Georgian gambling businesses look at foreign licences for three recurring reasons: to operate on markets outside Georgia, to place a holding company above a Georgian operator, and to satisfy commercial counterparties — banks, payment processors and game suppliers — that insist on a licence from a recognised regulator. A gambling licence, however, is always a jurisdiction-specific instrument: it authorises only what its own issuing law allows, within the territory and the market that law defines. Comparing jurisdictions is therefore not a search for the cheapest seal, but a match between a verified regime and a concrete business model — followed, separately, by the question of what Georgian law requires from the Georgian person standing behind the structure. This guide compares the regimes we have verified against official sources, marks what is restricted, ended or unverifiable, and names the Georgian statutory layer that applies regardless of which licence is chosen.
Live Regimes Verified From Official Sources
The regimes below were verified at dossier time against the regulators' own pages and registers. For each of them, licence categories, procedures and current fees must still be confirmed directly with the regulator before any application is filed — this guide deliberately carries no fee or deadline figures where no verified number exists.
- Malta. The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) issues B2C Gaming Service licences and B2B Critical Gaming Supply licences under the Gaming Act (Cap. 583, 2018) regime. Official source: mga.org.mt.
- Isle of Man. The Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) licenses operators under the Online Gambling Regulation Act 2001 (OGRA 2001), with a Full licence and a Sub-licence structure, and publishes a register of licensees. Official sources: gov.im, isleofmangsc.com.
- Gibraltar. The Gambling Act 2025 entered into force on 1 April 2026 (Notice of Commencement 2026/064), repealing the 2005 Act: existing licensees are deemed licensed under the new law, and the widened scope — B2C (managed or controlled in or from Gibraltar), B2B, regulated individuals and holders of more than a 25% share — was given a six-month transition window to obtain a licence. The Licensing Authority is the Minister; day-to-day supervision belongs to the Gambling Commissioner. Official sources: gamblingdivision.gov.gi, gibraltarlaws.gov.gi.
- Kahnawake. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission publishes its permit holders and administers an Interactive Gaming Licence (IGL), a Client Provider Authorisation (CPA) and a Key Person Licence (KPL). Official source: gamingcommission.ca.
- Curaçao. After the Gaming Control Board was rebranded as the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA), the new national ordinance (LOK) entered into force on 24.12.2024, replacing the old offshore regime and moving to direct licensing through the CGA portal. Our dedicated Curaçao page covers the reform in detail.
Restricted, Ended or Unverifiable Regimes
Not every jurisdiction that appears in agent presentations is actually open for business. Four entries in comparative tables deserve an explicit status line rather than a price list.
- Belize. An official moratorium on new online gambling licences has been in force since 23 May 2024 and was reconfirmed in June 2025 — new online licences are not currently available. Sources: pressoffice.gov.bz, invest.gov.bz.
- Philippines. PAGCOR's offshore regime was abolished by Executive Order No. 74 of 05.11.2024: the internet-gaming licence category ended, operations were to cease by 31.12.2024, and the remaining licences were cancelled in December 2024. The regime has ended.
- Vanuatu. Land-based gambling falls under the Gaming Control Act [CAP 172], administered through the Customs and Inland Revenue department; interactive-gaming legislation commenced on 31.05.2000. A 2024 reform is reported in trade sources but was not verified from official material — treat as partial.
- Panama. The Junta de Control de Juegos operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance pursuant to Law 2/1998; the licence taxonomy and fees could not be verified from official sources — partial.
Anjouan (Comoros) deserves its own warning: marketing sites actively sell licences there, but the regime could not be verified against any official government source — our Anjouan page treats it as a verification-risk case rather than a licensing option.
The Georgian Cross-Border Layer: a Licence Is Not a Permit
Whichever jurisdiction is chosen, Georgian law adds a layer that no foreign licence removes. Under article 5, part 1 of the Law of Georgia on gambling, organising games and supplying them into Georgia requires a Georgian permit, and under article 11, part 2 that permit is issued only to an entrepreneur registered in Georgia. The consequence is structural: a foreign licence never substitutes the Georgian permit, and what must be identified first is the Georgian person or entity standing behind the structure. The tax layer follows the same logic. Under article 80, part 7 of the Georgian Tax Code, the income-tax object of an individual organiser of a slots hall or of system-electronic gambling is the margin — stakes received minus winnings paid; article 81 sets the rates, including the 5% line for excess income under a supply permit; article 8 governs player winnings and the offset of losses; and article 171(b) keeps gambling services VAT-exempt, subject to the carve-out in article 172(4)«ს». For an individual player on a foreign platform, the Tax Code frames a declaration duty — our player-taxation page sets out the detail.
The reporting and anti-money-laundering layer runs in parallel. Where a Georgian entity sits anywhere in the chain, the Georgian AML law (articles 3, 11 and 12) imposes obliged-entity duties; article 29(b) of the gambling law requires registration of winnings with reporting to the Financial Monitoring Service; and system-electronic supply into Georgia must be integrated with the state control system under the selected-person regime of article 36-1. On the civil side, articles 951 and 952 of the Georgian Civil Code provide that claims arising from games and wagers exist only where the game is state-permitted — disputes on unlicensed foreign platforms carry a no-claim risk that our disputes page analyses in detail.
How to Compare Jurisdictions Without Buying Marketing Claims
A comparative decision is only as good as its sources, and gambling licensing attracts exactly the intermediaries who blur them. Four habits keep the comparison honest.
- Check the regulator's own register — the Kahnawake commission publishes its permit holders, the CGA maintains a licence register, the GSC lists its licensees; a licence that cannot be found in the register does not exist.
- Treat fee schedules published on agents' and intermediaries' sites as unverified until the regulator confirms them in writing.
- Date every fact: regimes move — Belize closed its online market, the Philippine offshore regime ended, Gibraltar replaced its statute outright in 2026; a comparative table older than the change is a liability, not a convenience.
- Ask the Georgian question before the foreign one — who is the Georgian person behind the structure, and what do articles 5 and 11 mean for that person's plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions below come up in nearly every comparative consultation we run.
Does a foreign gambling licence allow accepting players from Georgia?
No. Under article 5, part 1 of the Law of Georgia on gambling, organising and supplying games into Georgia requires a Georgian permit, and under article 11, part 2 that permit is issued only to an entrepreneur registered in Georgia. A foreign licence does not widen this scope: it governs the foreign market it was issued for.
Which foreign licences are realistically open right now?
From the regimes verified here: Malta (MGA B2C and B2B licences), the Isle of Man (GSC, under OGRA 2001), Gibraltar (the Gambling Act 2025 regime, in force since 1 April 2026), Kahnawake, and Curaçao under the LOK. Belize is closed by moratorium and the Philippine offshore regime has ended. Current fees and deadlines for each must be confirmed with the regulator.
An agent offers a licence list with guaranteed timelines. Is it reliable?
Not as such. Fee and deadline figures circulating in agent materials are not official until the regulator confirms them, and several jurisdictions sold in such lists are restricted or unverifiable — Anjouan being the clearest current example. Verification against the regulator's own register is the only reliable test, and it costs nothing.
What does the Georgian side require if I proceed with a foreign licence?
It depends on the role: a permit under articles 5 and 11 for any organising or supplying into Georgia; margin taxation under Tax Code article 80, part 7 with the article 81 rates for an individual organiser; the player-side rules of article 8; AML duties under articles 3, 11 and 12 of the AML law where a Georgian entity is in the chain; and awareness of the Civil Code articles 951 and 952 limits on claims from games and wagers.
How We Help on Legal.ge
Legal.ge runs the full comparison for a Georgian client: we verify each candidate regime against the regulator's own materials, check moratoria and ended regimes, map the licence to your business model, and then assemble the Georgian layer — permit structuring under articles 5 and 11, tax characterisation, AML duties and the civil-risk briefing. The result is a decision file in which every foreign fact carries its official source and every Georgian requirement carries its article. Contact us to start with the jurisdictions that actually fit your task, not the ones that advertise hardest.