How to check a casino licence

Our team checks casino licences for every page on this site. The steps use only what the registers allow, so each one stops where a register stops.

1. Find the licence line in the footer. Curacao rules require a casino footer to show that under-age gambling is prohibited, the licence holder's name and registered address, and the official licence number. A Gibraltar licensee must state that it is licensed by the Gibraltar Licensing Authority and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, and give the permitted gambling age. Licensees of the UK Gambling Commission must display their licensed status, and an online Malta B2C licensee may be required to show a dynamic seal or kite mark on the homepage of every website it runs. A footer with a badge but no name or number gives the register nothing to match.
2. Note the company name and the number. Copy the licence holder's name and the number exactly as printed, and note the site's domain as well, since some registers accept it. The registers list the company that holds the licence, so the company name is the term to carry from the footer to the register.
3. Search the right register. Use the register of the regulator the footer names. An operating licence is required to provide most gambling facilities in Great Britain, and the UK Gambling Commission regulates remote gambling offered to consumers in Great Britain wherever in the world the key equipment is based. For a UK reader the UKGC register is therefore the first search, whatever other licences the footer lists.
4. Compare name, number and status. The name and number must match the footer and the company named in the casino's terms, and the status must be a live one. Where an entry shows an expiry date, check that it has not passed. A register is a snapshot: Curacao overviews do not guarantee that a licence is currently valid, because status can change, and Anjouan register data is updated periodically. For a time-sensitive check, or when the Anjouan register returns an unexpected result, contact the Authority directly.

Match the licence type as well. A casino is a business-to-consumer operator. Malta's Gaming Service licence is the business-to-consumer licence. Within it, Type 1 covers casino-type games such as roulette, blackjack, baccarat and poker against the house, Type 2 covers betting where the operator manages its risk through the odds, and Type 3 covers player versus player games such as poker, bingo and betting exchanges, where the operator takes a commission. Malta's Critical Gaming Supply licence is business-to-business. Curacao calls the B2C operating licence a Gambling License and the B2B platform or software licence a Supplier License.

Each regime keeps its own register, so the search fields and the results differ.

UKGC register

The Gambling Commission publishes registers of licensed businesses, individuals, regulatory actions and premises, and each can be searched, viewed and downloaded. For a casino, use the business register, which is searched by business name or account number.

Two other parts of the public register matter once the business is found. The register of regulatory actions lists actions taken against licensees, and public statements follow enforcement action. Look a business up there as well as in the business register.

The Commission does not regulate remote gambling in Northern Ireland, but under the Gambling Act 2005 it is an offence to advertise remote gambling to consumers there unless the business holds a Commission licence.

Malta register

The licensee register is searched by licensee name, authorisation status, URL or gaming service, and each heading holds a list of all operators. The URL option suits a check that starts from the site address.

A second register covers recognition notices. Anyone offering licensable games in or from Malta under another EU or EEA state's authorisation, or one with largely equivalent safeguards, must apply for a recognition notice. That register is searched by company name or recognition number, and a search with no field selected lists every notice. A company found there holds a recognition notice, which is a different entry from a licence.

Only a person established in the European Economic Area can hold a Malta licence, and a licence, original or renewed, runs for ten years unless the regulations say otherwise.

The enforcement register can be filtered by year, from 2013 to 2026. Suspensions and cancellations must be made public, while most other sanctions are not published unless that is in the public interest or the law requires it. A quiet enforcement register therefore does not show a clean record. The MGA also publishes a full list of unauthorised URLs, kept to protect players from misleading claims that a site holds an MGA licence.

Curacao register

The Curacao Gaming Authority publishes an Online Gaming License Registry as a PDF. It covers licences granted under the New Online Gaming Policy, effective 15 November 2023. Each entry gives the licence number, licensee, company type, company registration number, issue date, expiry date and licence status.

The regime rests on the National Ordinance on Games of Chance, in force since 24 December 2024. The CGA continues the work of the Gaming Control Board, a foundation established on 19 April 1999.

A company may hold one or several B2C licences or one or several B2B licences, but never a mix of both. Until 24 December 2026 a B2B licence is not mandatory for entities serving Curacao licensed B2C operators, and holding one is at the entity's discretion.

The Orange Seal (Certificate of Operations) expired on 15 October 2025, and that ended the former sublicence system. The entry to find today is a licence in the registry.

On 7 October 2026 the CGA announced that its current online gaming portal will not be returned to service. The availability of the current digital seal is affected, and an alternative way for operators to show that a domain is licensed by the CGA is to be introduced shortly.

Anjouan register

The Authority keeps a public register of all entities holding an Internet Gaming Licence. The verify page searches by licence number, company name or operational domain. A result shows 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 entities with Active status are authorised to conduct licensed internet gaming.

Anjouan Gaming operates under the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority, established under the laws of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of the Comoros. Anjouan Licensing Services Inc. is named as the sole authorised administrator of licences.

The register confirms licensing status only and is not an endorsement of the operator's services or practices. A listed domain shows only that the domain was notified to the Authority; it does not confirm ownership of the domain, trademark or related intellectual property.

Licence certificates carry a unique licence number and a QR code that links to the official verification page. A certificate that cannot be verified in the public register should not be relied on as evidence of licensing.

Gibraltar register

The Gibraltar Gambling Division of HM Government of Gibraltar carries out licensing functions for the Minister acting as Licensing Authority and for the Gambling Commissioner, the appointed industry regulator, under the Gambling Act 2025. The Division publishes a Register of Licence Holders under section 14 of the Act on its licence holders page. What the register is searched by and what an entry shows are not described here, so match the company name on the entry against the one in the casino's terms.

Operators must use the Government motif as a live link to the Gambling Division website to show they are licensed and regulated, and codes issued under the previous Gambling Act remain in force until new ones are issued. UK-facing operators in Gibraltar are licensed in both Gibraltar and the UK, so the registers of both regulators can be used to check the same site.

Licence holders licensed under the Gambling Act 2005 are treated as licensed under the 2025 Act. A six month transition period runs from 1 April 2026, and a business newly in scope must notify the Division and apply for a licence within it.

The registers show a mismatch in a few ways.

• A seal that stays up. An operator must remove its Anjouan seal immediately once its licence is no longer in force, so a seal on a site with no Active entry is a mismatch.
• A suspension. The MGA suspended the authorisation of Condor Malta Limited, licence MGA/B2C/340/2016, effective 16 September 2026. The Gambling Commission announced the suspension of the licence of Targetlocal Ltd on 21 September 2026. Anjouan suspended Mucho Gaming Limited, a B2B holder, on 8 September 2026 for breaching licence conditions and failing to take part in ADR.
• A revocation. Anjouan revoked the B2C licence of Knifex Ltd on 9 June 2026 for fraud and that of Amor 25 Limited on 10 July 2026 for illegal sublicensing. Revocation there is permanent: the holder will not be considered for licensing in future, and its URLs are blocked from any other licence.
• A name on a warning list. The MGA's unauthorised URL list includes jackpotcitycasino-uk.uk, with the notice date 10/03/2026. Gibraltar's public statements page lists a caution issued against Platinum Gaming Ltd on 13 November 2025.
• No entry at all. In Curacao, a licence with unpaid annual fees is revoked on day 71 of non-payment, removed from the public License Register and added to the public Enforcement Register. That enforcement register lists only actions that affect licence status, not every enforcement measure, and it may not be fully accurate or up to date.

False claims are a separate case. Some websites imply that they are licensed and regulated in Gibraltar when they are unlicensed or licensed in another, often less reputable, jurisdiction. Every company and website on the Gibraltar consumer warnings list is not established or licensed in Gibraltar. 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, so a Gibraltar address on its own proves nothing. The CGA keeps a public warnings page too, and one notice names KEANUBET with the date 20 February 2026. More on false claims is in fake and cloned casino licences.

The regulators' own pages are plain about where a licence stops.

Money staked or deposited with a gambling business is not protected by the Commission or the government the way bank accounts are. Every business must tell players whether their money has any protection if it goes insolvent, and there are three levels. With no protection, money in the account counts as part of the company and would be lost. With high protection, it sits in a separate account controlled by an independent trustee and checked by an external auditor. Online businesses licensed by the Commission must keep customer funds in a separate account, but that does not guarantee players get any money back if the business fails. In Malta, player funds are a distinct patrimony, separate from the operator's own assets and outside the insolvency and bankruptcy laws that apply to the operator.

In all five regimes a complaint starts with the operator. The Gambling Commission has no access to customer accounts and does not resolve or decide complaints about gambling transactions. The Curacao regulator will not rule on individual player complaints either. Players may complain free of charge up to six months after the bet is settled or the incident happened, and an unresolved complaint can go to an independent ADR provider at no cost to the player. Anjouan's Authority does not handle, mediate or decide player complaints, and its operators must take part in ADR and bear its cost. In Malta, an unresolved dispute can be referred to an ADR entity free of charge, and the MGA's Player Support Unit examines complaints as part of its compliance work, separately from any ADR dispute.

Gibraltar's Commissioner will not ordinarily investigate or decide individual UK customer disputes. For remote gambling in the UK on or after 1 November 2014, customers should use the complaint and dispute resolution processes available in the UK. The Commissioner has no formal power to order consumer redress, and an upheld complaint does not automatically mean redress.

Terms and payouts are a separate question from the register entry. Under UK rules, online players can withdraw their money at any time without unreasonable delay or restriction, and a business cannot confiscate money because a player does not log in or prove identity within a set timeframe. It also cannot demand proof of age and identity as a condition of withdrawal if it could have asked earlier, and a delay for that reason may breach Licence Condition 17. Malta sets only a floor for online random-outcome games: they must pay out on average at least 85% of the money wagered, or more if the licence requires. Anjouan requires pricing, bonus terms, wagering requirements and withdrawal conditions to be disclosed clearly before a player enters any transaction. None of these rules appears in a register entry, so the casino's own terms still have to be read.

An Anjouan licence does not override local prohibitions or regulatory requirements, and operators alone are responsible for geo-blocking, market access controls and local compliance.

Each regime page sets out its licence in full:

• UK Gambling Commission licence explained
• Malta gaming licence (MGA) explained
• Curacao gaming licence explained
• Anjouan gaming licence explained
• Gibraltar gambling licence explained

For how the team handles licence evidence across the site, see how we check casino licences. Casinos that sit outside the UK regime are covered in non-UKGC casinos explained.

A fact on this page can be wrong, and a regulator can change a rule. Tell us at info@biglicence.co.uk which line is wrong and what the regulator's own page or register shows. The team then reads that page or register again and corrects this 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 ownership.
• 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.