Alderney · AGCC · fees and hosting
Alderney Gambling Licence 2026: AGCC Fees, Renewal Bands and Hosting Rules
Every consultant quotes an Alderney licence at "from GBP 35,000" and stops there. The AGCC's own fee page has seven Category 1 renewal bands running to GBP 400,000, and which one you pay depends on your annual gambling yield. Here's the full schedule, and the yield at which paying a fee instead of a duty actually saves money.
An Alderney gambling licence is an eGambling licence issued by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) under a fee-only model: no gaming duty, no VAT on gambling yield and zero-rated company profits, with the annual fee for a Category 1 (B2C) licence set by yield band and a flat GBP 35,000 renewal for a Category 2 (B2B) licence.
Quick facts
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) — gamblingcontrol.org |
| First-year fee | GBP 17,500 with no prior gambling activity; GBP 35,000 for other new applications |
| Category 1 renewal | GBP 35,000 (yield under GBP 500k) to GBP 400,000 (over GBP 30m), seven bands |
| Category 2 renewal | Flat GBP 35,000 |
| Gaming duty | None — fee-only; no VAT on gambling yield; zero-rated company profits |
| Fee schedule date | Effective 1 April 2015, still current |
| Timeline | 4-12 weeks from a complete application |
The schedule nobody reprints
Ask three consultants what an Alderney Category 1 licence costs and you’ll get “from GBP 35,000” three times. The number is true and useless. The AGCC’s own fee page lists seven renewal bands for Category 1, from GBP 35,000 to GBP 400,000, and which one you pay depends on your annual gambling yield. The schedule has been in force since 1 April 2015 and hasn’t changed since. It still isn’t reproduced in full on any consultant page I checked, so here it is.
| Item | Fee (GBP) |
|---|---|
| Category 1 or 2 licence, first year, no prior gambling activity | 17,500 |
| Category 1 or 2 licence, first year, other new applications | 35,000 |
| Category 2 renewal | 35,000 flat |
| Category 1 renewal, Band A (yield under 500k) | 35,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band B (500k to 1m) | 60,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band C (1m to 5m) | 80,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band D (5m to 7.5m) | 130,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band E (7.5m to 20m) | 200,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band F (20m to 30m) | 290,000 |
| Category 1 renewal, Band G (over 30m) | 400,000 |
| Per gambling-business associate, per year | 3,000 |
| Temporary eGambling licence, per year | 10,000 |
| Core Service Associate Certificate | 10,000 |
| Category 1 or 2 Associate Certificate | 35,000-50,000 |
| Hosting Certificate | No fee |
| Key Individual Certificate | Not published on the fee page |
Source: AGCC regulation framework, fees page, effective 1 April 2015. Investigation costs are charged on top of the licence fee; the AGCC doesn’t print a tariff, so budget for them and ask the Commission for the current rates before you file.
What you don’t pay is the point of the whole model. There’s no gaming duty, no VAT on gambling yield and company profits are zero-rated. The renewal band is the tax.
Which paper you actually hold
Two questions decide which line in that table applies to you: are you B2C or B2B, and is your company in Alderney or somewhere else?
| Your situation | What you apply for | Annual cost (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Alderney company holding the player relationship (registration, funds, KYC) | Category 1 eGambling licence | 35,000-400,000 by yield band |
| Alderney company effecting the gambling transaction, supplying games or betting | Category 2 eGambling licence | 35,000 flat |
| Foreign-licensed company doing either of the above | Category 1 or 2 Associate Certificate | 35,000-50,000 |
| Supplier of a core service to an AGCC licensee | Core Service Associate Certificate | 10,000 |
| Running a limited event or trial | Temporary eGambling licence | 10,000 |
| Data centre hosting AGCC licensees | Hosting Certificate | No fee |
The Category 1 and 2 split is cleaner than most B2C/B2B splits. A Category 1 player registers once and can then play games served from Category 2 platforms, so a group can hold one Category 1 for the brand and let licensed platforms plug in underneath. That’s why the flat GBP 35,000 Category 2 renewal is the number platform providers care about, and the banded schedule is the number brands care about.
Where a fee beats a duty
This is the calculation I wanted the first time I read the schedule. The Isle of Man is the natural benchmark: same tier, same UK-adjacent common-law reputation. It charges a Full licence at GBP 36,750 a year, then Gambling Duty on gross gaming yield at 1.5% up to GBP 20m, 0.5% from 20m to 40m and 0.1% above.
Assumptions: Alderney is a Category 1 renewal in year two or later (the first-year fee and the Isle of Man’s GBP 5,250 application are one-offs and left out). Duty is applied marginally. Associate fees, investigation costs, substance and corporate tax are excluded on both sides. Yield means gross gaming yield in both columns.
| Annual yield (GBP) | Alderney Cat 1 band | Alderney fee (GBP) | Isle of Man: 36,750 + duty (GBP) | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400k | A | 35,000 | 42,750 | Alderney by 7,750 |
| 750k | B | 60,000 | 48,000 | Isle of Man by 12,000 |
| 2m | C | 80,000 | 66,750 | Isle of Man by 13,250 |
| 4m | C | 80,000 | 96,750 | Alderney by 16,750 |
| 6m | D | 130,000 | 126,750 | Isle of Man by 3,250 |
| 10m | E | 200,000 | 186,750 | Isle of Man by 13,250 |
| 15m | E | 200,000 | 261,750 | Alderney by 61,750 |
| 25m | F | 290,000 | 361,750 | Alderney by 71,750 |
| 35m | G | 400,000 | 411,750 | Alderney by 11,750 |
The shape matters more than any row. Alderney’s fee steps up at each band boundary. The Isle of Man’s cost rises in a straight line. So every band opens with the Isle of Man cheaper and closes with Alderney cheaper. The crossovers, solving 36,750 + 1.5% × yield = band fee:
- Band B (GBP 500k-1m): no crossover. The Isle of Man tops out at GBP 51,750 at 1m yield, under Alderney’s GBP 60,000.
- Band C: crossover at about GBP 2.88m. The Isle of Man is cheaper from 1m to 2.88m, Alderney from 2.88m to 5m.
- Band D: crossover at GBP 6.22m.
- Band E: crossover at GBP 10.88m. Above that Alderney’s lead widens to GBP 136,750 at 20m.
- Band F: no crossover. The Isle of Man is at least GBP 336,750 at 20m, against GBP 290,000.
- Band G: crossover at GBP 32.65m, where the Isle of Man’s 0.5% marginal band catches Alderney’s cap. Above 40m the Isle of Man adds 0.1% forever and Alderney adds nothing.
So the fee-only pitch is right at the very bottom, right above GBP 10.88m, and wrong in four windows in between. My view: if you’re a Category 1 brand forecasting GBP 500k to 2.88m in yield, Alderney costs you more than the Isle of Man for two or three years and you should pick it for hosting or B2B reasons or not at all. If you’re a Category 2 platform, ignore the table; GBP 35,000 flat at any scale is a better deal than either column.
The one thing that would change my mind is the Isle of Man’s duty base. Our Isle of Man guide covers the definition of gross gaming yield; if your product lets you exclude a large affiliate cost from the base, the Isle of Man line shifts down and the crossovers move right.
When not to choose Alderney
Cost windows first, because that’s where the comparison lands: GBP 500k-2.88m, 5m-6.22m, 7.5m-10.88m and 30m-32.65m yield. In those ranges an Alderney Category 1 licence is the dearer of the two.
Then markets. Alderney sits outside the EU and EEA. There is no passporting, and an EU-facing brand will still need a Malta licence or a national licence in each regulated member state. The UK is the same story: UK players need a UK Gambling Commission licence, and an AGCC licence doesn’t shorten that application. Alderney’s own FAQ says as much. Where the AGCC licence does help is for operators serving markets with no local regime who want a tier-1 regulator without a percentage duty.
Hosting: cloud is fine, with one exception
Servers don’t have to be in Alderney. The AGCC allows an approved data centre or cloud outside the Bailiwick, and the Hosting Certificate the data centre holds carries no fee. The exception is a Category 2 licence holder, which must run the essential functions of effecting the gambling transaction on Bailiwick servers. A Category 2 Associate Certificate holder, being foreign-licensed, is outside that rule.
Alderney also sits in a multi-jurisdictional testing framework with the UK, the Isle of Man and Denmark, so a game or RNG tested for one of those four doesn’t need a fresh test for the others. For a platform business licensed in two of them, that’s real money, though the AGCC doesn’t quantify it and I won’t either.
Timeline and what changed in 2025
Four to twelve weeks from a complete application, and the AGCC says four weeks is achievable when every document arrives with the file. Consultant pages quoting three to six months are describing their own queue, not the regulator’s.
Two of the 2025 changes come straight from the regulator’s own pages. The AGCC site records that the Bailiwick received a MONEYVAL/FATF endorsement in 2025 and that the Commission appointed a new Commissioner from Guernsey’s financial-crime division; the eGambling FAQ adds that economic-substance guidance was formalised to OECD and ECOFIN standards. I wouldn’t read a supervisory direction into a single appointment. What the endorsement does change is the banking conversation: it’s a citable line when a payment provider asks why a fee-only, no-duty jurisdiction should be trusted.
What I couldn’t verify
Crypto. Neither the AGCC fee page nor the eGambling FAQ addresses cryptocurrency stakes, wallets or token products. I’ve seen Alderney described as crypto-friendly and as crypto-hostile in the same week; both claims were consultants’ opinions. Until the Commission publishes a position, treat crypto as a question to put to the AGCC in writing before you apply.
The Key Individual Certificate fee isn’t on the published schedule either, and the investigation-cost tariff isn’t public. If a consultant gives you numbers for those, ask which AGCC document they came from.
For the fee comparison across all twelve jurisdictions we track, see the cost table; the Alderney profile has the licence types and substance notes in one place, and the jurisdiction finder will tell you whether Alderney survives your product and market filters at all.
Pitfalls and nuances
1 Budgeting from the minimum band
GBP 35,000 is Band A, for yield under GBP 500k. A Category 1 operator at GBP 3m yield is in Band C at GBP 80,000; at GBP 10m it's Band E at GBP 200,000. Price the band your forecast lands in, not the floor.
2 Assuming no duty means Alderney always wins on cost
Each band jump creates a window where the Isle of Man's GBP 36,750 fee plus 1.5% duty is cheaper. From GBP 500k to about GBP 2.88m yield the Isle of Man wins; the same happens just above the 5m, 7.5m and 30m thresholds.
3 Reading 'no physical presence' as no substance
The AGCC doesn't require a physical presence for regulatory purposes, but economic-substance guidelines to OECD/ECOFIN standards were formalised in 2025 and a Category 2 licensee must keep essential transaction functions on Bailiwick servers.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an Alderney gambling licence cost per year?
Category 2 renews at a flat GBP 35,000. Category 1 renews by yield band: GBP 35,000 under GBP 500k, rising through six more bands to GBP 400,000 above GBP 30m, plus GBP 3,000 per associate.
Does Alderney charge gaming tax on gambling yield?
No. The AGCC model is fee-only: no gaming duty, no VAT on gambling yield and zero-rated company profits. The banded renewal fee replaces the percentage duty other jurisdictions charge.
Do my servers have to be in Alderney?
No. An approved data centre or cloud outside the Bailiwick is allowed. The exception is a Category 2 licence holder, which must run the essential gambling-transaction functions on Bailiwick servers.
When is Alderney cheaper than the Isle of Man?
For a Category 1 operator: under GBP 500k yield, from about GBP 2.88m to 5m, 6.22m to 7.5m, 10.88m to 30m, and above 32.65m. In the gaps the Isle of Man's 1.5% duty costs less.
Can I take UK players with an Alderney licence?
Not on its own. UK-facing operators need a UK Gambling Commission licence. Alderney also sits outside the EU and EEA, so there's no EU passporting.
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Browse the firm ranking →Sources cited
- Alderney Gambling Control Commission — regulator
- AGCC — Regulation framework: Fees (schedule effective 1 April 2015) — official document
- Alderney eGambling — Frequently asked questions — industry publication
- Appleby — Guide to Gambling Law in the Isle of Man 2026 — industry publication