Casino licences compared

A casino licence is permission from a regulator to offer gambling. The same permission is often called a gaming licence.

B2C and B2B licences

A business-to-consumer (B2C) licence covers a company that offers gambling to players. A business-to-business (B2B) licence covers a company that supplies platforms, software or services to those operators. In Curacao a B2B holder provides services to B2C operators, does not run player-facing domains and takes no part in player account management, which means player data and payments.

UK Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Its functions come from the Gambling Act 2005, as amended by the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014. It licenses, regulates, advises and guides the individuals and businesses that offer gambling in Great Britain, including the National Lottery in the UK.

There are three types of licence a business may need. An operating licence is required to provide most gambling facilities in Great Britain. Individuals hold personal licences, and certain roles need a Personal Management Licence (PML), which has its own fees and application process.

Requirements for all licensees sit in the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), and the current version is effective from 29 July 2026. Holders of remote operating licences, including ancillary remote betting, must also meet the remote technical standards (RTS). Licensees must display their licensed status, and technical requirements with example formats exist for doing so. Besides the business register, the Commission publishes registers of individuals, regulatory actions and premises, all open to search, view and download.

Malta Gaming Authority

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) regulates the gaming sectors that fall under it. Its stated aims are fair and transparent gaming, crime prevention and protection of minors and vulnerable players. The empowering act is the Gaming Act, Chapter 583 of the laws of Malta. The Gaming Authorisations Regulations, subsidiary legislation 583.05, are dated 20 July 2018.

A Gaming Service licence is the business-to-consumer licence to offer a gaming service. A Critical Gaming Supply licence is the business-to-business licence to supply and manage the material elements of a game, or software that processes essential regulatory records. Type 1 services are games of chance against the house decided by a random generator, such as roulette, blackjack, baccarat and poker against the house. Type 2 covers games against the house decided by an outside event, where the operator manages its risk through the odds. Type 3 covers player-versus-player games such as poker, bingo and betting exchanges, where the operator takes a commission and carries no gaming risk.

A licence, original or renewed, runs for ten years unless the regulations say otherwise. Only a person established in the European Economic Area is eligible to hold one, and the key technical setup must be in Malta or another EU or EEA state. Minimum paid-up share capital is €100,000 for Type 1 and Type 2, €40,000 for Type 3 and Type 4, and €40,000 for a Critical Gaming Supply licence.

Anyone offering licensable games in or from Malta under another EU or EEA authorisation, or one with largely equivalent safeguards, must apply for a recognition notice. That register is searched by company name or recognition number. The licensee register can be searched by licensee name, authorisation status, URL or gaming service.

Curacao Gaming Authority

The regulator began as the Gaming Control Board, a foundation set up on 19 April 1999 to supervise the gaming industry operating in and from Curacao. The National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK), published as P.B. 2024, no. 157, came into force on 24 December 2024. The board was designated the Curacao Gaming Authority (CGA) and continues under that name. Article 12.1 of the LOK makes the CGA an independent administrative body. Political responsibility moved from the Minister of Finance to the Minister of Justice from 19 August 2025. Since 15 February 2019 the CGA has been the AML/CFT/CFP supervisor for all gambling in and from Curacao.

A Gambling License is the B2C operating licence, and a Supplier License is the B2B platform or software licence. A company may hold one or several B2C licences or one or several B2B licences, but not a mix of both. Until 24 December 2026 a B2B licence is not mandatory for entities serving Curacao licensed B2C operators. The Orange Seal (Certificate of Operations) ran out on 15 October 2025, which ended the former sublicence system.

B2C holders pay annual fees of EUR 24,490 (licence fee) plus EUR 22,960 (supervisory fee), EUR 47,450 in total, due by 15 January. An invoice alone does not confirm that a licence has been continued or extended. Only written confirmation from the CGA does.

Article 5.9 of the LOK requires every B2C licence holder to keep an up-to-date operations manual and make it available to the CGA within five working days of a first request. Operators need not meet the local substance obligation in Article 5.12 before 1 April 2027.

On 7 October 2026 the CGA announced that its online gaming portal will not return to service. The availability of the current digital seal is affected, and an alternative way for operators to show that a domain is licensed is promised shortly. The CGA also reported an unauthorised access incident and is working to contain the resulting data leak.

Anjouan Gaming Authority

The Anjouan Gaming Authority administers and supervises Internet Gaming Licences issued under the regulatory framework of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan. It operates under the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority (AOFA), set up under the laws of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of the Comoros. Anjouan Licensing Services Inc. is the sole authorised administrator of licences and official representative of the Gaming Board. The principal laws are the Anjouan Computer Gaming Licensing Act 2005, the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority Act 2005, the Anjouan International Business Companies Act 2005 and the Anjouan Money Laundering (Prevention) Act 2005.

Anjouan Gaming cites a legal opinion issued on 19 September 2024 and reconfirmed in February 2026 by a law firm regulated in England and Wales and Quebec, Canada. The opinion holds that the AOFA is the lawful gaming regulator and that licences under the 2005 licensing Act are legally valid. That is the Authority's own account of its legal standing.

Permitted activities are online casinos, sports betting, poker and bingo, prediction markets, blockchain-based gaming platforms and cryptocurrency-enabled gaming. Rules on beneficial ownership, dispute resolution and B2B commercial substance apply at once to new applications. Existing licensees must comply by their next renewal at the latest. An updated Certificate Verification Framework took effect on 1 April 2026.

Gibraltar Gambling Division

The Gibraltar Gambling Division is part of the Ministry of Justice Trade and Industry. It carries out delegated functions for the Minister acting as Licensing Authority and for the Gambling Commissioner, the appointed industry regulator. The Gambling Act provides for these two separate entities. The Minister carries statutory responsibility for granting, varying and renewing licences and appoints the Commissioner. The Commissioner is also the supervisor for the gambling sector on anti-money laundering, countering terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

The governing law is the Gambling Act 2025. Its current version on Gibraltar's legislation site was last updated on 23 March 2026. A Notice of Commencement numbered 2026/064 is dated 1 April 2026, and a six month transition period runs from that date. In that period any business newly in scope must notify the Gambling Division and apply for a licence. Holders licensed under the Gambling Act 2005 are deemed licensed under the 2025 Act.

The 2025 Act widens regulation to B2C businesses managed or controlled in or from Gibraltar and to B2B businesses in or from Gibraltar or supplying a Gibraltar entity. Licensing also covers software supplier approvals and change of control. The Prediction Market Regulations 2026, numbered 2026/176, are dated 13 July 2026. Codes of Practice issued under the previous Act stay in force until the Commissioner issues new ones, after consultation. The Register of Licence Holders is published under S.14 of the Gambling Act 2025.

Regulators' own pages are modest about what a licence promises. They describe rules, registers and complaint routes, and several say outright what they do not do. The useful question is what each regime checks and where the player's own exposure begins.

Player money

In Great Britain, money staked or deposited with a gambling business is not protected by the Commission or government the way bank accounts are. Every business must tell players whether their money has any protection if the business goes insolvent. From 31 October 2025 a business holding unprotected funds must remind players of that every 6 months.

There are three levels of protection, and the business must make clear which applies. With no protection, account money counts as part of the company and would be lost if the business goes bust. With high protection, the money sits in an account legally recognised as separate from the company, controlled by an independent trustee and checked by an external auditor, which gives the best chance of getting it back. Licensed online businesses must keep customer funds in a separate account, but there is no guarantee that this returns any of the money if the business runs into financial difficulties.

Malta treats player funds as a distinct patrimony, separate from the operator's own assets, and insolvency or bankruptcy laws do not affect them. Anjouan requires player balances to be kept apart from operational funds. Under Gibraltar's operating standards, liability for customer balances and pending withdrawals should be separately identifiable at any time, and the operator should be able to show enough cash and cash equivalents to pay them.

Games and testing

Malta sets a floor for online games with a random outcome: they must pay out on average at least 85% of the money wagered, or more if the licence requires. Anjouan requires random number generators to be certified by an approved independent testing facility. Gibraltar requires all random number generators to be tested by independent specialists, with game outcomes monitored for the range and distribution of numbers and how often customers win or lose.

Curacao runs a testing labs policy that puts test houses on a list. A place on it is not an endorsement or guarantee by the CGA; it recognises only that the test house meets the CGA's baseline criteria. The CGA accepts online gaming technical standards from New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario and British Columbia in Canada, the United Kingdom and Malta.

Complaints and disputes

In Great Britain, a player who disagrees with a business about a result or about the service should complain to that business first. The Commission does not resolve or decide complaints about gambling transactions and has no access to customer accounts, so it cannot see what happened. The next step is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider. The Commission does take reports about match fixing, underage gambling, money laundering, suspicious activity and unlicensed or criminal gambling.

In Malta, the operator must give the result of its inquiry within ten days, extendable by a further ten days. A player who is not satisfied can refer the dispute to an ADR entity, free of charge, and the conclusions of an ADR entity acting as arbitrator or adjudicator bind both sides. A licensee with no ADR arrangement must refer the player to a listed ADR entity within twenty (20) days. Separately, the MGA's Player Support Unit receives complaints about any gaming service and examines them independently of any ADR dispute. The MGA online form is the formal channel for complaints against MGA-licensed operators.

In Curacao, players can complain to the operator free of charge up to six months after the bet is settled or the incident happened. The operator answers within four weeks, a period it may extend once by another four weeks with prior written notice. Unresolved complaints can go to an independent ADR provider free of charge, and the operator bears all ADR costs. The CGA does not resolve or decide player complaints about gambling transactions. Unless a complaint was inadequately handled, it will not review or overturn the decisions of the operator or the ADR provider. Operators must have an agreement with at least one CGA Certified ADR entity within one month of the CGA publishing its list. Complaints to the CGA go to complaints@cga.cw.

In Anjouan, complaints go first to the operator through the complaint function in its interactive site seal, and other channels may be refused. Game outcome disputes must be raised within 14 calendar days of the session. Account disputes about payments, suspensions or bonuses must be raised within 30 calendar days. The operator must investigate and reply within 30 calendar days, and its terms must name an Authority-approved ADR provider with contact details. After that the player may escalate to an approved ADR provider: EGIS ADR, Axion ADR, iGaming ADR or CADRE B.V. ADR is mandatory for licensed operators, who bear its cost. ADR providers will not consider complaints where the operator's internal process was not followed. CADRE decisions bind operator and player unless agreed otherwise beforehand. All complaints and ADR communications must be in English. Claims unrelated to licensed gaming, and complaints escalated before the 30-day operator period ends, fall outside regulatory review. The Authority does not handle, mediate or decide player complaints.

In Gibraltar, operators must consider complaints through their own procedures and tell customers about ADR options if the complaint stays unresolved. A complaint reaches the Commissioner only if the player has grounds, such as a breach of rules or terms, if it concerns a Gibraltar remote gambling licence holder and once the operator's own procedure is exhausted. The route is the Complaint Resolution Request Form (CRRF), with a first reply aimed for within one week. Further representations go to the Commissioner independently of the case officer as an appeal, and the decision is final subject to the courts. Complaints that date back more than 2 years are not investigated except in exceptional circumstances. Where an operator uses an independent adjudication service, adjudication is usually binding on the operator but not on the customer. The Commissioner has no formal power to order consumer redress, and an upheld complaint does not mean redress follows.

Age checks, withdrawals and self-exclusion

In Great Britain, all online gambling businesses must ask players to prove age and identity before they gamble. A business cannot demand that proof as a condition of withdrawal if it could have asked earlier, and one that delays a withdrawal for insufficient ID may be in breach of Licence Condition 17. Players can withdraw their money at any time without unreasonable delay or restriction and do not have to take it in instalments. A business cannot confiscate money because the player does not log in or prove identity within a set timeframe. Funding gambling with credit cards is banned, and self-excluded customers must not receive marketing.

Curacao requires that players cannot deposit or bet unless the operator is satisfied they are 18 or older. Operators must offer cooling-off periods of 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month or 3 months, and daily, weekly or monthly deposit limits. Self-exclusion starts at 1 year, with options of 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and lifetime. Terms and conditions must state the withdrawal conditions, in particular identity checks once cumulative deposits and withdrawals exceed XCG 4,000 (circa EUR 2,000).

Anjouan lists age verification, self-exclusion, and deposit and loss limits among its required measures, with clear information on responsible gaming help. Pricing, bonus terms, wagering requirements and withdrawal conditions must be shown clearly before a player commits to a transaction.

Malta has no unified self-exclusion database for remote gaming. A licensee running several brands that need separate registration may therefore limit a self-exclusion to the brand where the player asked for it. Gibraltar's code expects self-exclusion to block all known accounts, stop the customer opening new accounts with the same or very similar details and remove the customer early from gambling marketing databases.

What a register entry shows

Curacao's registry gives, for each licence, the licence number, licensee, company type, company registration number, issue date, expiry date and status. Register overviews do not guarantee that a licence is currently valid, because status can change, and no rights can be derived from them.

Anjouan's register returns the holder's registered name, licence number, licence type (B2C or B2B) and current status. The statuses are Active, Suspended, Revoked and Expired, and only Active holders are authorised to run licensed gaming. Data is updated periodically, so a time-sensitive check belongs with the Authority directly. Being on the register is not an endorsement or recommendation of the operator: it confirms licensing status only. A listed domain was merely notified to the Authority as associated with licensed activities, and the Authority accepts no liability for loss from relying on the register.

Anjouan certificates carry a unique licence number and a QR code that links to the verification page in the public register. A certificate that cannot be verified there should not be relied on as evidence of licensing. The interactive seal must be removed at once if the licence is suspended, revoked or expires.

Enforcement and public warnings

The Commission takes enforcement action against individuals or businesses that fail to follow its rules. The suspension of the licence of Targetlocal Ltd was announced on 21 September 2026.

In Malta, a breach that is not an offence can bring an administrative penalty. Suspensions and cancellations must be made public, while most other sanctions are not published unless the public interest or another law requires it. An authorisation can be suspended if the licensee has failed, or is about to fail, to meet commitments to players on time. Condor Malta Limited's licence MGA/B2C/340/2016 has been suspended since 16 September 2026. The enforcement register runs year by year from 2013 to 2026.

The CGA can issue penalty orders and administrative coercion orders, impose administrative fines, and suspend, revoke or amend licences. An operator that disagrees can object to the CGA or appeal to the Court of First Instance of Curacao. The enforcement register covers only actions that change a licence's status, such as revocation, suspension or non-extension, and it may not be fully accurate or up to date. A licence with annual fees unpaid for 71 days is revoked, removed from the licence register and added to the enforcement register. Offering gaming without a valid licence in or from Curacao is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine of NAf 25,000 and/or loss of certain rights. A warning notice about KEANUBET is dated 20 February 2026.

Anjouan's listed enforcement measures are extra licence conditions, suspension and revocation. Revocation is permanent: the holder will not be licensed again and its URLs are barred from any other licence. Knifex Ltd's licence was revoked on 9 June 2026 for fraud and Amor 25 Limited's on 10 July 2026 for illegal sublicensing. Mucho Gaming Limited's B2B licence was suspended on 8 September 2026 for violating licence conditions and failing to participate in ADR. Licensees also file compliance reports at set intervals covering AML controls, responsible gaming and financial performance.

Gibraltar's Commissioner can start steps for the Licensing Authority to revoke a licence or amend a licence agreement, or bring court proceedings for breaches of the Act or its codes. A caution against Platinum Gaming Ltd carries the date 13 November 2025, and a regulatory settlement over sanctions screening deficiencies is dated 29 April 2026. Some websites imply Gibraltar licensing when they are unlicensed or licensed in another, often less reputable, jurisdiction. Every company and website on the consumer warnings list is neither established nor licensed in Gibraltar.

Gambling offered in Great Britain

The Commission regulates remote gambling offered to consumers in Great Britain, wherever in the world the key equipment is based. Northern Ireland is different: the Commission does not regulate remote gambling there, but advertising it to consumers in Northern Ireland without a Commission licence is an offence under the Gambling Act 2005. The guide to the UKGC licence sets out the requirements in full.

A licence from another regulator

Anjouan licences do not override local prohibitions or regulatory requirements, which matters for players in places such as the UK. Operators alone are responsible for geo-blocking, market access controls and local compliance. Complaints from players in excluded territories fall outside Anjouan's regulatory review.

Gibraltar points UK players back to UK processes. Where a complaint concerns remote gambling in the UK on or after 1 November 2014, consumers should use the complaint and dispute resolution processes available in the UK, and the Commissioner will not ordinarily investigate or decide individual UK customer disputes. In exceptional circumstances the Commissioner may look at a matter that raises a material issue about a Gibraltar licensed operator's conduct or compliance, or a significant Gibraltar regulatory interest. The MGA complaint form accepts the United Kingdom as a country of residence. Gibraltar's regulator also warns of affiliate websites that drive UK consumers to unregulated markets. More on casinos without a Commission licence is in Non-UKGC casinos explained.

Help with gambling problems

The National Gambling Helpline is 0808 8020 133 for England and Scotland, and the NHS Wales helpline is 0808 2819 265. Both are free and open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. See the responsible gambling page for more.

A casino goes on a list only when the company that runs it is named in its own terms and a licence entry in the regulator's register matches that company or licence number.

UKGC licensed casinos

• UKGC licensed casinos: casinos licensed by the Gambling Commission.

MGA licensed casinos

• MGA licensed casinos: casinos on the Maltese licensee register.

Curacao licensed casinos

• Curacao licensed casinos: casinos in the CGA's licence registry.

Anjouan licensed casinos

• Anjouan licensed casinos: casinos in the Anjouan public register.

Gibraltar has a guide at Gibraltar gambling licence explained.

Licence comparisons

• UKGC vs MGA licence: the Commission and the Malta regime set against each other.
• UKGC vs Curacao licence: UK rules against Curacao rules.
• MGA vs Curacao licence: Malta against Curacao.
• Curacao vs Anjouan licence: the two B2C and B2B regimes compared.

1. Find the holder's name and licence number on the casino's own site: a Curacao licence holder's footer must show the name, registered address and official licence number, and a Malta B2C licensee must display any identifier the MGA requires, which may include a dynamic seal.
2. Search the issuing regulator's own register for that name or number, or for the domain where the register allows it.
3. Match the company and the status, not just a logo. Confirm the MGA authorises a provider before using its services, because unlicensed entities are unregulated and dealing with them is risky.
4. For a UK-facing Gibraltar casino, check both the Gibraltar and UK registers, since such operators hold both licences. An address such as 1st Floor Garrison House, 3 Library Ramp is a company services office for non-resident registrations, not approved premises for remote gambling.

The guide on how to check a casino licence goes through each register, and fake and cloned casino licences covers false claims.

Our team tests the casinos we cover and checks every licence line against the regulator's own pages and register. The how we check casino licences page sets out the steps.

When a regulator changes a rule, or a fact on this page is wrong, write to info@biglicence.co.uk. Our team then reads the regulator's own page or register again and corrects the page.

• Big Licence team checks of the licences we cover
• gamblingcommission.gov.uk Used for the UK Gambling Commission's own pages and public register.
• cga.cw Used for the Curacao Gaming Authority's own pages and register.
• spin-cdn.com Used for complaints.
• mga.org.mt Used for the Malta Gaming Authority's own pages and licensee register.
• legislation.mt Used for the Maltese gaming regulations.
• anjouangaming.com Used for Anjouan Gaming's own pages and public register.
• gamblingdivision.gov.gi Used for the Gibraltar Gambling Division's own pages and guidance.
• gibraltar.gov.gi Used for HM Government of Gibraltar's Remote Gambling page.
• gibraltarlaws.gov.gi Used for the Gibraltar Gambling Act 2025.