At a glance
- Jurisdiction
- Great Britain
- Legal basis
- Gambling Act 2005 (s.33: providing gambling facilities without a licence is an offence; s.36: remote operating licences), extended to remote operators serving GB consumers by the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014
- Tier in our method
- Tier A · quality score 100 of 100 · how we rate regulators
- Public register
- Public register of gambling businesses
- Domain-level check
- Yes: the regulator’s tool or seal page lists the websites covered
- Researched
- 5 Oct 2026 from primary sources; confidence high
- Casinos we profile
- 4 of 28
What the authority is and does
The Gambling Commission is a body corporate established by the Gambling Act 2005. Providing gambling facilities in Great Britain without a licence is an offence under section 33, and remote operating licences are governed by section 36. The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 extended licensing to remote operators that serve consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based.
Licensees must follow the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards and the Commission’s anti-money-laundering guidance. Online slot stakes have been limited by statutory instrument since April 2025 (GBP 5 for adults, GBP 2 for ages 18 to 24), and customer funds must be disclosed under an insolvency-protection rating (not protected, medium or high protection).
Our tier: A, and why
We rate each licensing regulator, not the casino, on five factors scored 0 to 4. Tier A needs a quality score of 80 or more, verifiability 4 and oversight of at least 3. The tier describes how strong and verifiable the framework is. It is not a rating of any casino, and it does not predict how a casino treats its players; read the licensing section of the methodology for the weights and the tier table.
| Factor | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Verifiability weight 25 | 4 / 4 | Searchable public register: entity, account number, status |
| Domain attribution weight 20 | 4 / 4 | Register searchable by domain with status (domains self-declared) |
| Oversight & enforcement weight 25 | 4 / 4 | Regular published sanctions (e.g. multi-million fines 2026) |
| Player protection & recourse weight 20 | 4 / 4 | Statutory RG, AML, fund-protection disclosure, approved ADR after 8 weeks |
| Transparency weight 10 | 4 / 4 | Law, decisions, reports public |
What the public register shows, and how to check an entry
The register can be searched by business name, trading name, domain name or account number, and downloaded as Excel, CSV or ZIP. It shows, per account, licence activities with their status and dates, trading names, domain names with a status of Active, Inactive or White label, premises and regulatory actions.
The domain and trading-name lists are declared by the gambling business itself; the register says so on the page. A listed domain is therefore strong evidence for that entity but not an independent audit of the site.
Register: Public register of gambling businesses. The steps we follow:
- Take the licensee’s legal entity and the UKGC account number from the casino’s footer or terms.
- Open the public register and search by the exact domain name, trading name or account number. The result shows the account number, legal account name, head-office address and licence status (Active, Expired, Revoked or Suspended).
- Open the Domain names tab and confirm that the exact domain of the site is listed as Active (or White label, in which case note the partner that holds the licence).
- Open the Licence summary tab and check that the activity you are interested in (for example “Casino, Remote”) is listed and Active.
- Open the Regulatory actions tab and note any sanctions with their decision dates. Keep a dated screenshot.
- If the entity is licensed but the domain is not listed, treat the domain as not confirmed rather than assuming it is covered.
The same procedure, for every regulator, is in how to check a licence yourself. How UK Gambling Commission compares with the other tiers is summarised in the licence guide’s regulator section.
If something goes wrong: complaints and recourse
A player must first use the operator’s complaints process. After eight weeks the complaint can go to an approved alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider, which is free and independent and has up to 90 days to adjudicate.
The Commission publishes its enforcement outcomes, including financial penalties, warnings and licence conditions, on its news pages and in the register. Examples published in 2025 and 2026 include financial penalties against named licensees; reading the sanction text for the exact licensee and period matters, because a penalty applies to the licensee named, not to every brand of a group.
Limits and caveats
- Domain and trading-name data are provided by the licensed business, not verified one by one by the Commission.
- Protection of customer funds is disclosure-based: a licensee may legally hold funds as “not protected” if it says so.
- A licence confirms that a business is licensed for an activity; it says nothing about whether a casino pays out promptly or treats complaints well. We rate each casino separately.
- Our Tier A rating is a rating of the framework, not of any casino.
Casinos we profile under this licence
4 of the 28 casinos we profile name this licensing authority in their terms. The columns are the register finding for the exact domain at our last check, not an assessment of the casino; each profile shows the sources and dates. The same fields for all casinos are in the licence register check dataset.
| Casino | Holder in register | Register status | Our finding | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bwin | LC International Limited | Active | Confirmed in the regulator’s register | 14 Oct 2026 |
| PartyCasino | LC International Limited | Active | Confirmed in the regulator’s register | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Unibet | Platinum Gaming Limited | Active | Confirmed in the regulator’s register | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Zodiac Casino | Apollo Entertainment Limited | Active | Confirmed in the regulator’s register | 14 Oct 2026 |
Questions
Does the UKGC register show which websites a licence covers?
Yes. Each account lists the domain names the business has declared, with a status of Active, Inactive or White label. The list is provided by the business.
Does a UKGC licence mean a casino has no regulatory history?
No. The register’s Regulatory actions tab and the Commission’s enforcement news show sanctions against individual licensees. Each sanction names the licensee and the period it covers.
Can I complain to the UKGC about a casino?
The Commission does not resolve individual disputes. You complain to the operator first and, after eight weeks, can use an approved ADR provider free of charge. The Commission accepts reports about licensees through its contact channels.
What does Tier A mean?
Established, verifiable regulation with a public register that supports domain checks, published enforcement and an approved ADR route. It rates the framework, not the casino.
Sources
Primary sources read on the dates shown; official and issuer pages open in a new tab and are not endorsements.
- Gambling Commission: public register of gambling businesses · read 14 Oct 2026
- Gambling Commission: register downloads (CSV, Excel, ZIP) · read 5 Oct 2026
- Gambling Act 2005, section 33 · read 5 Oct 2026
- Gambling Act 2005, section 36 · read 5 Oct 2026
- Gambling Commission: taking your complaint to an ADR provider · read 5 Oct 2026
- Gambling Commission: enforcement action · read 5 Oct 2026