How to Verify a Casino’s Licence in the United Kingdom



Every legitimate online casino serving players in the United Kingdom must hold a licence from the Gambling Commission, and checking that licence takes minutes once you know where to look. The Commission currently licenses more than 3,000 operators and individual licence holders, yet enforcement action over the past five years has run into the tens of millions of pounds in penalties. A licence is therefore a starting point, not a guarantee. Verification is about reading the details, not just spotting a logo. Check out additional details at view details.

This guide walks through the practical checks: finding the licence number, matching it against the official register, and spotting the warning signs of a casino that operates outside the regulated market. The same method works whether you are assessing a mainstream site or a standalone brand such as Five Pound Bonus, which operates a Non Gamstop model and therefore sits outside the Commission’s remit entirely.

Where to Find the Licence Details

Start at the footer of the casino’s homepage. Licensed operators are required to display their trading name, the licence number, and the regulator’s name. Click through to the licence page and note the exact registered company name; this often differs from the brand you see advertised.

Next, open the Gambling Commission’s public register and search by the company name or licence number. The register lists the licence type, the status (active, suspended, or revoked), and any conditions attached. A remote casino operating licence is what you want to see for an online site; a gambling software licence alone is not sufficient.

Check the business address and contact details shown on both the casino site and the register. Mismatches are common in cloned sites, which copy branding but cannot replicate a valid entry. If the register shows no record, stop there. A site claiming a Commission licence without one is unlicensed, plain and simple.

Reading the Register Entry Properly

The register entry tells you more than whether a licence exists. Look at the “conditions” section, which can restrict the products an operator may offer. Some licences exclude certain game types, and a site offering those games anyway is in breach.

Also check the licence status history. Suspensions and regulatory reviews appear in public enforcement notices, which the Commission publishes with details of the failings and the penalty paid. An operator with recent enforcement action is not automatically unsafe, but the pattern matters.

For Non Gamstop casinos, the picture changes. These brands hold licences from jurisdictions such as Curaçao, and the Commission’s register will show nothing because the operator does not hold a UK licence. That is not fraud. It is a different regulatory environment with different player protections, and it should be assessed on those terms rather than treated as equivalent to a UK licence.

Red Flags and What They Mean

Be wary of licence numbers that return no register match, logos used without a number, and regulators you cannot find a public register for. Cloned sites frequently borrow the branding of a licensed operator while running on an unrelated platform.

Finally, confirm the terms that flow from the licence: UK-licensed sites must offer access to dispute resolution via an approved ADR provider, and deposits held for players are protected under the Commission’s customer funds rules. If a site cannot point to these protections, its licence claim deserves scrutiny.