Every legitimate online casino operates under a gambling licence, and the licence tells you a great deal about how the site is supervised, what happens if something goes wrong, and which protections apply to players. Three licensing authorities appear in casino footers more often than any others: the Malta Gaming Authority, the UK Gambling Commission, and the regulator of Curaçao. This guide explains how online casino licensing works, how those three compare, and how to check that a licence is real.
What a gambling licence actually does
A licence is permission from a government body to offer gambling, granted in exchange for meeting conditions and accepting supervision. Depending on the regulator, those conditions usually cover:
- Checks on the owners and key staff, and on the source of the company’s funds
- Testing and certification of games and random number generators by independent laboratories
- Anti-money laundering procedures and customer identity checks
- Age verification so that minors cannot play
- Responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits and self-exclusion
- Rules on advertising and bonuses
- A route for players to complain, including independent dispute resolution
A licence also matters geographically. Many countries require operators to hold a local licence to serve their residents. A casino licensed in one country is not automatically allowed to accept players from another.
UK Gambling Commission (UKGC)
The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in Great Britain under the Gambling Act 2005. Since November 2014, any operator offering remote gambling to consumers in Great Britain must hold a Commission licence, wherever the company is based.
The UKGC is generally regarded as one of the strictest regulators in the world. Its rules include:
- A ban on gambling with credit cards, in force since April 2020
- Mandatory participation in GAMSTOP, the national online self-exclusion scheme
- Age and identity verification before a customer can deposit or play
- Online slot stake limits of £5 per spin for players aged 25 and over and £2 for players aged 18 to 24, introduced in 2025
- Disclosure of how well customer funds are protected if the operator becomes insolvent
- Access to an approved alternative dispute resolution provider for complaints the operator cannot settle
The Commission publishes a public register of licensees and its enforcement actions, including fines, on its website.
Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)
Malta was one of the first European Union countries to build a framework for online gambling, and many international operators are based there. The current regime rests on the Gaming Act of 2018, which introduced separate licences for business to consumer (B2C) operators and business to business (B2B) suppliers such as game studios and platform providers.
MGA licensees must meet requirements on player fund protection, anti-money laundering, responsible gambling, and technical standards, and they are subject to audits. The MGA runs a player support function for complaints and publishes a register of authorised licensees.
An MGA licence is widely respected, but it does not by itself allow an operator to serve countries that have their own licensing system. A casino serving players in Great Britain, for example, still needs a UKGC licence.
Curaçao
Curaçao has licensed online gambling for decades and became the most common licence among operators serving international markets, largely because it was faster and cheaper to obtain. For most of that time, the system ran through a small number of master licence holders who issued sublicences to individual operators. Critics pointed out that this gave the regulator limited direct oversight of the sites carrying its seal.
A reform that began in 2023 replaced that model with licences issued directly by the regulator, now the Curaçao Gaming Authority, and added requirements on local presence, anti-money laundering, and player protection. Operators that previously relied on sublicences have had to apply for direct licences.
The reform raised the standard, but a Curaçao licence still typically offers players fewer protections than UK or Maltese regulation, and access to independent dispute resolution is more limited. Many Curaçao licensed casinos accept players from countries where the operator holds no local licence.
The three compared
| Factor | UKGC | MGA | Curaçao |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Gambling Act 2005 | Gaming Act 2018 | National gaming legislation, reformed from 2023 |
| Who needs it | Anyone serving players in Great Britain | Operators choosing Malta as a base | Operators choosing Curaçao as a base |
| Player protection rules | Very strict | Strict | Improving, lighter than UK and Malta |
| National self-exclusion | GAMSTOP, mandatory | Operator level tools | Operator level tools |
| Independent dispute resolution | Required | Player support function | More limited |
| Public register | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How to verify a casino’s licence
- Scroll to the footer and note the licence number and the name of the company that holds it.
- Go directly to the regulator’s official website, not through a link on the casino’s site, and search the public register for that number or company.
- Check that the licence is active and that the domain you are visiting is listed against it.
- Confirm that the regulator is the right one for your country. If your country licenses online casinos locally, prefer operators holding that local licence.
A seal image with no number, a number that does not appear on the register, or a domain missing from the licence record are all warning signs.
What a licence does not guarantee
A licence means a casino is supervised, not that you will win. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, and gambling should be treated as paid entertainment for adults aged 18 and over, or the legal age where you live. Use the deposit limits and time-out tools that licensed operators are required to provide, and if gambling stops being fun, contact an independent support service such as GamCare in the UK or the National Council on Problem Gambling in the United States.