Read this before the price
Everything published about the Tuvalu licence traces back to one group of websites: the authority's site, registered in July 2025 behind a privacy proxy, the licensing portal, and a legislation site created in July 2026 that hosts two PDFs, both generated on the same day, titled the Tuvalu Gaming Authority Act (cited as CAP 48.20.5) and the Online Gaming Regulation (CAP 50.03). The Government of Tuvalu's official legislation database, in its 2022 revised edition, lists one gaming statute: the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1964. Neither PDF carries an act number, a gazette date or a signature, and the Act itself says it commences on a date the Minister prescribes in the Gazette. We could not find that Gazette notice. The "sole official representative" that takes applications and collects fees is a Costa Rican limited company.
None of that means the licence does not work in the market. It means that when a bank or a game studio asks "who stands behind this", the honest answer today is "a private administrator that says it acts for Tuvalu", and you should decide with that answer in hand rather than the brochure's. Point Legal's six-jurisdiction offshore comparison of June 2026 leaves Tuvalu out altogether; that is one professional view of where it sits.
What is on the register
The public register listed 80 licences on 13 September 2026, B2C and B2B, numbered GLN-xxxx, with expiries running from August 2026 to September 2027. Independent counts give 17 licensees on 1 October 2025; a sponsored article in February 2026 claimed 129. The register is the number to trust. Named suppliers that have taken Tuvalu-licensed clients include Betsoft, GR8 Tech, GammaStack, Spadegaming and Turbo Games; PSPs named as live include Xentropay, Onstar and Finera, with larger names such as PayRetailers, MiFinity and Truevo described as "in evaluation" for most of the last year. Read "in evaluation" as "not yet".
Cost and scope
| Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-approval | free, 4–5 working days | licensing portal |
| Application | about USD 1,200 | Chambers & Co, Feb 2026 |
| Annual licence | USD 15,850 (mid-2025 quotes) to USD 17,200 (Feb 2026 quote) | licensing firms; portal does not publish fees |
| Extra domains | USD 500 each; two included | Chambers & Co |
| Principal licence (up to 15 brands) | about USD 52,500 | single source, unconfirmed |
| Gaming tax | 0% | Regulation Part V, s.52 (as published by the administrator) |
| All-in first year with company | EUR 21,900 to USD 28,000 | GFLO, May 2026; Gofaizen & Sherle, June 2026 |
One licence covers casino, live dealer, sportsbook and esports, poker, lottery, bingo and crypto, and includes B2B supply. Gaming inside Tuvalu itself is prohibited; the licence is offshore-only by design. The restricted list in the published regulation includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Russia, China, Iran and the rest of the FATF blacklist, plus "any jurisdiction with local-licence requirements", which in 2026 is a long list. Geo-IP blocking is mandatory.
Requirements and timeline
There is no local company, director, office or server requirement; a company from any jurisdiction qualifies. You name a compliance officer at application, supply AML, KYC and responsible-gaming policies, RNG certificates for your games where they exist, and hosting details. KYC must be completed before any payout and before cumulative deposits exceed USD 10,000. The seal goes on the site and 99.9% uptime is a licence condition. From a complete file, issuance takes three to four weeks according to the portal and the firms that file most often; slower quotes run to eight weeks.
Our position
We will set up a Tuvalu licence for a client who wants it, and it is a workable choice for a crypto-first brand testing a market for a year with a small budget. We recommend Anjouan ahead of it for the same money and use case, because Anjouan has a decade of PSP and studio relationships, a public regulator with published enforcement, and a fee schedule on the regulator's own site. If banking acceptance matters at all, Tobique is the better spend. Fees here have risen once since launch; assume they will move again.
Questions operators ask
Is the Tuvalu licence legitimate?
It is issued, it appears on a public register, suppliers and some PSPs accept it. What we cannot show you is a Tuvalu government act, gazette or minister confirming the regime. Treat it as a market-recognised private licence until that changes.
Which payment providers accept it?
Small offshore PSPs and crypto processors. Mainstream EU and UK processors largely do not, and the firms that sell the licence say PSP onboarding is the limiting factor. Confirm your specific PSP in writing before you pay the fee.
Can I hold several brands?
The Principal licence structure allows up to 15 sub-brands, each with its own due diligence. Only one source quotes its price, so budget provisionally.
Sources
- tuvga.com and its licence register; betuvalu.com legislation page; Act and Regulation PDFs on tuvalugamingact.tv (files dated 27 July 2026), accessed 13 September 2026
- tuvalu-legislation.tv, 2022 Revised Edition index of Acts
- Chambers & Co guide, 25 February 2026; GFLO Law, 7 May 2026; Gofaizen & Sherle, 2 June 2026; licencegaming.com, 2026
- iGamingToday market research, 1 October 2025; Yogonet sponsored article, 26 February 2026
- Point Legal, offshore gaming licences compared, 22 June 2026