Evaluating White-Label vs. Turnkey: Which’s Best for A Gambling Venue?

Each online gambling venue is unique in its own way. This is due to many factors: operational geography, number of games, type of license, language interface options, currencies used for financial transactions, business process structure, customer support excellence, and so on. An additional significant difference is the information-technology solution on which the gambling club operates. In gambling through the World Wide Web, the two main approaches are turnkey & white-label platforms. There are also out-of-the-box (ready-made a.k.a. off-the-shelf) solutions, but we will not consider them in this article, as they are chosen less frequently by market operators. Moreover, we have previously discussed out-of-the-box solutions in our blog (in the specified article, we believe, the issue of off-the-shelf solutions is covered quite well). 

The choice between one or the other solution for opening a new online gambling establishment (or changing an old platform to a new one) is complex. To make the right choice, it is necessary to examine the nature of both types of platforms, their capabilities, pros and cons, and also look at venues that have used both types of platforms to evaluate them visually by estimating their websites. In this article, we will discuss all these issues.

Defining White Label and Turnkey Solutions

Let’s define what white label (WL) solutions are and what turnkey solutions are for online houses of gambling.

White Label Solutions

WL platform for gaming clubs is a ready-to-use technological and methodological solution for launching a new gaming establishment on the Internet. It is fully developed software provided by a software company, which offers it to business clients for lease. The key difference between WL solutions and SaaS or off-the-shelf solutions is that WL allows customization of the software to match a brand so that the platform user thinks that it was developed by the gambling operator on whose website he or she currently is, and not by a third-party supplier. In contrast, SaaS and off-the-shelf solutions are branded with the developer’s or the owning company’s brand, not the client’s brand.

Branding is part of configuring WL software before it starts operating. At this stage, the business client’s corporate colors, logo, fonts, images, and icons, corporate style of texts, banners, and messages, as well as everything else according to the brand book, are applied. Branding applies to both the user-facing part (external parts such as the gaming website) and the internal part (back office where gaming provider employees manage players, create reports, process payouts, prevent fraud, etc.).

WL software includes all the components necessary for the full operation of a new gaming parlor:

• Website with all buttons, player registration, personal account areas, etc.
• Payment gateway with a set of deposit and withdrawal methods
• Set of game providers and games connected via API or other technological methods, from providers or aggregators
• Customer support service (which will be trained on specific scripts for interacting with clients of the specific gaming club connecting to the WL solution)
• Licenses obtained from one of the issuing authorities (common choices for WL are Malta, Isle of Man, and Curacao)
• Marketing, anti-fraud tools, and procedures for KYC and AML
• Reporting: financial, analytical, operational, external and internal, tax, managerial, etc.
• All accompanying processes and databases.

Essentially, the gambling establishment is a business user of the ready-to-use WL solution, and all issues related to its technological, legal, and operational functioning are handled by the developing company (software provider). Such solutions have gained widespread adoption in modern online gaming clubs due to their numerous advantages, which we will explore further below.

Turnkey Solutions

The main distinguishing feature of such solutions for gambling establishments is that they are developed from scratch to meet the needs of a specific client. Such platforms are highly customized for the client and become their commercial property after the IT company hired for this task completes the development and makes the commissioning. Every aspect of this platform is designed according to a specific technical assignment, which is based on the client’s business requirements to maximize coverage of their operational processes and needs. The client has full control over the system and is the sole business user of it.

Comparing White Label and Turnkey Solutions

Below, we provide 6 criteria for a proper comparison of white-label and turnkey solutions, which, in our opinion, offer an accurate picture. By reading these comparisons, gambling business owners can have a better opinion about what might be better for them to implement.

Ease of Implementation

To quickly enter the market and start operating, a WL solution is ideal, as it only requires the setup of branding and individual corporate data (legal and payment information). Turnkey solutions will require more time, as it is a separate development project with each stage being lengthy (gathering business requirements, creating a technical specification, prototyping, development, testing, iterations for bug fixes and re-testing, user training, and deployment). While it is quite possible to enter the market within 1-6 months with a WL solution, the overall timeline for a turnkey solution pretty much can exceed 2 years.

Customization and Branding

While implementing a WL solution requires only a moderately extensive system setup (the so-called parameterization for the new business user), turnkey solutions demand the highest degree of personalization, which is one of the focuses during development. In a WL solution, parameterization may not be 100% perfect, whereas in turnkey solutions, it is either perfect or very close to perfection. To ensure that a WL solution supports ideal parameterization, covering all the client’s needs and wishes, custom development might be necessary. This entails additional time and cost.

Cost Considerations

WL solutions are cost-effective in comparison. The total price for starting work with the system and its setup is rarely more than €100,000. In contrast, such an amount is typically spent on turnkey solutions just in the stage of gathering business requirements and creating the technical specification for the developer. A complete budget of a turnkey project can easily exceed €1 million. Since not every newcomer to the online gambling market has such funds available, most of them opt for WL solutions.

Operational Control

The operational control over the functionality of a WL solution and its changes lies solely with its developer. While users can suggest and submit their ideas for features they would like to see in the system, as they might be useful, the final decision on whether to add features or make other changes belongs to the software developer. The provider manages much—if not all—of the backend and operations.

In a turnkey system, the developer works according to the approved technical specification and implements all the features outlined in it. If something is lacking during the implementation process, it is the developer’s responsibility to address this shortcoming, as well as to correct any errors and bugs found during functional and user testing. As a result, the business user has greater control over operations, including game selection, payment processing, and customer support.

Time to Market

As we have already noted, with a WL solution, the time to market is low—up to six months, and even then, this is if you consider migrating from a previous technological solution to a new WL solution. If it’s a completely new start, you can get it done within 1-2 months, provided that the collaboration between the client and the solution provider is efficient and fast on both sides. With a turnkey solution, the time to market heavily depends on how quickly and effectively the development process of the new solution from scratch progresses. There are many stages, many people involved, approvals, and bureaucracy, which means that resolving misalignment within teams on both sides can take up a significant portion of the time. One to two years is the most realistic implementation timeframe. Turnkey is not suitable for those who want to enter the market quickly.

Regulatory Compliance

In both cases, compliance with regulatory requirements will be high or full. However, the responsibility for non-compliance differs:

• For a WL solution, the software developer is responsible for ensuring that the processes within it comply with the regulatory framework. If the process cannot be configured accordingly, what influence does the business user have on this? Incidentally, from the perspective of regulatory authorities, both the software developer and the user can be held responsible for violations, depending on the jurisdiction and legal practice.
• For a turnkey solution, only the business user, as the owner of the software, is responsible.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Let’s now consider the advantages and disadvantages of both types of platforms.

White Label Solutions

When evaluating white label solutions for online casino, we can notice such advantages:

• Speed to market. Typically, deploying a new gambling establishment on a WL platform takes from 1 to 6 months, rarely longer. Even if migrating from an old platform with partial transfer of existing processes and complete transfer of critical data (such as customer databases, transaction histories, player balances, and documents), the data migration processes set up by modern WL providers usually allow for a 6-month timeframe, occasionally faster.
• Lower costs. The initial payment for joining the platform and its setup is usually in the range of €20,000 to €100,000. Further operational costs depend on the pricing model of the specific solution provider.
• Ease of entry. The gambling market can be entered even by companies or private capital owners who have no knowledge of online gambling. Their goals may include testing their capabilities in a new market segment, expanding into a related segment, changing their business activity, or opening an additional online gambling venue if they already have one or more establishments.
• Provider support. The provider of this technological solution offers full support for technological, legal, and operational functioning.
• Comprehensive solution. The platform has all the necessary functionality to start operations. It only requires personalization of elements necessary for effective operation for the specific business user: payment recipient details for financial transactions, contact details, corporate information (for communication and informing users about the service provider), and other data belonging to the specific company + its branding.
• Scalability. WL solutions are developed with the understanding that the gambling business will grow over time. Scalability allows for gradual or abrupt increases in the number of players, payment tools, games and their suppliers, interface languages, etc.

When evaluating white label solutions for casino, we see such disadvantages:

• Limited customization. The software is delivered AS IS, meaning its functionality is limited to what the software provider has developed. If you want a fundamentally new functionality not present in the current solution (or to change something beyond technological configuration), it will require new IT development, with its own human resources, budget, and costs for you as the client. Such developments are lengthy (weeks/months) and expensive (thousands to tens of thousands of euros), and the developer may then offer this as new functionality to all other clients, effectively at your expense.
• Revenue-sharing. Most WL software providers want not only a monthly/annual subscription payment for their product but also a share of the profits it generates for the client. The RevShare percentage can vary depending on the provider and your agreements with them, but regardless of the percentage, the result is that the more you earn, the more you pay the solution provider in absolute sums of money. To maximize the provider’s earnings, they may contractually set a minimum payment threshold—if your calculated RevShare is below this threshold, you will be obligated to pay this minimum. Such financial arrangements reduce the income remaining at your disposal.
• Less control. As a business user, you essentially cannot dictate your terms to the developer regarding what features should be in the system and in what direction changes and further development should proceed. You also do not influence the choice of technologies used to develop the solution. You can make recommendations, but there’s no guarantee the developer will heed and implement them. Therefore, you are simply forced to use the product as it is, adapting to changes post-factum, rather than dictating them.
• Uniformity of brand. The same technological solution is used by other clients of the provider as well. You will not be distinguished from them too much (except for the visual branding component). Thus, functionally and procedurally, you will be similar to your competitors using the same solution. This is also detrimental to SEO because, at most, you will differ from similar competitors online only by some personalized text content on the website, but the technical code and technology will be the same. If the technical pages are not distinct, SEO performance will be worse both for you and your competitors (as the technical implementation of website pages also affects the SEO process quality).
• Dependency on the platform provider. Once you start using a WL solution, you will be tied to it in your operational activities for quite a while. You can switch to another provider, but this involves reopening the migration process and going through the migration and parameterization stages again, which requires nerves, time, and money. However, this issue becomes critical only when the provider stops supporting and developing their WL platform.

Turnkey Solutions

When evaluating turnkey solutions for casino, we see such advantages:

• High customization. The client has 100% control over the platform’s appearance and functionality, fully covering the implementation and support of all business processes within the system, as well as their changes when the regulatory framework or the company’s processes change.
• Full control. Every aspect of the system’s operation is under the business user’s control. If something needs to be changed in the system, the user can do so with the same developer who created the system, independently, or by involving another contractor, including a freelance one.
• Potential for higher profits. Since there are no external payments required monthly or annually for using the system, all revenue remains with the company (except for royalties paid to game providers according to their current royalty system. Just to be clear: every market participant pays these royalties).
• Comprehensive solution. It covers every aspect of functionality needed by the client, leaving no “white spots” uncovered by the finished software. Exceptions might only be those “white spots” that are too expensive to cover within the scope of the work, which the client may choose to exclude to optimize the budget and time.
• Personalized support. After the software is in use, it can be supported as needed for its operation by the client, the software developer, or a third party. The key is that you only pay for what you need, without constant costs like in WL options, where support fees are always charged regardless of whether actual support was provided. By “support,” we mean not a fixed monthly fee like a Netflix, Internet, or mobile phone subscription, but rather the cost of system maintenance when something breaks, malfunctions, needs updating, or requires security patches, etc. The cost of support may also include fees for customer support, which can vary from month to month depending on the actual number of customer inquiries. The downside is that if something breaks frequently, the cost of custom support can be higher than with a WL solution.

Disadvantages:

• Higher costs. Any custom IT development is expensive. Sometimes extremely, sometimes just simply too expensive. There are no quality IT products, developed individually, with extensive functionality, that are cheap. Except for pirated copies, which we do not support and strongly condemn. Therefore, a unique, adequate, and good development will cost from hundreds of thousands to millions of euros.
• Longer time. Development requires a project, which usually lasts from several months in the preparation phase, then 0.5-1-1.5 years in development, followed by testing + deployment + additional actions. In short, creating a system from scratch usually takes up to 2 years.
• Greater operational responsibility. Each client of such a platform will inevitably face the need to maintain it themselves or with the help of the developer or a third-party vendor. This requires hiring a permanent team for support and problem-solving or external consulting specialists on an hourly basis. The price range in this field is high: from $10 per hour for the least qualified workers with minimal knowledge and capabilities to $1,000+ per hour for experts at the architect level. The average rate in fall 2024 is $25-100 per hour.
• Complexity of operation. Since the development is custom, staff must be trained to work with it, and there will be a gradual obsolescence of the technology, leading to increasing complexity in maintaining it as specialists in that technology become scarcer over time. Specific examples: today, it is very difficult or impossible to find programmers working with programming languages like Cobol, Fortran, Lisp, Basic, or Pascal. However, even ultra-modern languages like GoLang or Rust will become dinosaurs in 30-50 years. While WL solution providers handle technological upgrades or complete system changes from an old language to a new one, for users who have a turnkey solution, this technological aspect falls on their shoulders.

Determining the Best Fit for Your Casino Venture

To correctly determine which of the two solution options is best suited for you, you need to evaluate them from the following perspectives:

1. Business goals and objectives: What are your business goals regarding your market position? Do you want to enter the market quickly? Or have full control over the system and its capabilities? Do you want to stand out from competitors? Or do you have a limited budget?
2. Market positioning: While both solutions generally allow for adequate management of your market positioning, if creating high brand uniqueness is your goal, you should opt for a turnkey solution. It offers high personalization of the image, visual structure of the gaming interface, personal processes, and unique page code—all of which are good for SEO promotion and creating a unique brand image.
3. Budget and resources: With minimal time and resources, choose the WL solution. At the other end of the spectrum is the turnkey solution, which is expensive and time-consuming to implement. On the other hand, if you are somewhere in between, with an increased available budget and time for a good project, you should consider choosing a turnkey solution, as it will likely be less costly in the long run (if you evaluate all its costs based on LTV and ROI) and will be under your full control, although it will require an in-house IT department for support and enhancements.
4. Long-term vision: In the long term (e.g., 10-20 years), your company, with the right persistence and foresight, may grow significantly, meaning the WL solution may not meet your future needs, volumes, and operational cost requirements. This is not to mention the flexibility you will need, updates to keep up with the rapidly changing market, new features, robust AI-based analytics, integration of other pieces of software, and other aspects that constitute a long-term business. Thus, the turnkey solution has an advantage in the long run.

Case Studies: Successful Implementations

Below, we examine online gaming parlors that have implemented both types of systems.

White Label Success Stories

1. Scatters Casino (https://scatters.com). The company that implemented its WL solution is SoftGamings. 10,000+ games. This launch was characterized by a rapid increase in new players on the website, a good percentage of active users, and many executed marketing campaigns. In this implementation, Scatters Casino’s management aimed at integrating various game providers and adhering to numerous regulations. SoftGamings was chosen for its experience in game aggregation and navigation in the international gambling regulations.
2. N1 Bet (https://casino.n1bet.com). A gambling establishment launched by SoftSwiss. 7,000 games. Notable for a high player retention rate due to bonuses and promotions for newcomers. Reduced cost of acquiring new customers. SoftSwiss uses a highly scalable infrastructure that handles a large volume of games and player transactions.
3. Betarno (https://betarno.com). Launched by ProgressPlay. 4,000 games. Noteworthy for a high conversion rate of leads into players due to effective marketing launched in the initial months of the new project.
4. Malina Casino (https://malinacasino.com). Launched by Soft2Bet.

Key factors contributing to their success: these websites feature thousands of games integrated through aggregation services. They also include payment gateways, marketing tools, functional back-ends, bonus management systems, regulatory compliance, websites optimized for high-quality user experience, and gamification methods to increase player engagement. In other words, everything needed to get started. And of course, everything related to anti-fraud and its monitoring. All systems offer fast deployment and scalability.

Turnkey Success Stories

1. Falcon Vegas (https://www.falconvegas.com). The launch was made by Casimba Gaming. 6,000 games.
2. BitStarz Casino (https://bitstarz.com). Launched by SoftSwiss—a company also known for custom development. A notable feature is the acceptance of cryptocurrency payments (one of the first in the gambling market). It also saw a higher LTV compared to gambling establishments that only accepted fiat currencies. The availability of cryptocurrency payments allowed it to achieve a customer base of 1 million gamesters.
3. Casumo (https://www.casumo.com). Independent platform. Noted for significant growth in its user base and a good retention rate for newly registered users.

Evaluating turnkey solutions for online casino venues above, we see that the key factors contributing to their success are high customization, comprehensive marketing tools, bonus management, customer analytics, and affiliate programs. Support for multiple gaming licenses.

Conclusion

White Label solutions are ideal for operators seeking a quick and cost-effective way to enter the online gambling market with a ready-made platform. They offer fewer customizations but benefit from fast deployment and lower initial costs. Although the level of customization can be really high in leading providers.

Turnkey solutions are suited for operators looking for a highly customizable platform with absolute control over all business processes. These systems will require higher costs and a longer implementation time but provide a unique, bespoke solution that can potentially last over a decade or even two.

If you are currently considering implementing one of these platforms to grow your gambling business, our company, BoomAff, can effectively assist you in this matter. We have extensive experience in implementations for clients from various geos, with different needs and business sizes, and with varying requirements. Based on your business metrics and needs, we will help you choose the best solution for your company and fully support the implementation process from start to finish, ensuring you achieve a good ROI at a reasonable cost. Contact us today to schedule a meeting to discuss the details!