The iGaming B2B Supply Chain: Suppliers, Licences and Revenue Models

The iGaming B2B supply chain is every business that sits behind a licensed operator: the platform that holds player accounts, the studios and aggregators that deliver games, the live-dealer studios, the sportsbook and odds suppliers, the payment, identity and geolocation vendors, and the affiliates that send traffic. Several of these links need their own licence or registration, and as of October 2026 the rules differ sharply between Malta, Great Britain, Sweden, Ontario, the Netherlands and Curaçao.

This guide maps each layer, names example companies as industry facts, sets out who needs a supplier licence where, explains turnkey and white-label models, and shows how revenue is shared along the chain. For the operator-side licences themselves, start with our licensing hub.

What is the iGaming B2B supply chain?

In iGaming, B2B (business-to-business) describes the companies that build, host, certify or finance the products a B2C operator sells to players. A single online casino brand typically combines a player account management (PAM) platform, content from dozens of game studios reached through one or more aggregators, a payment stack, identity and fraud checks and, in North America, a geolocation provider. The operator holds the consumer licence; the suppliers hold B2B licences, registrations or certificates.

The split matters because regulators increasingly supervise the chain, not only the brand at the end of it. Malta licenses “critical gaming supply” separately from B2C activity. Great Britain makes it an offence to supply gambling software without an operating licence. Sweden added a gambling software licence on 1 July 2023 and has since fined licensed studios whose games appeared on banned sites. Ontario requires suppliers to register with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) before they can serve operators contracted with iGaming Ontario. Supplier risk is therefore operator risk.

Which layers make up the chain?

Ten functional layers cover almost every online casino or sportsbook operation in 2026. The table below names well-known companies in each layer purely as examples of the market; listing a company here is not an endorsement, and many groups now operate in several layers at once (Evolution, for instance, owns live-casino studios and, since completing its NetEnt acquisition in December 2020, the NetEnt and Red Tiger slot studios).

Platform and player account management

The PAM is the system of record. It holds the player’s identity data, balance, transaction history, limits and self-exclusion flags, and it feeds the reports a regulator receives. Because it decides whether a deposit is accepted or a bonus is credited, regulators treat it as the heart of the operation. When an operator migrates platforms, the regulator normally expects a change-management notice and, in many markets, fresh testing of the new system by an approved laboratory. Our guide to testing labs and RNG certification explains how that testing works.

Aggregators and remote game servers

Studios rarely integrate with every operator one by one. Instead, a game runs on the studio’s remote game server (RGS), and an aggregator connects that server to hundreds of casino front ends through a single API. Commercially the aggregator handles contracts, invoicing and jurisdiction filtering. Legally the arrangement can blur responsibility: a Swedish case shows why. On 17 September 2025 Spelinspektionen gave Quickspin AB a warning and a 650,000 kronor sanction fee after its games were found on sites run by operators banned from Sweden; the company explained that the games had reached those sites through a content partner (decision 25Si1089).

Game studios

Studios design the maths model, artwork and client, then have each build certified for the markets they sell into. A slot that is approved in Great Britain may need a different configuration in Germany, where the virtual slot rules set a default 1 euro maximum stake, or in Sweden, where SIFS 2022:3 requires at least three seconds per game round. Studios also carry reputational exposure: the same title can appear on licensed and unlicensed sites if distribution controls fail.

Live-casino studios

Live dealer content is streamed from physical studios, often in Latvia, Malta, Georgia, Romania or North America. Some regulators require the studio serving their market to be located in the jurisdiction or licensed by it; New Jersey and Pennsylvania, for example, require live games for their markets to be streamed from studios inside the state. That pushes the large live suppliers to build local studios market by market.

Sportsbook, trading and data

A sportsbook stack separates into bet capture, pricing and trading, risk management and settlement. Operators can run all of it in-house, license a managed sportsbook such as Kambi’s, or combine a third-party engine with their own trading team. Official data rights add a further supplier relationship: leagues sell exclusive data and streaming rights through distributors such as Sportradar and Genius Sports, and the cost of those rights flows into the operator’s margin.

Payments, identity and geolocation

Payment providers sit at the boundary between gambling and financial regulation, and our iGaming payments guide covers the rails, the credit-card bans and crypto. Identity and fraud vendors run the checks that anti-money laundering rules require, set out in our AML and KYC guide. Geolocation providers prove the player is physically inside a permitted area, which is a licence condition in US states and Ontario.

Affiliates

Affiliates are suppliers too: they are paid by operators for acquisition and are covered by operators’ licence conditions on marketing. Great Britain holds the operator responsible for its affiliates’ advertising, and a few markets register affiliates directly. The detail is in our affiliate marketing compliance guide.

Who needs a B2B or supplier licence?

Whether a supplier needs its own licence depends on the market. As of October 2026, Malta licenses critical gaming supply under a B2B licence, Great Britain requires a gambling software operating licence under section 41 of the Gambling Act 2005, Sweden has required a gambling software licence since 1 July 2023, Ontario requires AGCO registration, the Netherlands licenses no B2B suppliers directly, and Curaçao makes supplier registration mandatory from 24 December 2026.

Malta: the critical gaming supply licence

The MGA describes the critical gaming supply licence as a B2B licence “to provide or carry out a critical gaming supply from Malta”, including supplies to a Maltese person or through a Maltese legal entity. Typical holders are game providers that supply and manage the material elements of a game, and software suppliers whose systems generate, capture, control or process an essential regulatory record. The authority’s B2B licence page lists the fees quoted in the table above. Material supplies that are not critical, such as many hosting or data services, are handled more lightly. Our Malta MGA licence guide covers the B2C side and the application process.

Great Britain: the gambling software licence

Section 41 of the Gambling Act 2005 makes it an offence to manufacture, supply, install or adapt gambling software in the course of a business without an operating licence. The Commission’s guidance defines gambling software as computer software for use in connection with remote gambling, excluding software used solely in connection with a gaming machine, and it says that performing any one of those four functions requires a licence. Two points catch suppliers out:

• The final supplier to a licensed operator needs a licence “simply by virtue of” entering into the supply contract, even if it does no development.
• A software licensee that hosts a poker network or a games platform also needs a remote operating licence, such as a remote casino licence, because it becomes responsible for the fairness of the gambling.

On the operator side, licence condition 2.2.1 requires that all gambling software used by a remote licensee was manufactured, supplied and installed by holders of a gambling software operating licence. Analytics, CRM and affiliate-management tools generally fall outside the definition. See the UK Gambling Commission licence guide for the operating licence categories.

Sweden: the spelprogramvara licence and its enforcement

Since 1 July 2023 (SFS 2022:1679) anyone who makes, supplies, installs or modifies software used for licensed online gambling in Sweden needs a gambling software licence from Spelinspektionen, at an application fee of SEK 120,000. The licences granted for the start date run until 30 June 2028. The core prohibition sits in chapter 11, section 6 e of the Gambling Act (2018:1138): a licensee may not make, supply, install or modify gambling software for anyone who lacks the necessary licence.

Spelinspektionen enforces it by testing sites run by operators it has banned. After a reminder letter to all software licensees on 26 October 2023, it checked selected banned sites on 10 January 2024 and, on 23 May 2024, gave Hacksaw Studios AB a warning and a SEK 2,600,000 sanction fee for supplying two operators without a Swedish licence (decision 24Si77). The Quickspin decision of September 2025 followed the same pattern. The practical lesson for every studio and aggregator: geo-blocking alone does not discharge the duty if the content still reaches an unlicensed brand that targets Sweden.

Ontario: AGCO supplier registration

The AGCO states that suppliers must be registered before supplying products or services to igaming operators in Ontario. For fee purposes it splits gaming-related suppliers into manufacturers, which make, supply, install, test, maintain or fix gaming equipment, and other suppliers, which install, test, maintain or fix equipment or consult. Its examples of who must register include platform providers, game makers and game-system operators, customer e-wallet providers, odds makers, sports integrity monitors and independent test labs. Before applying, the product must be certified by a registered independent testing lab, covering all games and the random number generators.

The Netherlands: no B2B licence, but full licensee responsibility

Under the Remote Gambling Act (Wet Koa, in force 1 April 2021; licensed market open since 1 October 2021) the Kansspelautoriteit licenses operators, not suppliers. A market overview commissioned by the Ksa from Regulus Partners confirms that the Dutch regime does not directly license B2B providers. The licensee remains responsible for every game, system and outsourced function it uses, including the certification of those systems by an accredited inspection body. Trade press reported in 2026 that the Ksa’s regulatory agenda puts more supervisory attention on payment providers, hosting firms and B2B suppliers that enable illegal gambling; treat that as direction of travel rather than a new licence category.

Curaçao: supplier registration under the LOK

Curaçao’s National Ordinance on Games of Chance (Landsverordening op de kansspelen, LOK) entered into force on 24 December 2024 and replaced the master-licence and sub-licence model with direct licences from the Curaçao Gaming Authority. According to a CGA announcement reported by trade press in late June 2026, supplier rules become fully enforceable on 24 December 2026, the end of the two-year transition. Suppliers established in Curaçao need a CGA supplier licence and registration; foreign suppliers need no Curaçao licence but must register if they supply critical goods or services to CGA licence holders. Under Article 5.16(4) LOK, licence holders may not use unregistered suppliers, and Article 5.16(1) requires the CGA to keep a public supplier register. The CGA’s illustrative list covers RNG game manufacturers, live dealer studios, poker and peer-to-peer software, lottery providers, sportsbook software, bet capture and settlement, odds providers and game aggregators. Our Curaçao licensing guide covers the operator licence; note that the CGA does not mediate individual player disputes, which go to the casino first and then to one of its certified ADR bodies.

What is the difference between turnkey and white label?

A turnkey solution gives an operator a complete, ready-built platform that runs under the operator’s own gambling licence, so the operator owns the brand, the players and the regulatory relationship. A white label lets a brand owner trade on a provider’s platform, payments and often its licence, in return for a large share of revenue. In 2026 most regulated markets push white-label partners towards holding their own licence.

White labels suit a media brand or affiliate that wants to test operator economics without building compliance capacity. They carry two hazards. First, if the provider’s licence is suspended, every brand on it stops together. Second, regulators look through the structure: in Great Britain the Commission expects whoever is in practice making gambling available to be licensed, and the end of Curaçao’s sub-licence model removed the cheapest version of the white-label route there.

Turnkey suits a funded team that wants its own licence quickly. Contracts deserve the most attention at exit: who owns the player database, in what format it is handed over, how open balances and self-exclusion lists transfer, and how long the old platform must keep regulatory records.

How is revenue shared along the chain?

Revenue in the chain is usually calculated on gross gaming revenue (GGR: stakes minus winnings) or net gaming revenue (NGR: GGR after bonuses, gaming taxes and sometimes payment costs). Game studios and aggregators typically charge a percentage of the GGR their content generates; platforms charge a percentage of GGR or NGR with a monthly minimum; payment firms charge per transaction; affiliates earn revenue share, CPA or a hybrid. Rates are negotiated and rarely published.

The definitions matter more than the headline percentages. A studio fee charged on GGR is paid even when bonus costs wipe out the operator’s margin, while a platform fee charged on NGR moves with the operator’s real income. Contracts also differ on whether jackpot contributions, free spins funded by the studio, gaming taxes and chargebacks come off before the fee is calculated.

Worked example: one month at a mid-sized casino

The figures below are hypothetical and chosen only to show the mechanics; they are not market benchmarks. Assume a casino records EUR 2,000,000 GGR in a month, awards EUR 300,000 in bonuses that are deducted for NGR, pays a gaming tax assumed at 20% of GGR, and buys content and platform services on the assumed terms shown.

Two things stand out. The content fee, charged on GGR, costs more than the platform fee even though the platform does more work, and it would not fall if the operator increased bonus spending. And the suppliers together take EUR 560,000, about 43% of NGR, before the operator has paid a single employee. That is why operators renegotiate fee bases as they scale, and why vertically integrated groups bring platforms, studios or sportsbooks in-house.

Common fee structures by layer

• Studios and aggregators: percentage of GGR per game or per provider, sometimes with a minimum monthly fee and separate charges for branded titles or jackpot networks.
• Platforms: one-off set-up and integration fee, then a percentage of GGR or NGR, often tiered downwards with volume, plus fees per additional market or licence.
• Sportsbooks: percentage of sportsbook GGR or margin, sometimes with a fixed fee for managed trading; data and streaming rights billed separately.
• Payments: percentage of deposit value for cards, flat fees per transaction for open banking, plus chargeback and refund fees and possible rolling reserves for high-risk merchants.
• KYC and geolocation: fee per check or per active user.
• Affiliates: revenue share of NGR, a fixed CPA per depositing player, or a hybrid. Australia’s 2026 reform will ban activity-based affiliate commissions for licensed wagering from 1 January 2027, according to ACMA.

What does a supplier licence application usually involve?

Supplier applications follow the same broad pattern in Malta, Great Britain, Sweden and Ontario: corporate and ownership documents, fitness and propriety checks on directors and qualifying shareholders, financial evidence, technical documentation of the systems or games, certification by an accepted testing laboratory, and policies on anti-money laundering and information security. Fees are paid on application and annually thereafter.

In practice the workload splits into four streams that can run in parallel:

• Corporate file: constituting documents, group structure chart down to ultimate beneficial owners, audited accounts or a funding plan, and declarations from each key person. The AGCO, for example, asks applicants to submit constituting documents through its iAGCO portal.
• Technical file: architecture diagrams, hosting locations, data flows, change-management procedures and the list of games or modules to be supplied. The MGA publishes a system documentation checklist for this stream.
• Certification: test reports or certificates for each game and system component from a laboratory the regulator recognises, which is usually the longest lead item.
• Policies: AML and counter-terrorist financing, information security, business continuity and, for content suppliers, controls that stop distribution to unlicensed operators.

Once licensed, suppliers carry continuing duties: notifying ownership changes, submitting new game versions for testing, paying annual fees and answering regulator information requests. A supplier serving five regulated markets therefore runs five overlapping compliance calendars, which is one reason mid-sized studios lean on aggregators for distribution and contracting, even though the studio keeps its own licence duties.

How should an operator check a supplier?

Supplier due diligence in 2026 means checking the supplier’s licence or registration in every market where its product will be used, confirming that each game build and system version is certified by an accepted laboratory, testing distribution controls so content cannot reach unlicensed operators, and writing change-management, data-ownership and exit terms into the contract. Regulators hold the licensee responsible for each of these.

1. Register checks. Look the supplier up on the regulator’s own register: the MGA licensee register, the Gambling Commission public register, Spelinspektionen’s licence register, the AGCO registrant lists and, from late 2026, the CGA supplier register. Record the licence number and expiry date.
2. Certification evidence. Ask for the certificate or report for each game and system version, issued by a laboratory the target regulator accepts, and check the version numbers match what will go live.
3. Distribution controls. Ask how the supplier and any aggregator prevent content reaching blacklisted operators, and how quickly they cut off a brand after a regulator ban. The Swedish decisions above show that a content partner’s lapse becomes the studio’s problem.
4. Corporate and AML checks. Identify ultimate beneficial owners, sanctions exposure and criminal records of key persons, as you would for a large customer.
5. Change management. Fix in the contract how the supplier notifies new versions, how emergency patches are handled and who pays for retesting.
6. Data and exit. Specify data formats, retention periods, handover of open balances and self-exclusion lists, and the support obligations after termination.
7. Ongoing monitoring. Re-check registers at renewal and after enforcement news; our enforcement tracker collects regulator actions.

How has the B2B market changed since the early 2010s?

A decade ago the trade news was about studios signing distribution deals one operator at a time, the HTML5 versus native-app debate for mobile casino, and social-casino launches on Facebook. Three shifts since then define the 2026 market. Consolidation came first: DraftKings closed its combination with SBTech on 23 April 2020 and Evolution took control of NetEnt on 1 December 2020, creating vertically integrated groups. Regulation of suppliers followed, with Sweden’s software licence from July 2023 and Curaçao’s supplier registration due by December 2026. Distribution moved to aggregators, which made compliance controls at the aggregation layer as important as the studio’s own licence.

For a market-by-market view of where these suppliers can sell, see our European markets overview.

Frequently asked questions

Does a game studio need its own licence if it only sells through an aggregator?

Often yes. In Great Britain anyone who manufactures or adapts gambling software needs a gambling software operating licence, and in Sweden a studio whose games are used by Swedish licensees needs a spelprogramvara licence regardless of whether an aggregator handles distribution. Malta requires a critical gaming supply licence for supplies from Malta. The aggregator’s own licence does not cover the studio.

What is the MGA annual fee for a B2B critical gaming supply licence?

As published on the Malta Gaming Authority’s B2B licence page in 2026, the annual fee is EUR 25,000 where annual revenue does not exceed EUR 5 million, EUR 30,000 between EUR 5 million and EUR 10 million, and EUR 35,000 above EUR 10 million. Suppliers of solely Type 4 games pay EUR 10,000. A one-time, non-refundable application fee of EUR 5,000 applies.

When did Sweden start requiring a licence for gambling software suppliers?

On 1 July 2023. From that date, companies that make, supply, install or modify software used for licensed online gambling in Sweden need a licence from Spelinspektionen. The application fee is SEK 120,000, and chapter 11, section 6 e of the Gambling Act bars licensees from supplying operators that lack a Swedish licence.

Do foreign suppliers need a Curaçao licence under the LOK?

No licence, but registration. According to the CGA’s June 2026 announcement as reported by trade press, suppliers established outside Curaçao must register with the CGA if they provide critical goods or services to CGA licence holders, with the rules fully enforceable from 24 December 2026. Locally established suppliers need both a supplier licence and registration.

Is a white label legal in regulated European markets?

It depends on the market and the structure. Many regulators require whoever in practice offers gambling to their residents to hold a licence, so a brand owner trading on a provider’s licence may itself need one. Curaçao ended its sub-licence model with the LOK. Check the target regulator’s rules before launching a white-label brand.

Who must register as a supplier in Ontario?

The AGCO says anyone supplying products or services to igaming operators in Ontario must be registered. Its examples include platform providers, game makers and game-system operators, customer e-wallet providers, odds makers, sports integrity monitors and independent test labs. Products must be certified by a registered independent testing lab before the application.