A casino licence is a permission from a regulator. For a site that takes players in Great Britain, the permission that counts is a licence from the Gambling Commission, because the Gambling Act 2005 requires remote gambling used in Great Britain to be licensed here. Many other sites hold a licence from a regulator elsewhere. This page explains what those licences are, which places are covered on this site, and what each means for a UK player. It does not rank the places or endorse any site.
What a foreign licence is
A foreign licence is a permission issued under another country's or territory's law. It allows a company to run gambling under that regulator's rules, which differ from the UK rules. It is a real legal document in the place that issued it. It is not permission to provide gambling to people in Great Britain.
That distinction is the core of this section. The Gambling Act 2005 section 33 makes it an offence to provide unlicensed gambling, and section 36 covers remote gambling used in Great Britain. The offence is the operator's. For the player, the effect is practical: the protections that come with a UKGC licence are absent.
What a UK player loses
A site that holds a foreign licence but no UKGC licence is not covered by GAMSTOP. A UK player there loses:
- the GAMSTOP self-exclusion check, explained on the GAMSTOP page
- the UKGC complaint route and ADR
- the stake limits on online slots
- the cap on wagering requirements
- the affordability checks
- the duty to disclose how customer funds are protected.
Playing at such a site is not an offence for the player. It is still a choice to give up those protections, which is why this site says so on every page about the offshore side.
The places covered
Five places appear most often when people ask about non-UK casinos. Each has its own page.
| Place | Who issues it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Curaçao | Curaçao Gaming Authority | Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with its own gambling law |
| Malta | Malta Gaming Authority | Licensees can also hold UKGC licences |
| Anjouan | The authority behind anjouangaming.com | Publishes a licence register on its website |
| Kahnawake | Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission | A Mohawk community near Montréal in Canada |
| Costa Rica | None found for online casinos | Often a company seat, not a licence |
The order follows the site menu and carries no meaning about quality. None of these is a UK licence.
Who issues what
Each regulator has its own law, its own definition of who can be licensed and its own public information. Some publish a searchable list of licence holders. Others publish little. The Malta Gaming Authority and the Anjouan gaming site are two that explain their work online, and the Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission lists permit holders. The Curaçao government's site is at gobiernu.cw.
No foreign regulator is the Gambling Commission, and none of them can be reached through the UK complaint route. Their rules about who may be served also differ. The licence may cover business to business supply, consumer gambling, or a limited set of games, and the terms are in the licence, not in the logo.
How to read a licence statement
A licence statement in a site's footer is something the site says. A few steps turn it into something you can check:
- Note the regulator and the number shown.
- Go to the regulator's own website and look for a public list. Not every regulator publishes one.
- Search for the company name and the domain. A brand may be listed under a different company.
- Compare dates, status and what the licence covers.
- Search the Gambling Commission's register as well, using the UKGC licence check guide. A site can hold a foreign licence and a UKGC one, and only the register shows the second.
If a regulator has no public list, or the entry does not match, the statement stays unverified. Say so plainly to yourself and decide on that basis.
Why this matters for the offshore searches
People who search for casinos not on GAMSTOP or non-UK casinos usually meet sites licensed in one of these places. The non-UK casinos page sets out that search as information, and the offshore casinos list gives brand names, domains and regulators with the same warning. None of it is an endorsement. Words such as safe or secure placed next to a foreign licence in a site's text are marketing, not evidence.
Sources and limits
The facts on the country pages come from the regulators' own public pages, read for this site. Where a regulator publishes little, we say what we could not find. We do not give legal advice. The primary sources are the regulators' websites and the Gambling Commission's register, and the sources and method page explains how we read them.
Gambling help
Gambling is for adults aged 18 and over. For free support at any hour, the GamCare National Gambling Helpline is on 0808 8020 133, or use GamCare. GAMSTOP blocks accounts with UK licensed operators, and BeGambleAware has advice and tools.