Licensing updates from Albania, Bulgaria, Alberta and Anjouan: 4 moves that matter for iGaming payments

This week’s licensing roundup is short, but each item matters for PSPs and acquirers serving high-risk gaming. The details point to where operators can open doors, where affiliate activity is now explicitly regulated, and where new or short-term licenses may change processing risk.

1. Albania is preparing to issue up to 10 iGaming licenses for the first time since 2019. For payment teams, that is the part that matters: a market that has been effectively quiet on fresh licensing is reopening, which usually means new merchant demand, new banking conversations, and a fresh look at local risk appetite.
2. Bulgaria has introduced mandatory licensing for affiliates. That is not a cosmetic change. Once affiliates need a license, the compliance perimeter extends beyond the operator itself, which can affect onboarding, monitoring, and how PSPs think about traffic sources and KYC/KYB dependencies.
3. GG International Limited, the company behind GG Poker, received a one-year license in Alberta. A one-year term is worth noting on its own: short-dated licensing tends to matter for settlement planning, underwriting reviews, and any provider trying to decide how much operational runway to give the relationship.
4. Winners Inc. received an Anjouan license for Mevu(.)com. For high-risk PSPs, Anjouan licenses are a familiar signal in the market, and the practical question is always the same: what does the license cover, how long is it valid, and how does the acquirer treat that jurisdiction in its risk stack?