To start a sportsbook, you choose the market first, secure the license that market requires, decide how much of the platform you will own (white label, turnkey, custom or a hybrid), connect odds feeds, trading and risk tools, payments and KYC, and then budget for the reserves, compliance and marketing that come after launch. Whether you call it a sportsbook, a betting company or a sports betting business, the order matters: the market and license decide which platform, providers and payment methods you can use, not the other way round.
This guide is for founders, operators and investors planning a sportsbook, and for casino operators adding sports betting. It walks through each decision in the order you will face it and ends with a launch checklist.
How to start a sportsbook or betting company: the short answer
- Pick the market. Decide which countries or states you will accept players from. This decides almost everything else.
- Get the license. Apply for the operator license that market requires, or partner with a license holder where market access is restricted.
- Choose the operating model. White label, turnkey, custom build or a hybrid, plus whether you trade odds in-house or use managed trading.
- Design the stack. Player accounts and wallet, sportsbook engine, odds and data feed, trading and risk, payments, KYC, responsible gambling and reporting.
- Select providers. Odds feed, trading, payment and KYC providers that are accepted in your market.
- Budget and plan the timeline. Separate one-time, recurring and variable costs, and hold reserves for payouts.
- Test, certify and go live. System testing where the regulator requires it, feed integration review, load tests for peak events, then a controlled launch.
- Run and grow. Trading and risk, payments and support, compliance reporting, retention and new products.
The rest of this guide covers each step in detail.
How a sports betting business makes money
A sportsbook earns a margin built into the odds rather than a commission. When both sides of a market are priced at -110 (decimal 1.91), the implied probabilities add up to 104.76%. That extra 4.76% is the overround. If the book takes equal money on both sides, it collects $220 for every $210 it pays out, a theoretical hold of about 4.55% of the amount staked.
Three numbers describe a betting business:
- Handle (turnover): the total amount wagered.
- Gross gaming revenue (GGR): handle minus winnings paid out.
- Hold: GGR as a percentage of handle.
For scale, US commercial sportsbooks took $166.94 billion in handle in 2025 and reported $16.96 billion in revenue, according to the American Gaming Association. That is an implied hold of about 10%. Multi-leg products such as parlays and bet builders carry a higher built-in margin than single bets, because the margin compounds across legs. Actual hold also depends on results, so it moves from month to month.
What this means for a new betting company:
- Margins are thin relative to turnover. Costs charged on turnover, such as some data feeds and payment fees, weigh more heavily than costs charged on GGR.
- Revenue is volatile. A weekend where favorites keep winning can erase weeks of margin, so you need cash reserves, not only a marketing budget.
- Taxes differ widely by market. Some are charged on GGR, some on stakes. In the UK, for example, a new 25% remote betting rate applies to remote betting profits from April 1, 2027 (HM Government). Model tax per market from the source, not from an industry average.
Step 1: Choose the market, then the license
Is it legal to start a sportsbook? Yes, where you hold the license your market requires. Operating without one is not a gray area: it exposes the business to enforcement, and payment providers and B2B suppliers typically check your license before they sign.
Start with where your players are. A license authorizes you to serve the markets it covers and nothing more. An offshore license does not make it lawful to accept players from a country or US state that requires its own local license.
| Market | Regulator | How licensing works | What it means for the platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curaçao | Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) | Direct B2C operator licenses and separate B2B supplier licenses under the LOK. Sub-licenses from a platform provider are no longer available. | KYC, AML and responsible gambling controls, reporting to the CGA |
| Malta | Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) | Fixed-odds betting, including live betting, is a Type 2 game under the B2C gaming service license. | System documentation and audit, player fund protection, EU AML rules |
| United Kingdom | Gambling Commission (UKGC) | Remote betting operating license, with higher remote gambling duties from 2026 and 2027. | Strict safer gambling, customer interaction and reporting requirements |
| United States | State regulators | Legal only where a state has authorized it. Many states tie online licenses to existing casinos, tribes or a limited number of operators. | Geolocation inside state lines, state approval of suppliers and systems |
| Ontario, Canada | AGCO and iGaming Ontario | Operators register with the AGCO and sign an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Suppliers also register. | AGCO technical and responsible gambling standards, data reporting to iGaming Ontario |
| Africa | National, provincial or state regulators | Rules differ by country and sometimes within one: provincial boards in South Africa, state regulators in Nigeria since 2024. | Mobile money payments, low-bandwidth mobile frontends, local tax handling |
| Brazil | Ministry of Finance (SPA/MF) | Not a launch market: fixed-odds betting and online casinos have been prohibited nationwide since September 2026. | Exit, data retention and migration planning rather than entry |
Recent changes and license costs
Curaçao moved to direct licensing. Under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK), the old master license and sub-license system has been abolished, so new operators need their own license. The Curaçao Gaming Authority’s published fee schedule sets a €4,592 application fee and €47,450 a year in license and supervisory fees for a B2C license.
Malta charges fixed fees plus a tax on revenue. A B2C license costs €5,000 to apply for and €25,000 a year, plus 5% gaming tax on gaming revenue and a compliance contribution, according to the MGA.
The UK is raising remote gambling duties. Remote Gaming Duty rose to 40% from April 1, 2026, and a 25% remote betting rate applies from April 1, 2027, excluding bets on UK horseracing, as set out in the government’s duty changes.
Brazil closed its regulated market. Provisional Measure 1.394/2026 prohibits fixed-odds betting and online casinos nationwide. Congress is reviewing the measure, and amendments that would bring sports betting back under stricter rules have been filed, so check its status before any planning.
The license fee is rarely the largest number in the plan. What matters more is what the license lets you do: which payment providers will work with you, which odds and casino suppliers can serve you, where you must host data and what you must report. Choose the license with those constraints in front of you. If you are targeting African markets, our sportsbook and casino platform for Africa is built around mobile money and low-bandwidth mobile use.
Can you run a sportsbook under someone else’s license? Less often than before. In Curaçao, sub-licenses no longer exist under the LOK. In markets that still allow it, a white-label arrangement usually means the license holder, not you, is responsible to the regulator for the brand. Confirm that the structure is permitted in every market you target before you build a business plan around it.
Step 2: Choose your operating model
The operating model decides how fast you launch, how much you pay over time and what you own when you want to change course.
| Model | What you get | What you own | Main trade-off | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White label | A branded sportsbook on the provider’s platform. Where allowed, the provider holds the license and runs the platform, odds and often trading. | Your brand, marketing and player relationships; usually not the platform or full data access | Fastest route, but ongoing revenue share and little control over product and data | Testing a market; media or affiliate brands with an audience |
| Turnkey | A complete platform licensed to you, operated under your own license and merchant accounts | The business, license and operations; the software stays the vendor’s | Fast with more control, but recurring platform fees, often a share of GGR or turnover with a monthly minimum | Operators who want to run their own business on proven software |
| Custom build | A platform engineered for you | Code, data, roadmap and integrations | Longest route and highest upfront cost; you also own maintenance | Operators with a differentiated product or a long horizon |
| Hybrid | Your own player accounts, wallet, frontend and CRM, connected through APIs to a licensed sportsbook engine, odds feed or managed trading service | The platform core and player data; you rent the betting engine or trading | Faster than a full custom build while keeping player data and the ability to swap providers | Operators who want ownership without building an odds engine |
Separately from the platform, decide who trades. You can hire an in-house trading team, use your sportsbook provider’s managed trading service, or mix the two, with the provider setting prices and your team setting limits for your customers. Managed trading removes the need to hire bookmakers on day one, but it leaves pricing and much of your risk policy with the provider.
In a hybrid, custom sportsbook software development covers the layers you own and the integration layer that lets you replace the components you rent without moving players or balances.
Pay-per-head (PPH)
Pay-per-head services rent bookmaking software for a weekly fee per active player, mainly to agents who run credit-based books. A PPH subscription is software, not a license. It does not authorize you to take bets in any market, and many PPH setups serve markets where the agent holds no license at all. For a regulated betting company, it is not a starting point.
Crypto sportsbooks
Accepting cryptocurrency changes the payments layer, not the legal analysis. You still need a license for the markets you serve, and many regulated markets do not allow crypto deposits at all. Where a license does allow crypto, expect AML requirements such as wallet screening and transaction monitoring on top of normal KYC.
Technically, a crypto sportsbook needs a multi-currency ledger, a crypto payment provider or custody setup, and a clear rule for which currency odds, limits and bonuses are set in, so that exchange-rate moves do not change a player’s exposure mid-bet. Our Stake-style casino and sportsbook solution is one ready-made starting point for crypto-first operators.
Step 3: Design the sportsbook stack
Whatever model you choose, the same layers exist. The question is which ones you own and which ones you rent.
| Layer | What it does | Build or rent? |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend and apps | Your sports betting website and apps: what players see, and where live-betting speed and UX are won or lost | Usually own or heavily customize; it is your brand |
| Sportsbook engine | Market catalog, bet acceptance, settlement, cash-out | Usually rent (turnkey or API), unless sports betting is the product you want to differentiate on |
| Odds and data feed | Fixtures, prices, results | Rent. Compiling your own odds across many sports requires a dedicated trading and modeling team. |
| Trading and risk | Margins, limits, liability | Rent managed trading at launch, then bring decisions in-house as volume grows, or run a hybrid |
| PAM and wallet | Accounts, balances, every money movement | Own, if you want control of players and data. This layer is what makes a later provider change possible. |
| Bonus and CRM | Promotions, segments, retention | Keep the bonus logic in your platform; use vendor tools for delivery |
| Payments, KYC, geolocation | Moving money, verifying identity and location | Rent from specialist providers; own the orchestration and routing |
| Reporting | Regulator reports, finance, BI | Own the data; the regulator defines the formats |
The frontend deserves its own planning, because it is where players judge your product. We cover it in our guide to sports betting app development.
One architecture decision has an outsized effect later: keep player balances in your wallet. When the sportsbook engine debits and credits your wallet through an API, rather than holding balances itself, you can add casino content, change sportsbook provider or run two engines side by side without migrating player money. This is our engineering recommendation, not a regulatory requirement.
Step 4: Choose odds feed and trading providers
Four functions are often sold together, but they are not the same thing:
| Function | What it produces | Who typically provides it |
|---|---|---|
| Sports data | Live match events, fixtures and official results | Data providers, some holding official league rights |
| Odds compilation | Prices for pre-match and live markets | Odds feed providers or your own traders |
| Trading | Price and margin changes in response to bets and market moves | In-house traders or a managed trading service |
| Risk management | Accepting, limiting or delaying bets based on player profile and liability | Sportsbook engine rules, risk tools and traders |
Provider choices carry technical and commercial consequences. Sportradar’s Unified Odds Feed, for example, pushes odds changes, market suspensions, settlements and rollbacks as XML messages over AMQP, and production access follows an integration review of how your system handles bet stops, settlements, rollbacks and disconnections. Data rights matter too: Genius Sports is the exclusive distributor of the NFL’s official betting data and holds exclusive official data rights for the Premier League and other Football DataCo competitions through 2029. Check rights like these for the sports your market cares about.
Provider decision checklist
Use these questions when you compare odds feed, sportsbook engine and trading providers.
Coverage
- Does it cover the sports, leagues and markets your players bet on, including local leagues?
- How deep are pre-match and live markets, and are bet builder and cash-out pricing supported?
Data rights and integrity
- Is official data available where the regulator or the league requires it?
- Is integrity monitoring or suspicious-betting alerting included?
Technical
- Which delivery protocol and SDKs are used, and what is the latency during peak events?
- How are bet stops, result corrections and settlement rollbacks sent, and how does recovery work after a disconnect?
- Is there a sandbox or replay environment, and what does the integration review require?
Commercial
- Is the fee fixed, a share of GGR or a share of turnover? What are the setup fee, monthly minimum and term?
- What happens to your data and integration if you leave?
Compliance
- Is the provider licensed or certified for your target markets, for example GLI-33 event wagering system testing where the regulator requires it?
- Who is responsible for which regulatory reports?
Trading model
- Is trading fully managed, hybrid or in-house? Who sets limits for which customers, and who carries the liability?
Step 5: Set up payments, KYC and responsible gambling
Payments. Local payment methods usually matter more than global brands: mobile money in much of Africa, bank transfers and local e-wallets elsewhere. Card acceptance for gambling is restricted in some markets, and high-risk merchant accounts often come with rolling reserves. Connect at least two providers for each key method so that losing one does not stop deposits, and treat withdrawal speed as a trust feature.
KYC and AML. Verify identity when your license requires it, which may be at registration or before the first withdrawal. Add sanctions and PEP screening, source-of-funds checks for high-value players and transaction monitoring.
Responsible gambling. Deposit and loss limits, time-outs and self-exclusion are standard license conditions, and some markets require connection to a national self-exclusion register. Enforce these rules in the platform, not only in the frontend, so that every channel applies them.
Geolocation. Required in US states and some other markets to prove the player is inside the licensed territory when betting.
Step 6: Budget and timeline
How much does it cost to start a sportsbook?
There is no reliable single figure, because the market and the operating model change the budget more than anything else. A white-label launch in an offshore market and a custom platform for a regulated European market have very different cost structures. Build the budget from these lines instead:
| Cost line | Type | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| License and legal setup | One-time plus annual | The market. In Curaçao, €4,592 to apply plus €47,450 a year; in Malta, €5,000 to apply, €25,000 a year, 5% gaming tax and a compliance contribution. Add local company, directors, compliance officer and legal fees. |
| Platform | One-time and recurring | The operating model. Custom builds move cost to the upfront build and maintenance; white label and turnkey move it into revenue share and monthly minimums. |
| Sportsbook engine, odds feed and trading | Recurring and variable | Fixed monthly fees and/or a share of GGR or turnover; sports and live coverage; managed trading |
| Payments | Variable | Per-transaction and percentage fees, rolling reserves and chargebacks |
| KYC, AML and geolocation | Variable with minimums | Per-check fees and volume |
| Hosting and security | Recurring | Peak-event load, data residency rules |
| Team | Recurring | Compliance officer, support, payments, CRM, and traders if in-house |
| Marketing and acquisition | Variable | Affiliates, paid media where gambling advertising is allowed, bonuses |
| Taxes and duties | Variable | GGR- or stake-based taxes per market |
| Reserves and working capital | Held, not spent | Liability on open bets, player fund protection rules, losses before break-even |
Two items catch first-time founders out. First, fee layers stack: platform, sportsbook, data and payment fees are charged separately and often on different bases (GGR, turnover, transactions), so compare quotes as a full stack rather than line by line. Second, reserves are not optional: you need cash to pay winners after a bad weekend and, in many markets, to meet player fund protection rules.
How long does it take to launch a sportsbook?
The path you choose sets the pace:
- Ready-made core or white label: provider onboarding, branding and payment accounts set the timeline. Our ready-made Africa platform core, for example, starts from about four to five weeks before custom payment, sportsbook or regulatory integrations.
- Turnkey on your own license: license approval is often the critical path, followed by payment accounts and integrations.
- Custom build: engineering scope sets the pace. For our sportsbook projects, a basic platform typically takes four to five months and a fully customized one six months or more.
- Regulated markets: add independent testing and regulator approval where required.
Licensing usually runs in parallel with the build and is frequently the longest item. Get a current estimate from your counsel and from the regulator’s published process.
Step 7: Test, certify and go live
- Feed integration review. Odds providers may review your integration before granting production access, as Sportradar does for its Unified Odds Feed.
- System testing. Some regulators require the betting system to be tested by an accredited lab against their technical standards or against GLI-33, the event wagering systems standard (a v2.0 draft was released for industry comment in June 2026). System testing, supplier licensing and your operator license are separate approvals.
- Load testing. Simulate a full weekend program with live markets, not an average day.
- Settlement drills. Test result corrections, voids, resettlement and what happens when a rollback would push a balance below zero, for example after a goal is overturned and the winnings were already withdrawn.
- Payments and KYC in production. Run real deposits, withdrawals and verifications with test accounts before opening the doors.
- Controlled launch. Start with limited markets and stake limits, then widen them as monitoring proves stable.
How to run a sportsbook after launch
Running a sportsbook day to day means managing four things: prices and risk, money movement, customers and compliance.
Trading and risk. Set margins by sport and market, liability limits by event, and stake factors by player profile, so recreational and professional bettors are treated differently. Apply bet delays and suspensions in live betting, reject bets on stale prices, and watch for unusual volume that may signal leaked information such as an unannounced line-up change.
Money movement. Reconcile the sportsbook engine, wallet and payment providers daily. Watch for fraud and bonus abuse, and keep withdrawals fast for verified players.
Customers. Offer support during the hours your events run, with clear escalation for payment and settlement disputes and bet history that support agents can show to players.
Compliance. Run responsible gambling interventions, AML monitoring and regulatory reporting, and keep audit trails and change control for every platform release.
How to grow an online sportsbook
Growth in a sportsbook comes from keeping players active across seasons, not only from acquiring them. Practical steps:
- Localize. Local leagues, languages, odds formats and payment methods.
- Make live betting fast. Quick bet acceptance, cash-out and bet builder.
- Add casino through a shared wallet. One account, one balance and one KYC across sports and casino keeps players engaged between events. Our iGaming software development work covers combined casino and sportsbook platforms.
- Run retention from your CRM. Segments, triggered offers and VIP management, with bonus-abuse controls built in.
- Manage affiliates carefully. Clear commission models (CPA, revenue share or hybrid) and fraud checks on referred traffic.
- Invest in SEO and content. Especially where gambling advertising is restricted. Follow local advertising rules everywhere.
- Track the right numbers. GGR per active player, acquisition cost per first-time depositor, cohort retention and hold by sport.
Sportsbook launch checklist
Use this as a go/no-go list before opening to the public.
Market and license
- Target markets confirmed and blocked markets geoblocked
- License granted, or partner agreement in place where access is restricted
- Supplier licensing checked for every vendor that touches bets, data or player funds
Platform
- Player balances held in your wallet, with every movement recorded as a ledger entry
- Market rules (limits, markets, promotions) in configuration, not hard-coded
- Responsible gambling limits and exclusions enforced in the platform
Feeds, trading and risk
- Odds feed integration review passed
- Trading model and limit policy documented, with an owner for each decision
- Settlement corrections and rollbacks tested end to end
Payments and compliance
- At least two providers for each key payment method
- KYC, AML and sanctions screening live, with thresholds set
- Regulatory reports tested in the required format
Operations
- Load test passed at peak-event volume
- Support, payments and trading cover agreed for launch weekend
- Daily reconciliation between engine, wallet and payment providers running
How OmiSoft helps you launch a sportsbook
OmiSoft is a software development company that builds sportsbook and iGaming platforms. We are not a law firm, and licensing questions belong with your legal counsel. Our work starts once the market and model are clear:
- Custom sportsbook platforms: the platform core, real-time odds feed integration, risk tools, payments and admin reporting.
- A ready-made core for African markets: our Africa platform combines sportsbook and casino with mobile money payments, a source-code option and 0% platform GGR.
- Hybrid builds: your own player accounts, wallet and frontend connected to third-party sportsbook engines and casino content. On the Betero crypto sportsbook project, for example, our team worked on a platform built around a third-party sportsbook integration and casino content, including security for crypto deposits and withdrawals.
