Comoros Gaming License

Who regulates gambling in Comoros and Anjouan?

No national gambling regulator exists in the Union of the Comoros. Permits sold as "Comoros" licences come from Anjouan. There the island licensing body Anjouan Gaming issues the licences, the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority (AOFA) is the governing authority, and the Anjouan Gaming Board supervises. Anjouan Licensing Services Inc. (ALSI) has administered applications since 2023.

The picture runs on two levels, and operators need both.

At island level, Anjouan Gaming issues Anjouan internet gaming licences and the Anjouan Gaming Board supervises them, under the Computer Gaming Licensing Act No. 007 of 2005. Anti-money-laundering duties sit under the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act 008 of 2005. ALSI handles the application pipeline and certificate verification.

At union level the position is different. The FATF/GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report on the Union of the Comoros was adopted in May 2024. The report records that casinos and gambling establishments are prohibited in the Union of the Comoros.

The same report states that lottery activity and all other games of chance are prohibited within the Union, citing Article 201 of the Penal Code, introduced by Law No. 20-038/AU of 29 December 2020. Because of that prohibition, the assessors placed casinos outside the scope of national anti-money-laundering supervision.

The Banque Centrale des Comores (BCC) has published a separate communiqué, signed on 15 June 2022 and republished by the Comorian Ministry of Finance in December 2025. The communiqué names AOFA among structures it calls fictitious. The BCC holds that licensing financial institutions is its own exclusive competence. That communiqué addresses banking, not gaming.

The BCC position is not new. The central bank alerted the international community to illegal banking licences sold through the Anjouan offshore sector in November 2005, and a case reached an examining magistrate at the Court of First Instance of Moroni in 2008. The IMF recorded in 2010 that nobody implicated had been prosecuted.

No court has ruled on whether Anjouan may license online gambling. The question is open.

Is the Comoros (Anjouan) gambling license legitimate and recognised?

Anjouan issues the licences and operators do run on them. The legal basis is disputed at national level. The FATF/GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report of May 2024 records that games of chance are prohibited across the Union of the Comoros. No EU regulator and no tier-1 bank treats the licence as equivalent to a regulated licence.

Two Union-level instruments frame the dispute. Article 9 of the Union Constitution reserves religion, nationality, currency, foreign affairs, external security, and national symbols to the Union. Article 15 of Organic Law No. 05-003/AU of 1 March 2005 adds criminal and banking legislation as sole Union competence. The IMF described that division as it stood in 2005 to 2008, and a constitutional revision in May 2009 reorganised the islands again.

That division matters for gaming, because the Union prohibition on games of chance sits in the Penal Code, which is criminal law. The description of both instruments comes from the International Monetary Fund assessment of the Comoros, Country Report No. 10/320 of October 2010. The IMF applied it to banking and anti-money-laundering law, not to gambling.

The same IMF report cuts both ways. It states that offshore financial institutions in Anjouan were created in violation of the law of the Union. It also states that the law creating offshore companies was legally adopted by the Parliament of Anjouan and, not having been repealed, remains in effect and continues to present a risk.

The IMF recommended that Comorian authorities clarify the illegality of offshore financial and non-financial entities that claim a Comorian reference, naming Internet casinos among them. No such clarification has been published since.

What this means in practice:

• The licence works as a fast, low-cost entry permit. Operators use it to launch and to onboard offshore or crypto payment providers.

• The licence does not work as a credibility badge. Mainstream payment providers, tier-1 banks, and investors running due diligence apply extra scrutiny or decline.

• Regulated markets stay closed. Holding the licence gives no right to serve players in the EU, the United Kingdom, or any other licensed market.

MGL Solutions states this openly because operators who learn it after paying lose both the fee and the launch window.

Comoros vs Anjouan vs Mwali: how do the islands relate?

The Union of the Comoros is made up of three islands: Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Mwali (Mohéli), and Ndzuwani (Anjouan). Two of them market offshore online gaming licences separately. Anjouan runs the regime described on this page. Mwali runs its own regime through the Mwali International Services Authority (MISA). A "Comoros gaming license" almost always means the Anjouan licence.

Which island you use changes where you incorporate and who supervises you.

• Anjouan (Ndzuwani): Anjouan Gaming issues the licence under Act No. 007 of 2005, with AOFA as governing authority and the Anjouan Gaming Board as supervisor. Company formed in Anjouan through a registered agent.

• Mwali (Mohéli): licensing by MISA under Mwali's own offshore legislation. That means its own application and its own company.

• Ngazidja (Grande Comore): no offshore online gaming regime.

You do not need a company in Mwali for an Anjouan licence. Any provider telling you to register an International Business Company in Mwali for an Anjouan licence has mixed up two regimes.

What gambling activities does the Comoros (Anjouan) license cover?

One Anjouan permit covers the main online verticals. The licence extends to casino games, sports betting, poker, lottery and bingo, virtual sports, and business-to-business services. Operators do not buy a separate licence per vertical. Coverage is set by the licence class you apply for and by the domains registered against it.

• Casino: slots, table games, live dealer.

• Sportsbook: fixed-odds, in-play, and eSports betting.

• Poker and peer-to-peer card games.

• Lottery, raffles, and bingo.

• Virtual and skill-based games.

• Business-to-business software and platform services.

Our Anjouan gaming license page breaks each vertical down by licence class.

What are the licence types, B2C and B2B?

Anjouan issues two classes. A B2C licence covers operators running their own player-facing platform. A B2B licence covers suppliers serving other operators, and is evidenced through a business-to-business recognition certificate. Processing time is the same for both. Operators working on both sides can hold both.

For the full breakdown of each class, the sub-categories, and the recognition certificate, see our Anjouan gaming license page.

How do you get a Comoros (Anjouan) gaming license?

The application runs in five stages: consultation and company formation, document preparation, submission, regulator due diligence, and issuance. Applicants supply their own ID documents. MGL prepares the forms, the compliance policies, the organisational chart, and the corporate filings. The due-diligence stage is fixed by the licensing body and cannot be shortened.

Realistic timing is four weeks at the earliest and six to eight weeks in a typical case.

The full step-by-step process, with the time each stage takes, sits on our Anjouan gaming license page.

What are the requirements and where do you incorporate?

An Anjouan licence needs a company incorporated in Anjouan through a licensed registered agent. Management can stay remote. The regime asks for no local office and no resident director. Applicants disclose the ultimate beneficial owner and evidence the source of funds, and they must hold anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer, and responsible gaming policies.

• Company incorporated in Anjouan via a registered agent.

• At least one director or shareholder, individual or corporate.

• Ultimate beneficial owner disclosure and source-of-funds evidence.

• AML, KYC, and responsible gaming policies.

• A working gaming website and registered domains.

• Documents in English, recent, and certified where requested.

On minimum capital: figures of EUR 250,000 circulate in the market, and our Anjouan gaming license page records no statutory minimum capital. Treat EUR 250,000 as a recommended funding level rather than a published statutory threshold. The full document checklist sits on the same page.

How much does a Comoros (Anjouan) gaming license cost?

The licensing bodies publish no official public tariff. The working benchmark is a government fee from EUR 17,828 per year, the figure MGL publishes on our Anjouan gaming license page. That figure covers the government fee only. Company formation, compliance documents, and annual management sit outside it.

For packages, inclusions, and a quote matched to your project, see our Anjouan gaming license page or contact us.

What taxes apply to a Comoros (Anjouan) licensee?

Anjouan's offshore regime applies 0% tax on gross gaming revenue, no value-added tax, and no corporate income tax on offshore income. Those rates are set at island level by the Anjouan regime, not by the national tax authority of the Union of the Comoros. A 0% island rate does not make an operator tax-free.

Tax follows substance. Three tests decide where an operator actually pays.

• Corporate residence: where directors meet and decisions are taken, not where the company is registered.

• Place of effective management: a company run from an office in another country is usually taxable there.

• Player location: many markets levy point-of-consumption or remote gaming duty on turnover from their residents, whatever licence the operator holds.

Anti-avoidance rules under the OECD BEPS framework and the Multilateral Instrument can also pull profits back to the country of real activity. Take tax advice in the country you are managed from before you rely on a 0% headline.

Which markets are restricted under the Comoros (Anjouan) license?

Regulated markets are off limits under the Anjouan licence. Restricted territories are Australia, Austria, Comoros itself including Anjouan residents, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and all countries on the FATF blacklist. Operators must block these markets at sign-up and at deposit.

Blocking is a technical obligation, not a policy statement. Two controls are expected.

• Geo-IP filtering at registration, login, and deposit.

• VPN and proxy detection, with the account blocked when a restricted location shows.

Serving a restricted market exposes an operator to enforcement in that market, and payment providers treat it as a reason to close the account.

How does a Comoros (Anjouan) license compare with recognised regulators?

The comparison that matters is recognition, not features. On paper an Anjouan licence covers the same verticals as Malta or Curaçao. In practice the licence sits in the entry tier. Offshore and crypto payment providers accept it. Mainstream providers are wary, and EU or UK authorities do not treat it as a regulated licence.

Recognition tiers, from the operator's point of view:

• Entry tier, Anjouan and Mwali: fast and cheap, with limited banking and payment access.

• Mid tier, Curaçao under the Curaçao Gaming Authority and its 2024 gaming ordinance, the Landsverordening op de Kansspelen, and Kahnawake: more providers accept it, and the process runs longer.

• Regulated tier, the Malta Gaming Authority, the UK Gambling Commission, and national European licences: full banking access, market access, and heavier compliance.

Most operators who start on Anjouan and grow move up. MGL structures the first licence so the move costs less later. The corporate chain, the compliance policies, and the player-funds handling all meet the standard the next tier asks for. That shortens a later Curaçao or Malta application. Compare every jurisdiction MGL handles on our gambling license hub.

What are the disadvantages and risks of a Comoros (Anjouan) license?

The main risks are recognition and legal uncertainty, not cost. The licence is not recognised by EU regulators or the UK Gambling Commission. Mainstream payment providers and tier-1 banks usually decline. At national level the FATF/GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report of May 2024 records that games of chance are prohibited across the Union of the Comoros.

Risks operators should price in:

• Payment access is narrow. Expect an offshore or crypto payment stack rather than mainstream acquiring.

• Banking is harder. Tier-1 banks generally decline entry-tier offshore licences such as Anjouan.

• The union-level legal position is unresolved. Gambling is prohibited under Article 201 of the Comorian Penal Code, introduced by Law No. 20-038/AU of 29 December 2020, per the FATF/GIABA report. The Banque Centrale des Comores has called AOFA a fictitious structure in a published communiqué. No court has ruled either way.

• A European regulator names the jurisdiction. Spelinspektionen, the Swedish Gambling Authority, reported on 20 March 2025 that Curaçao accounted for 38 per cent and Anjouan for 5 per cent of all Swedish traffic to unlicensed gambling sites in 2024, and described Anjouan as offering low requirements and a fast licensing process.

• Press coverage carries reputational cost. Australia's ABC investigated the Anjouan framework in December 2025, and Le Monde followed in February 2026, reporting that a business-to-business supplier owned by a listed European gaming group had taken an Anjouan licence in November 2025.

• Naming is unstable. Several websites present themselves as the official Anjouan regulator, which complicates due diligence for your own partners.

• Large markets stay closed: the United States, the United Kingdom, five named European Union states, Australia, and Comoros itself. No regulated European market is open on this licence either.

• The licence is not a credibility signal for banks or investors.

None of this makes the licence useless. It makes the licence a specific tool: fast market entry on a small budget, with a plan to move up.

Why obtain your Comoros (Anjouan) license with MGL Solutions?

MGL Solutions sells the Anjouan licence with the limits stated upfront. You get an honest suitability check before you pay, and correct incorporation in Anjouan rather than Mwali. We build the full compliance stack, then introduce payment and banking partners that match an offshore profile. The structure we set up upgrades to Curaçao or Malta later.

• Suitability check first. If your target markets or your banking needs rule out Anjouan, we say so before you pay.

• Correct incorporation. Company formed in Anjouan through a registered agent, not an unrelated island regime.

• Full compliance stack. AML, KYC, and responsible gaming policies, geo-IP and VPN blocking specifications, and virtual-asset Travel Rule procedures for crypto operators.

• Payment and banking introductions matched to an offshore gaming profile, so applications reach providers that onboard this tier.

• Upgrade path built in. The corporate and compliance structure is set to the standard a Curaçao or Malta application asks for.

• Post-licence support. Renewals, reporting, and compliance updates after the licence is issued.

MGL Solutions has delivered 300+ licences for operators across offshore, onshore, and European regulated jurisdictions.

How is the Comoros (Anjouan) license renewed?

The Anjouan licence runs for one year and must be renewed annually. Renewal means paying the annual fee, refreshing anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer policies, and filing updated financial and operational reports. Start at least 60 days before the anniversary date so operations do not stop.

Renewal is charged at a similar level to the first year rather than a discounted rate. Our Anjouan gaming license page sets out renewal in full.