A logo in the footer is a picture. A licence is an entry in a regulator’s register. The five checks that separate the two, and the registers to run them in.
Scroll to the bottom of the home page. A licensed operator states the regulator, the licence number and the company name, usually beside the 18+ symbol and the responsible-gambling links. If the footer names a regulator without a number, or a company without a regulator, treat the site as unlicensed until proven otherwise.
Every regulator worth the name publishes a public register. Search the licence number or the company name on the regulator’s own website, reached through a search engine, not through a link on the operator’s page. The entry should show the company, the licence status, the activities permitted and, on most registers, the domains covered.
| Regulator | Where to check | What a valid entry shows |
|---|---|---|
| UKGC | The public register on the Gambling Commission site | Company, licence status, domains, activities |
| MGA | The licensee register on the MGA site, also reached by clicking the seal | Company, licence type, URLs covered |
| ADM | The list of concessionaires on the ADM site | Company, concession number, the .it domain |
| ANJ, GGL, DGOJ, Spelinspektionen and the other national regulators | A list of approved operators on each site | Company and domain |
| Curaçao | The validator page opened by the seal on the operator’s site | Company and domain; check that the domain shown is the one you are on |
| Isle of Man | The register on the Gambling Supervision Commission site | Company, licence type, brands |
Malta and Curaçao use clickable seals. Click. A genuine seal opens a page on the regulator’s or the master licence holder’s domain, showing the company and the domain it covers. A seal that is a static image, that opens the operator’s own page, or that shows a different domain from the one in your address bar has been copied.
The company named in the terms and conditions must be the company on the register. Clone sites copy a real operator’s footer and licence number and change nothing else; the terms often still name the original company while the domain belongs to someone else.
In regulated countries the licensed site lives on the national domain: .it in Italy, .es in Spain, .fr in France, .dk in Denmark. A .com site claiming an Italian licence is not licensed in Italy, whatever the footer says. Elsewhere, compare the domain with the register entry; operators list their licensed domains, and a mirror domain is not always covered.
That the operator holds the licence it claims. Not that the licence is a strong one, which is the subject of our next guide, and not that the odds are fair or the withdrawals fast, which is what our tests are for.
The site is not licensed by that regulator. Do not deposit.
It confirms the operator paid for a licence; it says little about protection.
Yes; the licence sets a floor, not a ceiling.