Casino licenses: What is that and how can you recognize it?


To check if the online casino has a license and where is probably not the first step you take when signing up for one. Even though that is understandable, it can still be a big mistake. One of the most important parts of starting to gamble at an online casino is to know that your money is safe. But many might shake their heads now and say: But what does a license help with that? It’s a casino anyway, you can never be sure. However, this is not true and a license can help to pick the right legit online casino that suits your needs.

What is a license anyway?

A license is a permission to run an online casino. Casinos with a license are therefore legit establishments. Usually, a state is giving out those licenses and strict requirements are demanded to follow as well as rules for the protection of the customers. If that is the case, a casino is allowed to offer online gambling with real money stocks.

However, not a lot of countries are giving out those licenses and since it is the internet, a casino can be licensed in any country they want. Therefore, most of the legit casinos are licensed in the UK or Malta. They get their licenses either from the UK Gambling Commission, Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission or the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). The latter one is the most popular license since it enjoys a very good reputation as the oldest and biggest European regulatory agency.

Players who chose a casino with a MGA license can be sure of its legacy and that their personal data as well as their bank account information are protected. Even though the British licenses mentioned above, are also legit and must fulfill certain requirements to protect their customers, players from European countries might have to pay customs fee because they are no longer considered as European agencies.

But where to find licensed casinos?

If you think about signing up for an online casino, it is therefore smart to pick one with a license. That’s how you can make sure that you get not screwed over. But how can you know if a casino has a license? One way is to search for the best casino in the ranking list, such as New UK casinos. Another way to figure out if your favorite casino has a license is to have a look on the homepage.

All the way down on the main page or in the imprint of the website, you can find the logo of a licensing agency alongside a license number. Unfortunately, those logos can be faked. To be entirely sure that the casino is legit, you can go to the homepage of the licensing agency that is depicted on the logo and search for the casino’s name. If it appears on the licensing agency homepage, you can be sure that the logo is not faked. Additionally, the agencies can help you with questions or problems.