Licences and Payment Acceptance
A licence tells a provider which activity you are authorised for and which markets you may serve. These pages explain what each authorisation covers and what underwriting focuses on as a result.
Licences
Electronic money institution (EMI)
An electronic money institution (EMI) may issue e-money and hold customer balances, which puts it in a regulated category of its own when it applies for card acquiring. The question is no longer whether the business is legitimate, but how customer money is safeguarded, which markets the licence covers and how financial crime is controlled.
Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)
An MGA licence is one of the most widely recognised gaming licences, and it opens the door to acquirers that run gambling programmes. What decides the outcome is not the licence alone but which markets you take players from, how you protect player money and how you verify players. Acquirers check all three before they board you.
Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA)
A Curaçao licence can get you card acquiring, but it is the licence acquirers question hardest. Since the LOK took effect on 24 December 2024, operators are licensed and supervised directly by the Curaçao Gaming Authority, which removes the main objection to the old sub-licence model. Acquirers now look past the licence to your markets, your AML controls, your crypto exposure and your processing history.
UK Gambling Commission (UKGC)
A UK Gambling Commission licence is one of the strongest a gambling operator can show an acquirer, but it also comes with the most detailed payment rules of any major market. Credit cards are banned, deposits may only run through regulated payment services, and financial vulnerability checks are triggered by net deposits. Your payment setup has to be built around those rules from day one.
Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC)
An Isle of Man licence tells an acquirer that your payments are already supervised closely: the Gambling Supervision Commission approves every payment method you use before it goes live, and player money must be protected in full. That makes underwriting more predictable, provided your file shows the same controls the regulator has already approved.
Gibraltar gambling licence
Gibraltar licenses some of the largest gambling operators in the world, and acquirers treat it accordingly. Since 1 April 2026 the jurisdiction runs under a new Gambling Act, and its AML rules are stricter than most: every customer who deposits goes through enhanced due diligence. For your payment setup, that means strong controls at the point of deposit and clear evidence of where player money comes from.
Anjouan gaming licence
An Anjouan licence is quick and cheap to obtain, but it is the gambling licence acquirers are most cautious about. The authorities of the Union of the Comoros dispute the legal basis of the bodies that issue it, so far fewer acquirers accept it than accept Curaçao or Malta, and those that do look hard at everything else in your file. Your player markets, controls and track record carry more weight here than with any other licence.
Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC)
A Kahnawake licence is one of the longest-standing online gaming licences, and acquirers know it well, especially for operators focused on North America. What decides your application is less the licence than your player markets. Canada's provinces do not recognise it, and Ontario and Alberta now run their own licensed markets, so an acquirer will want to see exactly which countries and provinces you serve.
CySEC licence (Cyprus)
A CySEC licence is the most common route for forex and CFD brokers into the European market, and it is a licence acquirers understand. It also comes with detailed rules on how client money moves through payment providers, and card schemes now treat broker deposits as a category of their own. An acquirer will check both before it boards you.
Seychelles FSA licence
A Seychelles Securities Dealer licence is one of the most used licences for forex and CFD brokers serving clients outside Europe. Acquirers know it, but they treat it as an offshore licence: they look past it to where your clients are, who runs the business and how client money is handled. The 2025 changes to Seychelles law help, because they put more substance behind the licence.
Mauritius FSC licence
Mauritius is an established base for forex and CFD brokers serving Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and its regulator, the Financial Services Commission, is well known to acquirers. Since Mauritius left the FATF grey list in 2021 and the EU high-risk list in 2022, the jurisdiction itself is no longer the obstacle. What decides your application is your client markets, your substance and how client money moves.
MiCA licence (EU crypto)
Since July 2026, every crypto-asset service provider serving clients in the EU needs authorisation under MiCA. For payments, that has made things clearer: an authorised firm can show acquirers and banks exactly what it is allowed to do, and firms without authorisation are being cut off. What acquirers now check is whether your licence covers the services you actually run, and how fiat money moves in and out.
Ontario iGaming (AGCO and iGaming Ontario)
Ontario was the first Canadian province to open a regulated online gaming market to private operators. For an acquirer, an operator registered with the AGCO and signed up with iGaming Ontario is a clear case: lawful gambling, a known regulator and a market with fixed rules for deposits, withdrawals and player checks. What decides your application is how well your payment flows follow those rules.
German gambling licence (GGL)
Germany has one of Europe's most tightly regulated online gambling markets, and payments sit at the centre of it. Taking part in payments for unlicensed gambling is banned outright, and the regulator orders payment providers to stop. For an operator on the official whitelist that is an advantage: acquirers and banks know exactly which operators they can serve, and you are one of them.
Brazil betting licence (SPA/MF)
Brazil opened a regulated betting market on 1 January 2025, and payments are at the heart of how it is enforced. Only authorised operators may take bets, players may only pay with set methods from their own accounts, and banks must cut off anyone without a licence. For an operator with a Brazilian authorisation, that makes the payment setup clear: build it to the rules from day one and acquirers know exactly what they are boarding.
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