Five checks, in order
- Copy the licence line. Scroll to the footer or open the terms. Write down the company name, the registration number, the licence number and the regulator. If any of the three main details is missing, stop there: the casino does not tell you who runs it.
- Open the register yourself. Type the regulator's address into the browser instead of only clicking the seal. Seals can be copied or point to look-alike pages. The registers we use are listed below.
- Match company, number and domain. All three should line up. A licence number that exists in the register but belongs to another company, or lists other domains only, does not cover the site you are on.
- Read the status and the dates. "Valid" or "Active" is what you want. Check the expiry date too: we have seen entries marked valid after the listed expiry had passed.
- Read the restricted-countries clause. A licence says nothing about your province. Many casinos accept Canada but exclude Ontario, Alberta or New Brunswick in their own terms. Our Canada page lists what each casino's terms say.
Where each register is and what it shows
Checked Nov 11, 2026. Registers change, so the date matters.
| Regulator | Where to look | What it shows | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) | Seal in the casino footer, opening a certificate on cert.cga.cw; licence lists published as PDF files on the CGA site | Company, company number, licence number, date granted, status, related domains | Status "Assessment in progress" means the review under the 2024 law is not finished. The certificate page may ask you to pass a browser check. |
| Anjouan | anjouangaming.com/license-register | Company, licence number, status, issue and expiry dates, domains | The legal basis of these licences is disputed (see below). |
| Tobique Gaming Commission (New Brunswick First Nation) | thetgc.ca/license-holders | Company, expiry date, B2C or B2B | No licence numbers and no domains, so the link between company and site comes only from the casino's own terms. |
| Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission (Quebec First Nation) | Logo in the casino footer linking to a Certificate of Good Standing on the commission's site | Permit holder, domain, dates | The commission asks players to report sites that claim its licence without the linked certificate. |
| AGCO / iGaming Ontario | agco.ca, list of registered internet gaming operators | Operators allowed to serve players in Ontario | Only relevant in Ontario. This site does not cover Ontario. |
Mismatches we found while checking
These come from our own checks of the casinos on this site. Each one is the kind of thing the five checks above catch.
- Typo in the footer. Bitcasino shows licence ALSI-202509076-F12 in its footer. The Anjouan register lists the same company, EZ Spins Ltd, under ALSI-202509076-FI2. A one-character difference is easy to miss if you only glance at the badge.
- Wrong regulator in a review. A site ranking for "24casino canada" describes the casino as MGA-licensed. 24Casino's own terms name a Tobique Gaming Commission licence held by Novatrix SRL, and Novatrix appears in the Tobique list.
- Licence still under review. Stake's company, Medium Rare N.V., appears in the Curaçao licence list with the status "Assessment in progress".
- Expired certificates on a big network. In the Casino Rewards group, Casino Kingdom and Cosmo Casino link to Kahnawà:ke certificates that expired on 19 May 2026. The other brands in the network show certificates valid to 2029. Details are on the Casino Rewards page.
- One licence, many sites. Shuffle's Curaçao certificate lists 43 related domains besides shuffle.com. Fairspin's Anjouan licence covers nine domains. Mirrors are normal, but a domain that is not on the list is not covered by that certificate.
What a licence does and does not tell you
A licence tells you that a named company answers to a regulator, and gives you somewhere to complain. It does not tell you how fast a casino pays, whether your province is accepted, or what happens to your balance if the account is closed. Those are in the casino's terms, which is why we read the terms for every casino and score them separately in our methodology. Three guides compare those terms side by side: ID checks, pending withdrawals and closed accounts.
None of the offshore licences above makes a casino licensed in a Canadian province. Gambling in Canada is regulated province by province; the Canada page explains what that means for players outside Ontario and Alberta.
The Anjouan question
9 of the casinos we track name an Anjouan licence. The Anjouan register is public and the entries we checked match the casinos' footers. However, in 2026 the government of the Comoros described the bodies issuing these licences as fictitious and asked the UK for help, which casino.org reported after earlier reporting by Australia's ABC. For a player this means an Anjouan entry confirms that the licence was issued and matches the site, but it is weak evidence that anyone will act on a complaint.
Warning signs
- No company name, or a company name with no registration number.
- A seal that is a plain image, opens a page on the casino's own domain, or names a different company.
- A licence number that the register lists under different domains only.
- "Licensed and regulated" with no regulator named.
- Terms that let the casino keep balances "at its sole discretion" with no stated reason. We flag this on each casino page under Account closure.
Questions
How do I check if an online casino is legit?
Find the company name, licence number and regulator in the casino's footer or terms, then look the licence up on the regulator's own website, not through the casino's badge alone. The company, number and domain should all match, and the status should be active with an expiry date in the future. Then read the casino's restricted-countries clause for your province.
How can I tell if a Curaçao licence is fake?
A current Curaçao licence number looks like OGL/2024/1337/0628. The seal in the footer should open a certificate on cert.cga.cw that names the same company and domain and shows a status such as Active. If the seal is a plain image, links elsewhere, or names a different company, treat the licence as unconfirmed.
Is an Anjouan licence legit?
Anjouan licences can be looked up in a public register, but their legal basis is disputed. In 2026 the government of the Comoros called the bodies issuing them unauthorised and asked the UK for help. A record in the register shows that a licence was issued, not that the casino is regulated in a way that protects players.
Does a foreign licence make a casino legal in Canada?
No. A licence from Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique allows a company to operate under that regulator. It does not authorise the casino in a Canadian province. Ontario players should use operators registered with the AGCO and iGaming Ontario.
What does "Assessment in progress" mean in the Curaçao register?
It means the company applied under Curaçao's 2024 law and the regulator has not finished reviewing it. The company can keep operating during the review. We show this status on the casino page and score it lower than a confirmed licence.
Checked by the CashierChecked editorial team on Nov 11, 2026. Registers and terms change; if something here no longer matches, tell us.