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Best-for guide · Live dealer and table games · Updated 2026-09-28
Best gambling licence for live dealer and table games in 2026
Live dealer breaks the usual question. A slot is code, so one operator licence covers it. A live table is a room, a camera, a shoe of cards and a croupier on a payroll, and regulators treat that room as a licensable thing in its own right. So the real question is not which licence lets you offer blackjack. It is which regime has written down what the studio behind it must do, and whether that studio is allowed to sit where you want to build it.
How we ranked: Whether the regime names a live-dealer standard the studio must meet, whether studio supply is licensed separately from the operator, and whether the rules dictate where the room may physically be. Scores below are from the Gambling Law Index jurisdiction signals (1–5, higher is more operator-favourable) — see the methodology.
Why it ranks here. The Gambling Commission is the only regulator in this set that publishes a technical standard written for this product alone. RTS 17, Live Dealer Studios, sits in the remote gambling and software technical standards under the Gambling Act 2005 and covers equipment quality, croupier training, supervision, video surveillance, secure areas and game logs. You are not guessing at what good looks like; it is a document.
Watch out. RTS 17 does not say in terms whether it reaches a studio outside Great Britain feeding a GB-licensed operator. Since GB operators routinely stream from Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria, the working assumption in the industry is that the operator carries the obligation wherever the room is. Treat that as the practical reading rather than something the Commission has spelled out, and get it confirmed before you site a studio on it.
Why it ranks here. Malta treats live-dealer supply as its own audited activity rather than a feature of somebody's casino licence. The B2B application pack for game providers carries a named Live Studio Audit Checklist, which exists precisely because the studio is assessed separately from the operator that streams it. For a supplier selling into multiple EU markets, that separation is the point.
Watch out. The checklist is an audit requirement inside the B2B application, not a standalone studio premises licence. If you have been told Malta issues a distinct live-studio permit, ask which instrument creates it. A page that files Maltese live dealer under B2C has misread the structure.
Why it ranks here. New Jersey is the clearest case of the rule that actually decides a build: the state's online gaming law requires live dealer operations to be conducted from within Atlantic City, to keep the economic benefit in the city. Evolution runs studios inside Hard Rock, Ocean and Tropicana, and Caesars opened its own branded tables inside Tropicana. The map is the regulation.
Watch out. This is a postcode requirement, not a paperwork one, and no amount of compliance spend moves it. Budget for floor space inside a licensed Atlantic City property before you budget for anything else. We cite the location rule from reporting on the state's online gaming law rather than from the administrative code section, so verify the citation with counsel before you sign a lease.
Why it ranks here. Romania is where a lot of Europe's live product is actually made, and the Class 2 B2B licence is the instrument that permits it. Pragmatic Play's own announcement records that its Class 2 licence authorised it to operate a Bucharest live casino studio and to serve online and land-based operators from it. A licence that names the studio in the grant is a licence you can plan a facility against.
Watch out. Class 2 is an annual per-category licence with its own fees on top of whatever your B2C position costs, and Romania's 2025 obligations brought geolocation, blocking and monthly reporting duties with it. Several widely repeated claims about which other studios operate in Bucharest could not be verified from a source we could open, so do your own diligence on who your neighbours are.
Why it ranks here. Michigan is unusual in naming live-game providers studio by studio in its own published authorisations, which means you can see exactly who has been cleared and from which facility rather than inferring it from press releases. For a supplier, a regulator that publishes the authorisation is a regulator whose approval you can show a partner.
Watch out. The detail on integration testing through an independent testing laboratory comes from a regulator document we could not open directly, so treat the specifics as reported rather than read. Michigan is also a single-state market reached through a casino partner, so the licence is a route into one state, not a platform.
None of this suits an operator who simply wants tables on the site tomorrow. If that is the goal, you are buying a feed from a licensed supplier, and your question is which supplier holds the right licences for your markets, not which licence you should hold. Two other cautions. The Philippines is off the table for offshore live dealer entirely: Republic Act 12312 of 23 October 2025 bans offshore gaming and criminalises supplying, hosting or leasing to it, and most comparison pages have not caught up. And while Curaçao and Alderney both have B2B categories broad enough to cover live-dealer supply on paper, we could not verify a single studio physically hosted in either, which tells you something about what those licences are used for.
FAQ
Does a live dealer studio need its own licence?
Usually it needs its own authorisation rather than its own licence. Malta audits the studio inside the B2B application, Romania authorises it through the Class 2 supplier licence, and Michigan names providers by studio. The operator streaming the tables is licensed separately.
Where do live dealer studios have to be physically located?
It depends on the regime, and this is the rule that decides a build. New Jersey requires live dealer operations to be conducted from within Atlantic City. European regimes generally let the studio sit anywhere the supplier is licensed, which is why so much of the product is made in Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria.
Is there a written standard for how a live studio must run?
The UK Gambling Commission publishes RTS 17, Live Dealer Studios, covering equipment quality, croupier training, supervision, video surveillance, secure areas and game logs. It is the most specific public standard for this product that we found.
Can I run live tables under a Curacao licence?
The B2B categories are broad enough to cover the supply on paper, but we could not verify a live studio physically hosted there. In practice operators licensed in Curacao buy the feed from a studio licensed elsewhere, which puts the compliance question on the supplier.
What happened to live dealer studios in the Philippines?
Offshore gaming was banned by Republic Act 12312, approved on 23 October 2025. It criminalises operating offshore gaming, acting as a content or service provider, running a hub, holding gaming equipment and leasing property for it. Domestic PIGO licensing is unaffected.
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