Offshore
Costa Rica licence.
DPL
Holding company; payment-agent structuring; affiliate ops; smaller B2C brands seeking lowest-cost legal posture.
What the regulator asks for
Year one cost
~$4k/year company formation
Local company formation ~$4,000/year. No specific gaming tax. Used as corporate-structuring jurisdiction beneath Anjouan, Tobique, or Curaçao licences.
Timeline
4-6 weeks
Company-formation timeline.
Gaming tax
No specific gaming tax (operates as data-processing entity).
Marketing climate
Not a gambling regulator; no marketing rules from Costa Rica itself.
The market
Costa Rica continues to issue Data Processing Licences (DPL) rather than gambling licences. Companies operate under "data processing" classification; a Costa Rican gambling regulator does not exist for online operations targeting non-residents.
How the application runs
Local company formation via Costa Rican attorney.
Ongoing compliance
No gaming-specific compliance from Costa Rica; operator carries destination-market obligations.
What you can and cannot say
No Costa Rica-specific rules.
The honest read
What it means for your plan
Not a gambling licence. Use it as a vehicle, not a credibility signal. Increasingly insufficient on its own as banking and PSP relationships demand a "real" gambling regulator behind the operator.
Get 3 actions
Weighing up Costa Rica?
One sentence is enough. I read these myself and reply with three actions you can take.