How to choose a platform to launch a casino
Introduction
Launching your own online casino requires a reliable technical basis: a ready-made platform or SaaS solution that will withstand peak loads, guarantee the honesty of games, comply with licenses and easily integrate with providers. When choosing a platform, it is important to weigh functional and non-functional requirements to minimize risks and rework costs.
1. Architectural criteria
Scalability
Support for horizontal (container-based) and vertical auto-scaling.
Balancing WebSocket and HTTP requests for peak flash rounds.
Fault tolerance
Multi-AZ or multi-region deployment, automatic switching (DNS, Anycast).
Database replication, regular DR plan tests, and automatic rollback.
Microservice Platform
Division into separate services (games, payments, KYC, anti-fraud, analytics).
Service Mesh (mTLS, circuit breaker, canary releases).
2. Compliance with licenses and regulations
Check jurisdiction in advance
Look for a platform with support for MGA, UKGC, Curacao and other targeted licenses.
Built-in RNG modules and audit logs
Availability of certified RNG, immutable call logs and results.
KYC/AML integration
Pre-connected verification providers (Onfido, Sumsub) and PEP/Sanctions screening.
Responsible Gaming
Self-exclusion mechanisms, deposit and loss limits, reminders.
3. Functionality
1. Game catalog and GMS
Support for white-label providers of slots, live-casinos, bets through a single API/SDK.
Metadata normalization, RTP management, and feature flags per tenant.
2. Player Accounting and PMS
Real/Bonus wallet balances, transaction history, segmentation, VIP levels.
3. Bonuses and marketing
Built-in Campaign Engine with triggers, A/B tests, drip chains and omnichannel mailings.
4. Antifraud and Risk Control
Real-time scoring, behavioral analysis, ML models, automatic locks and on-the-fly parsing.
5. Analytics and Reporting
Data Lake → DWH, BI dashboards, automatic scheduled and real-time reports of key KPIs.
4. Integrations and Ecosystem
Payment gateways
PCI DSS-compatible modules, card tokenization, support 3-D Secure, Webhooks, multi-currency.
Game providers
REST/WebSocket for slots; WebRTC/RTMP and control channel for live casino; real-time odds for bets.
Third-party services
CRM, ERP, marketing platforms, TMS for localization, CDN and edge services, SMS/Email aggregators.
5. Security and secret management
Secrets and keys
Central Vault/KMS with rotation, inject via CI/CD without saving to repository.
Network perimeter
WAF, DDoS protection, VPC segmentation, private endpoints, VPN/mTLS.
Monitoring and response
SIEM/Log Management, IDS/IPS, real-time alarming и on-call runbooks.
6. Support and maintenance
SLA and tech support
24/7 NOC team, MTTR ≤ 30m, MTTA ≤ 5m.
Updates and patches
SemVer approach, immutable artifacts, blue-green/canary deployment, automatic rollback, staging testing.
Documentation and Training
Full set of API documents, runbooks, KB articles and training for operators.
7. Cost and payment model
CapEx vs OpEx
Private infrastructure (dedicated servers) vs cloud (pay-as-you-go).
License fee
Up-front fee +% - commission from GGR or fixed subscription.
Additional costs
Provider commissions, SMS/Email costs, analytical services, CDN, blockchain nodes (if crypto).
Conclusion
Choosing a platform for online casinos is a balance between the readiness of solutions out of the box and the flexibility of customization. Evaluate architectural capabilities, license compliance, embedded modules (games, KYC, anti-fraud, marketing), support level, and pricing transparency. The optimal platform will allow you to quickly enter the market, safely scale and quickly implement new features without the risk of downtime.
Launching your own online casino requires a reliable technical basis: a ready-made platform or SaaS solution that will withstand peak loads, guarantee the honesty of games, comply with licenses and easily integrate with providers. When choosing a platform, it is important to weigh functional and non-functional requirements to minimize risks and rework costs.
1. Architectural criteria
Scalability
Support for horizontal (container-based) and vertical auto-scaling.
Balancing WebSocket and HTTP requests for peak flash rounds.
Fault tolerance
Multi-AZ or multi-region deployment, automatic switching (DNS, Anycast).
Database replication, regular DR plan tests, and automatic rollback.
Microservice Platform
Division into separate services (games, payments, KYC, anti-fraud, analytics).
Service Mesh (mTLS, circuit breaker, canary releases).
2. Compliance with licenses and regulations
Check jurisdiction in advance
Look for a platform with support for MGA, UKGC, Curacao and other targeted licenses.
Built-in RNG modules and audit logs
Availability of certified RNG, immutable call logs and results.
KYC/AML integration
Pre-connected verification providers (Onfido, Sumsub) and PEP/Sanctions screening.
Responsible Gaming
Self-exclusion mechanisms, deposit and loss limits, reminders.
3. Functionality
1. Game catalog and GMS
Support for white-label providers of slots, live-casinos, bets through a single API/SDK.
Metadata normalization, RTP management, and feature flags per tenant.
2. Player Accounting and PMS
Real/Bonus wallet balances, transaction history, segmentation, VIP levels.
3. Bonuses and marketing
Built-in Campaign Engine with triggers, A/B tests, drip chains and omnichannel mailings.
4. Antifraud and Risk Control
Real-time scoring, behavioral analysis, ML models, automatic locks and on-the-fly parsing.
5. Analytics and Reporting
Data Lake → DWH, BI dashboards, automatic scheduled and real-time reports of key KPIs.
4. Integrations and Ecosystem
Payment gateways
PCI DSS-compatible modules, card tokenization, support 3-D Secure, Webhooks, multi-currency.
Game providers
REST/WebSocket for slots; WebRTC/RTMP and control channel for live casino; real-time odds for bets.
Third-party services
CRM, ERP, marketing platforms, TMS for localization, CDN and edge services, SMS/Email aggregators.
5. Security and secret management
Secrets and keys
Central Vault/KMS with rotation, inject via CI/CD without saving to repository.
Network perimeter
WAF, DDoS protection, VPC segmentation, private endpoints, VPN/mTLS.
Monitoring and response
SIEM/Log Management, IDS/IPS, real-time alarming и on-call runbooks.
6. Support and maintenance
SLA and tech support
24/7 NOC team, MTTR ≤ 30m, MTTA ≤ 5m.
Updates and patches
SemVer approach, immutable artifacts, blue-green/canary deployment, automatic rollback, staging testing.
Documentation and Training
Full set of API documents, runbooks, KB articles and training for operators.
7. Cost and payment model
CapEx vs OpEx
Private infrastructure (dedicated servers) vs cloud (pay-as-you-go).
License fee
Up-front fee +% - commission from GGR or fixed subscription.
Additional costs
Provider commissions, SMS/Email costs, analytical services, CDN, blockchain nodes (if crypto).
Conclusion
Choosing a platform for online casinos is a balance between the readiness of solutions out of the box and the flexibility of customization. Evaluate architectural capabilities, license compliance, embedded modules (games, KYC, anti-fraud, marketing), support level, and pricing transparency. The optimal platform will allow you to quickly enter the market, safely scale and quickly implement new features without the risk of downtime.
