Checking whether a casino is licensed takes about two minutes and is the one bit of homework that actually protects you. Most people skip it because the site looks professional. Looking professional is the cheap part.
Here is how to do it properly, and why we check the web address rather than the name on the logo.
Start at the register, not the casino
The Gambling Commission’s register of gambling businesses is public and free. There’s one search box, and it takes a business name, a trading name, a domain name or an account number. When we looked it held 2,630 records.
Type in the domain you’re about to deposit at, without the www. That matters more than it sounds. When we searched mrgreen.co.uk we got two results; adding www returned one. Bare domain first, every time.
No results means no British licence for that address. The Commission is blunt that a licence from another country does not permit anyone to offer gambling to consumers in Great Britain.
Click a result and you get the company’s legal name, account number and head office, then a set of tabs: licence summary, trading names, domain names, premises and regulatory actions.
The licence summary lists each activity, such as Casino Remote, with a licence number, a status and the dates it runs from and to. An online casino needs a remote licence. A betting shop licence won’t do.
The status is the word to read. Active is the only one you want. The rest are Expired, Forfeited, Lapsed, Pending, Revoked, Revoked (Non payment of fee), Surrendered and Suspended, which the Commission uses while it investigates. Pending isn’t a yes either.
Why the domain beats the name
Brands move between companies, and one licence can carry a whole shelf of white label sites. When we checked 74 casinos against the register, six brands disappeared at once because they were all storefronts on a single licence.
The domain names tab settles it. Each domain has its own status: Active, Inactive or White label. White label is fine, provided the licence above it is active.
Our mrgreen.co.uk search shows why you read both. One account lists it as a white label under a casino licence that’s active. The other lists the same domain as inactive, under a licence surrendered in February 2026. Stop at the first result you find and you could get either answer.
That active entry has its head office in Gibraltar, which is allowed. Where the company sits doesn’t matter. Whether the domain is on a live British licence does.
One honest caveat. The Commission says domain and trading names are supplied by the businesses themselves, and it can’t guarantee their accuracy. The register is the best check there is, not a perfect one.
The number in the footer proves nothing
Licensed casinos usually print a licence or account number in the footer. Anybody can type a number. The Commission says many illegal operators imitate legitimate businesses, and copying a footer is the easiest imitation going.
So treat the number as a lead, not a verdict. Search it, open the entry, and check that the domain you’re on appears in that account’s list with a live status. If it isn’t there, the number belongs to somebody else.
The red flags
- “Not on GAMSTOP”. Since 31 March 2020, every business licensed for online gambling in Great Britain has had to be part of GAMSTOP as a condition of its licence. A site advertising that it isn’t is telling you it isn’t licensed. The Commission names “NotonGamstop” searches as a way illegal sites target vulnerable people.
- Crypto only. The Commission lists crypto-based payments among the trends in the illegal market, alongside AI-generated branding and copied games.
- No mention of the Gambling Commission at all, or a licence from somewhere else presented as if it covers you. It doesn’t.
What you give up on an unlicensed site
The Commission says unlicensed sites often lack age verification, responsible gambling tools, secure payment systems and a proper dispute resolution scheme.
On a licensed site, if a complaint goes nowhere after eight weeks, you can take it to a free, independent Alternative Dispute Resolution provider. Online slots there are capped at £5 a spin, or £2 if you’re 18 to 24. And a GAMSTOP self-exclusion actually stops you. GAMSTOP says plainly that it can’t block operators that don’t take part.
Offshore, none of that applies, and if a withdrawal is refused there’s nobody to escalate to. Our safe online gambling guide covers the tools worth switching on once you’re somewhere licensed, and our guide to licensed UK casinos is a better place to start than a search result. Run the check anyway.
Reporting an illegal site
If you’re in Great Britain and a site that isn’t on the register is offering you gambling, the Commission wants to hear about it through its Tell us something in confidence service.
Two things to know first. It won’t tell you what happened next, in case that compromises an investigation. And it doesn’t resolve complaints about money, so it won’t get a balance back for you. Which is the whole argument for checking before you deposit rather than after.
Image: the World Trade Centre, Gibraltar, by Karen.Houston, CC BY-SA 4.0.
18+. Gambling should be entertainment, not income. Long term the house wins. Free and confidential help is at BeGambleAware.org.
