Anatomy of a licence line
Scroll to the bottom of any operator’s site and you will find a paragraph that reads something like: “Altura is operated by Altura Interactive Ltd, licensed and regulated by the Example Gaming Authority under licence EGA/B2C/0419/2019.” It is easy to glance at, see a regulator’s name and move on. But that one sentence contains three distinct claims, and each needs checking.
The first claim is the regulator. The second is the licence number. The third is the company that holds it. For the licence to mean anything, all three must appear together on the regulator’s public register, and the company on the register must be the company named in the site’s terms and conditions. In our experience, when something is wrong with an operator’s licensing, it is usually that one of those three does not match.
Verifying against the register
Every regulator we would call credible publishes a searchable register. Open it in a new tab by searching for the regulator’s name rather than following a link on the operator’s site, which could point anywhere. Then search for the licence number. The entry should show the licensed company, the activities covered (casino, sports betting, both), the status (active, suspended, surrendered) and, on the better registers, any conditions or sanctions attached.
Then compare. Is the company name the same as the one in the operator’s terms? Does the licence cover the activity you want to use? Is the status active? Does the entry list the domain you are on? If the answer to any of those is no, you have a question for the operator’s support desk before you deposit, and a reason to walk away if the answer is unconvincing. We run this check for every operator on this site every 90 days; the date of the last check is on each review.
Four ways a weak licence is made to look strong
The first is the borrowed logo: a regulator’s logo in the footer with no licence number beside it. Logos are images and can be copied. A logo without a number that leads to a register entry is decoration, not evidence. The second is the group licence: a licence held by a parent company that covers some of its brands but not the one you are on. The register entry will list the domains covered; check that yours is there.
The third is the wrong-jurisdiction licence: a perfectly genuine licence from a regulator that does not permit the operator to serve players in your country. The licence is real but offers you no protection, because the regulator has no obligation to hear your complaint. The fourth is the certificate in place of a licence: a testing-lab certificate for the random number generator, or a payment-security certificate, presented where a licence should be. Both are good things to have. Neither is a licence.
What a licence actually obliges the operator to do
A licence from a credible regulator comes with conditions, and the conditions are what protect you. Under both of the fictional regimes that cover most operators on this site (the Example Gaming Authority and the Example Gambling Commission), a licensee must hold player funds separately from its own, submit its games for independent testing, offer a free independent dispute route, provide responsible gambling tools and display its licence details accurately. Our comparison piece on the two regulators sets out where they differ.
What a licence does not do is guarantee that every withdrawal will be smooth or every support agent helpful. It guarantees that there are rules, that someone enforces them and that you have somewhere to go if the operator breaks them. That is worth a great deal, and it is why an unlicensed operator, or one licensed somewhere with no public register, is not one we would list at any score.
Reading the licence conditions
The register entry often links to the licence conditions themselves, and they are more readable than you might expect. The sections worth reading are the ones on customer funds, complaints and marketing. They tell you what the operator has promised the regulator, which is a useful thing to quote back to a support agent when a dispute arises. In our complaints guide we describe how to do that effectively.
When the licence changes
Licences lapse, are surrendered, are suspended and are transferred when operators are sold. The footer rarely updates on the day. If you play regularly at an operator, check the register occasionally (we do, every 90 days) and pay attention to any email announcing a change of operating company, because that is the moment the licence may have changed too. A sale to a new owner is not necessarily bad news, but it is a reason to run the five-minute check again.
Licensing is the least glamorous part of choosing an operator and the most important. Five minutes with a register before your first deposit is the best-value check in this guide.
Frequently asked questions
What if the register shows the licence as “suspended”?
Do not deposit. A suspended licence usually means the regulator is investigating a breach. Existing players should withdraw their balances and watch the regulator’s notices.
Does an RNG certificate mean the casino is licensed?
No. An RNG certificate shows the games were tested by a lab. A licence is a permission from a regulator with ongoing conditions. Credible operators have both.
Can the same licence number appear on several sites?
Yes, if the licence covers several brands. The register entry should list every domain covered. If your domain is not listed, ask the operator why.
Sources
- Example Gaming Authority licensee register (Example Gaming Authority)
- Licence conditions and codes of practice (2026 edition) (Example Gambling Commission)
Sources & references
Spotted an inaccuracy? Tell us — we publish corrections publicly.
About the author
Elena Rasmussen
Elena has spent a decade auditing online gaming operators across European jurisdictions, with a focus on licensing, payment reliability and responsible gambling practices.
