that have the category, shown with how many plans that is. A plan without a marketing line has not said it spends nothing on marketing, so the bars do not add up to 100%. The average share counts such a plan as 0 and is given in the details and the table. Shares do not depend on currency.
Where a plan prints a total, that total is used, and the part of it no cost line explains is shown as Other / unclassified. Where a plan prints no total, or its lines add up to more than it, the total is the sum of the lines, and the operator page says so.
Amounts are shown in the plan’s own currency, and a plan that states no currency contributes shares only.
A year with few plans is marked as a limited sample. A selection below the publishing threshold shows “Insufficient data” in place of figures.

Questions about iGaming operator budgets

What share of an iGaming operator’s budget goes to marketing?

In Year 1, 141 of 149 business plans budget marketing and acquisition. The median share among them is 32.3%, and the middle half of those plans puts 11.3%–44.6% of the budget into it.

What do iGaming operators budget for before launch?

Of the 6 plans that print a separate pre-launch budget, 6 include platform & technology, with a median share of 34.6%, and 3 include marketing & acquisition, with 33.3%.

How much of an iGaming budget goes to licensing and legal costs?

In Year 1 the median share of licensing and legal costs is 7.7%, across the 102 of 149 plans that budget them. Over the first three years it is 3.3%.

Where do these budget figures come from?

From the business plans that 304 companies filed with their applications for a Curaçao gaming licence: 1,192 documents read. A plan states what a company intended to spend; it is not audited accounts.

Can I see one operator’s planned budget?

Yes, for 291 operators. Their pages show the total budget from their own plan and its five largest categories.