How to Check Whether a Gambling Site Is Licensed in Great Britain

Most genuine gambling sites put their licence details in the footer. Most people never look at them.

It is worth knowing what to check. A licence claim is easy to type onto a website. The useful question is whether it leads to a real, active Gambling Commission record for the business and website you are using.

You can check that yourself in a few minutes.

This article covers Great Britain, meaning England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a different gambling framework.

Find the licence details on the site

Remote casino, bingo and betting operators covered by Gambling Commission Licence Condition 8.1.1 must display their licensed status on every screen from which customers can access gambling facilities.

In practice, the details are usually found near the bottom of the page. You should see:

• the legal name of the licensed business
• a statement that it is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission
• its Gambling Commission account number
• a link to its current record on the public register

The account number is shorter than the full licence number. That is normal. It is the number the Commission requires operators to use in the licensed-status statement.

Do not worry if the legal company name is unfamiliar. Gambling brands and the companies behind them often have different names. What matters is whether the details join up when you check them.

Follow the link, not the logo

The account number should link directly to the operator's record on the Gambling Commission website.

A Gambling Commission logo on its own proves very little. A link to the Commission homepage is not much better. The Commission's technical requirements say the link should go to the operator's own public-register record.

If there is no direct link, open the Gambling Commission business register yourself.

You can search by business name, trading name, domain or account number. Start with the website address. If that produces nothing useful, try the brand name, legal company name and account number shown by the site.

Read the record properly

Do not stop because a familiar company name appears in the results.

Open the record and check the status of the relevant licence. The register uses several terms, including:

• Active
• Expired
• Lapsed
• Pending
• Revoked
• Surrendered
• Suspended

For a straightforward licence check, you are looking for an active licence. A pending application is not an active licence. Nor does an old licence remain valid because a website still displays its account number.

The record also shows which gambling activities the business is licensed to provide. A company appearing in the register does not give it permission to offer every form of gambling.

If you are looking at an online casino, for example, check for the relevant remote casino activity rather than assuming that an unrelated betting or software licence covers it.

Make sure the website belongs with the record

Now compare the register with the site in front of you.

The account number and legal business name should match. The trading name and domain should also connect the website to that business. Check the status shown beside the domain as well as the status of the licence itself.

Some sites involve more than one licensed company. Some brands sit under a legal name that customers rarely see. Neither is automatically suspicious, but the site should make the arrangement clear and the register should support it.

The operator's record may also include regulatory action or settlements. That does not automatically make the licence inactive. It does tell you whether the Commission has previously recorded enforcement action against the business.

What if the domain is missing?

A missing domain is a reason to look more closely, not instant proof that the site is illegal.

The Gambling Commission says that trading names and domains are supplied by gambling businesses. It cannot guarantee the accuracy of information supplied by third parties. A record may therefore need a little context.

Try every useful route before drawing a conclusion:

• search the full domain without any page path
• search the trading name
• search the legal company name
• search the account number
• open the licensed-status link provided by the site

If none of those routes connects the website to an active licence, do not take the site's own claim at face value.

Other warning signs include an account number belonging to a different company, a link leading to an unrelated record, an inactive licence and an overseas licence being presented as though it replaces a Gambling Commission licence.

Until the mismatch is resolved, there is no good reason to deposit money or send identity documents to the site.

A British-looking website can still be unlicensed

A .co.uk address is not a licence. Neither is accepting pounds, covering British sport or offering familiar payment methods.

The same applies to a polished website and a recognisable brand. Appearance tells you nothing about the legal status of the business behind it.

A company based overseas can hold a Gambling Commission licence. Equally, a website available from Britain may have no Gambling Commission licence at all.

The Commission's position is straightforward. A business needs the appropriate licence if it provides remote gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever that business is based.

Our guide to offshore gambling risks looks at what can change when a business sits outside that system.

A licence is not a recommendation

An active licence confirms that the operator is inside the Gambling Commission's regulatory framework for the activities listed on its record.

It does not mean the Commission recommends the site. It does not guarantee that every promotion is fair, every withdrawal will be quick or the operator will never break a rule.

Licensed businesses can still be investigated and sanctioned. Their licences can be suspended or revoked.

What the licence gives you is a defined regulatory framework. The operator is subject to Gambling Commission requirements and enforcement powers. That is a narrower claim than saying the site is safe, but it is still an important distinction.

A Gambling Commission licence also places the business within a formal complaints framework. Read what happens when you complain to a licensed gambling operator.

Our guide to Gambling Commission regulation explains what sits behind that licence.

Crypto sites face the same test

Cryptocurrency does not remove the need for a Gambling Commission licence.

A crypto gambling site may hold one, hold only an overseas licence or operate without a licence relevant to consumers in Great Britain. The payment method does not settle the question.

Check the company, account number, activity and domain in the same way. Our crypto gambling guide covers the separate risks around payments, identity checks and irreversible transactions.

A betting shop needs a different check

Physical gambling premises involve two layers of licensing.

The Gambling Commission issues operating licences to gambling businesses. Local licensing authorities issue premises licences for individual betting shops, casinos, bingo halls and other gambling venues.

The Commission publishes premises information, but checking an online operator is not the same as confirming that a particular building has the necessary premises licence. For that, you may also need to check with the relevant council.

Councils can refuse a premises licence in limited circumstances, but local opposition alone is not enough. Our guide to gambling premises decisions explains the current "aim to permit" rule and the new powers being introduced in England and Wales.

Reporting a site that does not add up

The Gambling Commission accepts confidential reports about suspected illegal gambling and failures by licensed businesses.

Keep the details that will help identify the site:

• the full website address
• screenshots of its licence claims
• the account number it displays
• the company name shown on the site
• relevant dates
• copies of any correspondence

Do not send more money or identity documents simply to test whether a website is legitimate.

Start with the site's licensed-status link. Check the same business, account number, activity and domain in the public register. If they still do not connect, treat the licence claim as unverified and report the site if appropriate.