We are not a gambling operator, a regulator, or a licensing body. We don’t hold a gaming licence ourselves and we don’t certify that any specific site currently holds any specific licence in good standing — that’s always a claim to verify directly against the regulator’s own public register, not to take on trust from any third-party write-up, including ours.
What a licence is actually supposed to mean
A gambling licence is not a one-time badge — it’s meant to be ongoing supervision: minimum financial-standing requirements, rules on how player funds are held separately from operating funds, complaint-handling obligations, and the regulator’s power to fine, suspend or revoke the licence if an operator falls short. Licensing regimes differ substantially in how actively they enforce that supervision after the badge is issued, which is a large part of why “licensed” alone tells a reader less than it sounds like it does.
Regulators and licensing bodies our pieces reference
In general-framework terms — not as an endorsement of any specific operator’s current standing:
- UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) — regulates gambling in Great Britain; publishes a public register of licensed operators and takes public enforcement action against licensees.
- Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) — one of the longer-established EU-based licensing jurisdictions for online gaming.
- Curaçao licensing — historically a lower-barrier offshore jurisdiction; its supervision structure has been under active reform, which is itself worth checking against the current rules rather than an older description.
US real-money gambling is regulated state by state rather than by one federal body — the relevant regulator depends entirely on which state’s licence an operator holds, if any.
Independent testing versus licensing
A licence and an RNG/fair-play certification are two separate checks, not one. The licence covers the operator’s conduct and finances; the certification covers whether the game software itself behaves the way its odds claim it does. Our editorial policy page covers how we describe that testing process and where its limits are.
Checking a claim yourself
The regulator named in an operator’s footer will have a public licensee search. If an operator’s licence claim doesn’t turn up a matching, current entry there, that’s a real red flag worth treating as one — independently of anything written on this desk.