Industry · iGaming Affiliates
Cyprus for iGaming affiliates — 15% corporate, ~3% on owned site IP, 0% non-dom dividends
Built for casino, sportsbook and poker affiliate-site owners and media buyers running €1–€20m/yr. Affiliates only — if you operate the gambling itself you'll need an MGA / NBA licensing route, which we deliberately do not service.
The Cyprus stack
Same three layers, applied to igaming affiliates
Cyprus Ltd
Corporate income tax (2026)
15%
+ IP Box
Qualifying-IP effective rate
~3%
+ Non-dom founder
SDC on dividends, 17–27 yrs
0%
All-in for the founder
≈3% on profit · 0% on draw
15%
Corporate tax on affiliate revenue
~3%
IP Box on owned site IP
0%
Non-dom on dividends, 17–27 yrs
What you save
Worked example: €5m-revenue casino-affiliate group, 50% net margin
Affiliate group at €5,000,000 revenue, 50% net margin = €2,500,000 profit. Founder draws €600,000 of dividends per year. Compares a UK Ltd (current) versus Cyprus Ltd with founder relocated as non-dom.
Illustrative figures based on the Cyprus 2026 framework. Your actual outcome depends on home country, structure, family situation and substance — modelled on the call.
Annual net saving
€231,000+ / year
Over the 17-year non-dom window: ≈ €4m without IP Box; closer to €5–€5.5m with IP Box claimed on qualifying site IP.
Today
- Profit before tax€2,500,000
- UK corporation tax (25%)−€625,000
- Net for dividends€1,875,000
- UK personal tax on €600k dividends (~39.35% top rate)−€236,100
- Net to founder€363,900
After Cyprus
- Profit before tax€2,500,000
- Cyprus corporate tax (15%, blended assumption)−€375,000
- Net for dividends€2,125,000
- Cyprus non-dom SDC on €600k dividend€0
- GESY 2.65% (capped at €180k)−€4,770
- Net to founder€595,230
Why Cyprus, specifically
Three things Cyprus does for igaming affiliates that nowhere else in the EU does at once.
Tax
15% corporate tax on affiliate profit
Legal
Common-law contracts in English
Banking & Ops
Banking that survives the de-risking wave
“Used the 60-day rule package. The nominee director service works perfectly. My company runs smoothly while I travel. Best decision I made.”
How it works
Three steps from decision to operational.
Strategy call + KYC pack
We map your sites, traffic sources, operator mix, current entity, and your target structure. Honest answer on whether Cyprus fits, written scope within 24h. KYC pack assembled in parallel.
Cyprus Ltd live
Incorporation in 5–10 business days. UBO filed. Tax & VAT registrations. Substance plan documented for tax-residency defence.
Banking + ad-network onboarding
Cyprus banking opened. Wise / Revolut as supplemental rails. Google Ads / Meta billing entities switched. Operator-agreement novations begun.
Total realistic timeline: 2–3 months from decision to fully operational, with most of that being your own travel and apartment-hunting rather than the legal work.
vs the alternatives
Why Cyprus over Malta, Estonia, the UAE and Portugal — for igaming affiliates.
vs Malta. Malta's 6/7 refund mechanism produces a similar net rate (~5%) but only crystallises on dividend distribution and after a 12-month refund cycle, with banking that is materially harder to onboard. Cyprus is a flat 15% headline with the IP Box adding genuine ~3% effective for qualifying software income — simpler to defend, faster to bank.
vs Estonia. Estonia's deferred-tax regime is elegant for purely retained-profit businesses but levies 22% on every distribution — meaning when you draw cash, you pay. Cyprus non-dom dividends are 0% for 17–27 years. For founders who actually want to take money out, Cyprus wins.
vs UAE. The UAE's 9% corporate rate and 0% personal tax are attractive — but it is non-EU, GDPR-foreign and increasingly procurement-blocked by EU enterprise customers over Schrems II. Cyprus gives you the EU passport, native GDPR status and common-law contracts in English — without giving up much on the tax side.
vs Portugal. Portugal's NHR closed to new applicants in 2024. Its IFICI successor is narrow and excludes most pure digital-revenue businesses. Cyprus's non-dom is statutory law with bipartisan stability, recently strengthened (not weakened) by the 2026 reform with the 27-year extension election.
What we actually do
The full scope, fixed-fee, signed before any payment.
One licensed Cyprus lawyer accountable end-to-end. No hand-offs, no hourly billing, no surprise disbursements. Each scope is signed in writing within 24 hours of the call.
Cyprus affiliate Ltd set-up
Incorporation, registered office, beneficial-owner register, tax & VAT registrations. Memorandum & Articles tailored to a 1–3 founder structure with leadership ESOP support.
From €1,400 fixed
IP Box mapping for affiliate IP
We map your domains, content libraries, comparison engines, custom CMS, scoring frameworks and editorial systems against the 2026 IP-Box qualifying-asset rules and build the nexus tracking your accountant needs to claim the 80% deduction.
Founder relocation + non-dom
Pink Slip (non-EU) / Yellow Slip (EU), 60-day rule structuring, non-dom certification, year-1 personal tax return locking in 0% SDC on dividends.
From €1,400
Operator agreement papering
Affiliate agreements with operators novated to the Cyprus Ltd. Proper IP-assignment from any in-house writers and media-buyers. Sub-affiliate / network agreements drafted to Cyprus law.
Cyprus structuring for igaming affiliates, done properly.
A 30-minute call with a licensed Cyprus lawyer. Honest answer on whether Cyprus fits your specific situation, written scope and fixed-fee quote within 24 hours. No obligation, no follow-up loops.
A few questions we hear most
Does Cyprus banking actually open accounts for affiliates?
Yes — with the right narrative and KYC pack. Hellenic Bank, Eurobank and Astrobank all onboard affiliate-vertical companies that are clearly affiliates (not operators), have proper substance (Cyprus director, real office, audited accounts), and provide a clean source-of-funds story. We've opened dozens of these accounts over the past 36 months.
Is iGaming affiliate revenue eligible for the IP Box?
Affiliate revshare itself is service / referral income, taxed at the headline 15%. What can qualify under the IP Box is licensing of owned site IP, frameworks, comparison engines, custom CMS or content libraries — either to operators or to a related sub-licensee. We screen each structure individually; over-claiming is risky and we'd rather under-promise than build an indefensible position.
Can you also handle a sister B2B operator if I want one?
If by "operator" you mean a B2B services arm (e.g. provider of tools to licensed operators), yes — we structure that. If you mean a licensed B2C operator (NBA / MGA / Curacao licence holder), no — we don't service licensee structures. We'll refer you to specialist gaming-licence counsel for that piece while we handle the affiliate side.
What about ad-network billing — Google Ads / Meta?
Ad-network billing entities are switched to the Cyprus Ltd. Google Ads, Meta, TikTok and X all support EU corporate billing entities. The benefit of a clean EU corporate billing entity vs a foreign sole trader is significant on ad-account stability.
6 more questions answered on the call. Book a slot →
Keep reading
Deeper guides for igaming affiliates
- The Cyprus IP Box, plain EnglishWhat qualifies, how the 80% deduction works, and the documentation that survives audit.→
- Non-dom status explained simplyThe 17-year window of 0% on dividends, what changed in 2026.→
- Cyprus corporate tax 2026The complete framework: 15% rate, IP Box, group relief, 7-year loss carry-forward.→
- Opening a Cyprus business bank accountBank-by-bank realistic timelines, KYC pack, and the affiliate-vertical narrative that gets accounts opened.→
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Page last reviewed April 2026. Estimates only — not legal, tax or financial advice.