Anjouan vs Curaçao casino licence: what it means for players

Most crypto casinos show one of two licences in the footer: Curaçao or Anjouan. They look alike – a seal, a licence number, a “verify” link – but they are issued by very different bodies, their registers show different things, and they give you different options when a withdrawal goes wrong. This guide compares the two from the player’s side, using the registers themselves and the records of the 15 casinos we profile. It is a comparison of frameworks, not a verdict on any casino.

Who issues each licence

Curaçao: a government regulator, new law since December 2024

Curaçao licences are issued by the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA), a public body of the country of Curaçao (our CGA regulator page lists which of the casinos we profile hold one). Under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (“LOK”), which the CGA states took effect on 24 December 2024, licences are granted directly by the regulator. The older arrangement – a handful of private “master licence” holders sub-licensing hundreds of casinos – ends under the transitional rules of the LOK (CGA, Online gaming). Our regulator record scores the CGA framework Tier C (quality 58.75 of 100): a public register exists, domains can be checked through a regulator-hosted certificate, an enforcement register is published – but the regulator does not handle player complaints and the regime is still young, with many licences provisional.

Anjouan: a private administrator on one island of the Comoros

“Anjouan” licences are presented by a website, anjouangaming.com (see also our Anjouan regulator page), which describes itself as the regulator “under the authority of the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority” and names a private company as sole licence administrator. The acts it relies on (island legislation of 2005) could not be found in an official gazette by our research. More importantly, the central bank of the Union of the Comoros published a communiqué on 8 December 2025 stating that the Anjouan offshore bodies “are not recognised in the Union of the Comoros and have no legal authorisation” to issue licences, and that no online gambling licence is issued on national territory (Banque Centrale des Comores, communiqué of 8 Dec 2025; in French). We cannot resolve that dispute between island and national authorities, and we do not try to. Our regulator record scores the framework Tier D (quality 25 of 100), the lowest band, because nothing about it can be checked outside the issuer’s own tools. The full factor-by-factor reasoning is in our regulator framework.

What each register actually shows

On 9 October 2026 our licence watch took a snapshot of both registers. This is what a player can see in each.

• Curaçao (CGA register PDF, 615 entries): licence number, licensee company, Chamber of Commerce number, B2B or B2C, issue date, expiry date and a status. The statuses in the snapshot: 288 “Assessment in progress”, 209 “Indefinite”, 60 “Active”, 58 “Expired”. The register publishes no domains. To tie a website to a licence you open the casino’s own seal, which must land on cert.cga.cw, the CGA-hosted certificate that names “the exact domain name being accessed, the licensed operator, and the operator’s current license status”. A certificate showing a different domain is, in the CGA’s own words, to be considered unauthorised.
• Anjouan (issuer register, 1,543 entries): company, status, licence number, type, issue date, expiry date and – unlike Curaçao – a domains column, filled for 1,497 rows. Every one of the 1,543 rows carries the status “valid”, including 342 rows whose expiry date had already passed on the snapshot date. The issuer’s own status definitions mention Active, Suspended, Revoked and Expired, so a register that shows only “valid” cannot be reconciled with its stated rules; we record this and do not interpret it further. The register is loaded by script on the issuer’s site, so it is not a document you can cite the way a regulator’s PDF can be.

The practical difference: a Curaçao check has two steps (register row, then certificate for the exact domain) but both live on regulator-controlled addresses. An Anjouan check is one step, with domains conveniently listed, but every part of it is published by the body that sells the licence. The step-by-step procedure for both is in how to check a licence yourself.

What “listed in issuer registry” means in our method

When we find a casino’s licence and domain in a regulator’s own register or certificate tool, the profile says Confirmed in registry. When the only place the licence can be found is a register published by the issuing body itself, the profile says Listed in issuer registry. That wording is deliberate: it confirms that the issuer lists the casino, nothing more. It is not an accusation, and it does not say the casino is unsafe. It does mean two things in our method: the regulator framework counts as Tier D in the Smarter Score’s safety category, and we never show a sign-up link for a casino whose licence is not confirmed in a regulator’s register. Where the issuer’s register and the casino’s own pages disagree – for example an expiry date in the past next to a “valid” status – we record an open contradiction on the profile rather than picking a side.

The 15 casinos we profile, by register

11 of the 15 licences are confirmed in a regulator’s register; 3 are listed only in the issuer’s registry. Five of the Curaçao rows (BitStarz, Roobet, Shuffle, mBit, Mirax) read “Indefinite” in the CGA register and “Active” on their certificates, with no entry in the CGA enforcement register on the dates we checked. The two Anjouan rows differ from each other: BC.Game (holder Twocent Technology Limited, issued 2 Oct 2024, expiry 1 Oct 2027, twelve domains listed) and Gamdom (holder Moon Revolution Limitada, issued 30 Jun 2024, expiry 29 Jun 2026 while the status still read “valid” on 5 Oct 2026 – an open contradiction on the profile).

Every register field we captured – number claimed, holder in the register, status, domain match, enforcement check – is published per casino in the casino licence register check dataset (CSV/JSON, CC BY 4.0). One finding from the watch: Roobet appears in both registers – CGA under Raw Entertainment B.V. and the Anjouan list under a different company for roobet.com. The profile records the Curaçao licence the terms name; the Anjouan entry is scheduled for a re-check, not yet reflected on the profile.

Where you can complain

This is where the two licences differ most for a player with a problem.

• Curaçao. The LOK gives you a free complaint to the operator within six months, an acknowledgement within a week and a reasoned decision within four weeks (extendable by four), and it obliges the operator to offer alternative dispute resolution at its own cost. The CGA publishes a list of certified ADR providers (seven, with three-year certificates, in the list dated 31 August 2026). The CGA itself states that it “does not handle individual complaints against gaming providers” and cannot order a casino to pay you; it accepts complaints only as evidence of possible breaches (CGA, Online gaming). The law also provides for a guarantee fund for player balances; we found no implementing regulation and treat its operation as not verified.
• Anjouan. The issuer states that it “does not handle, mediate, or adjudicate player complaints”; you complain to the operator (30 days) and may then be referred to an “approved” ADR provider chosen and paid by the operator (Anjouan Gaming, complaint policy – the issuer’s own site). We have not verified those providers or seen any published decision, so we treat the route as unproven. The issuer’s quarterly note for the first quarter of 2026 reports 12 supervisory assessments and 3 compliance notices across what it says are roughly 1,500 active licences.

In both cases the casino’s own terms carry more weight than the licence, which is why our guides on rejected withdrawals and closed accounts start from the clause, not the seal.

What changed in Curaçao – and what is still open

• Direct licensing. Licences are now granted by the CGA; the master/sub-licence model is being wound down under Article 15.1 of the LOK.
• A public register is required by law (Article 3.1): licence type, licensee, company number, grant date and validity status. It is a PDF, not a searchable database, and it carries no domains.
• Provisional licences. The LOK allows a provisional licence of at most six months, extendable once by six months. The register’s “Assessment in progress” status is not defined in any CGA document we found, and in the cases we examined the listed expiry sat twelve months after the grant date – consistent with the provisional maximum, but we have no official statement on what the status means for validity. Three casinos we are still researching sit in that state; their profiles stay unpublished until it is resolved.
• Player rules in the law: self-exclusion on written request for at least twelve months (Article 5.4), marketing must not mislead or target vulnerable people (5.6), operator-paid ADR (5.3), guarantee fund (5.7). What we could not observe: the fund in operation, any published fine, or an annual report – the enforcement register we read held 32 entries, mostly revocations.

Because the regime is moving, our regulator record flags the CGA as close to the Tier B threshold and due for re-assessment once an annual report or published fines exist. Nothing in this section comes from trade-press reporting; where we rely on secondary sources elsewhere we say so.

Checklist before you deposit at either

1. Read the footer and the terms together. Note the authority, licence number and operating company. If the terms name a different company from the seal, stop.
2. Curaçao: click the seal and check the address bar. It must be cert.cga.cw and must show the exact domain you are on, the operator and “Active”. Then find the same licence number in the register PDF and note the status word.
3. Anjouan: run the issuer lookup, then read the dates. An expiry date in the past next to “valid” is a reason to ask the casino in writing which document is current.
4. Find the complaint clause. Search the terms for “complaint” and “dispute”. Curaçao terms should name a procedure and an ADR body; under Anjouan, note what the operator alone promises, because that is most of what you will have.
5. Weigh the licence against the rest of the record. Withdrawal rules, limits, KYC triggers and the operator’s identity matter at least as much; the ownership guide explains why the company, not the brand, holds the licence.
6. Keep a dated screenshot of the register entry or certificate. Registers change; your screenshot does not.
7. Set your limits first. Neither licence protects you from your own session. Our responsible gambling page lists the tools and help lines. 18+.

Frequently asked questions

Is an Anjouan licence legitimate?

The issuer says yes, under island acts of 2005; the central bank of the Union of the Comoros said in December 2025 that the bodies involved have no legal authorisation and that no online gambling licences are issued in the country. We cannot settle that, so we describe the status as “listed in issuer registry”, rate the framework Tier D, and let the casino’s own terms and conduct carry the weight.

Is Curaçao better than Anjouan for players?

On the points a player can check, yes: a government regulator, a register required by law, a regulator-hosted domain certificate, a statutory complaint procedure with operator-paid ADR and a list of certified ADR providers. It is still a Tier C framework in our method – the regulator does not adjudicate disputes, many licences are provisional, and fund protection is in the law but not observed – so “better” does not mean “safe”.

Why does the Anjouan register show every licence as valid?

We do not know. The snapshot of 9 October 2026 showed all 1,543 rows as “valid”, including 342 past their expiry date, although the issuer’s own definitions include Expired, Suspended and Revoked. We record the contradiction on affected profiles and treat the register as the issuer’s statement, not as independent confirmation.

Can a casino hold both licences?

Yes. Our watch found one profiled casino in both registers under different companies. When that happens the licence named in the terms you accept is the one that governs your account; the profile shows which document we matched and when.

Sources

• Curaçao Gaming Authority – Online gaming (LOK transition, complaints statement); cert.cga.cw – Certificate of Operation; CGA OGL register PDF dated 9 Oct 2026 (615 entries) and the list of certificate holders under Article 5.17 LOK dated 31 Aug 2026, as captured by our licence watch.
• Anjouan Gaming – licence register (issuer’s own website; 1,543 entries on 9 Oct 2026) and its complaint policy.
• Banque Centrale des Comores – communiqué of 8 December 2025.
• Our regulator records for the CGA and Anjouan (factors, tiers, limitations) as published in the methodology, and the licence records of the 15 profiled casinos, checked on the dates shown in the table.