Licensing is a necessary part of any casino, especially an online one. Without a proper license, as a rule, it is impossible to open a casino’s account in a bank, purchase any games from gambling manufacturers & to obtain a nice amount of players in the establishment. However, you may have seen that some online casinos operate without online gambling license – it’s just they operate in such jurisdictions, which don’t give a heck about online licensing. They open accounts not as a casino, they have games not by reliable manufacturers & they have such loose rules of gambling on their site, which allow not paying winnings to players. You should stick to first and not waste your time on others (which are registered out of places we list below).
What actions are to be undertaken to formalize the license?
To have a licensed online casino, the owner has to collect a list of documents that are to be provided to a licensing body. These can be a copy of your passport, bank statement and account details, criminal background check, the description of the casino’s site functionality, the results of the check of the unbiased mechanism of random numbers generation (RNG) attached to your website (if the RNG is not built-in inside the games you’re going to purchase) & if the site has other needed information according to the jurisdiction.
Choose the jurisdiction of registration. As offline laws of all countries are different, the same they are with online slot machine licenses and are subject to change. In some countries and casino control commissions, it is very hard to register an online casino (like in the UK, for instance), and/or they have tangled or stiff tax and control legislation, which might push you to choose some not as stiff jurisdiction.
After you have everything on hand prepared, you submit the package of documents to the licensing body, pay for the license & wait for the approval. Only after that, it would be legal to start your activity.
How do you know that an online casino really has a license?
It is simple – on a starting page of every licensed casino, you can see the jurisdiction of licensing (or on a separate page). It can be Pagcor license online gaming, Curacao online gambling license, or one of ECOGRA approved casinos. If there is no license, you shall not gamble here.
What types of licenses are there?
Depending on the type of gambling house, the licenses differ: online casino, video slots, card games, board games, lottery, Keno, social gambling, governmental one, horseracing, bets on sports, etc. When you’re intending to play one of those, you are only interested in the license that is destined for the exact type of gambling you’re going to start.
Controlling bodies in gambling
There are different controlling bodies, depending on the jurisdiction selected by you to register the casino. These can be: Malta gaming authority casinos (in Malta), Alderney Gambling Control Commission (in British Alderney), Division of Gaming (of Antigua and Barbuda), Computer Wagering Licensing Board in Belize, the government in Costa Rica, the government of Curaçao, National Betting Authority in Cyprus, Danish Gambling Authority in Denmark, The Department of Finance and Gaming’s Gambling Division in Gibraltar, Gambling Supervision Commission of Isle of Man, Jersey Gambling Commission in the Bailiwick of Jersey, Kahnawake Gaming Commission in St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, belonging to the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawake & others.
