Gambling License Registers

Why checking the register matters before you play

A license number in a website footer tells you nothing on its own. Anyone can type "Licensed by PAGCOR", "Regulated by Curacao eGaming" or "Under Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)" onto a page, and fake sites do exactly that. Licensed platforms are required to display the registration number or logo of their licensing body in the footer, which gives you the starting point, but the number only means something when you can check it against the regulator's own records⁷.

That is what a public register is for. The UK Gambling Commission puts it plainly in its guidance to players: check that the details of the license, including the permitted activities and the website domain names, match the public register, and confirm the business actually holds a license before you transfer any money into a gambling account⁸. The same logic applies to every regulator with a public list. The register is the regulator's own record, so it cannot be faked by the operator, and it shows things a footer logo never will: whether the license is current, what activities it covers, and which domain names are actually approved.

The stakes are real. PAGCOR has publicly warned against fake online gaming sites and urged the public to check its list of licensees before accessing offshore gaming sites⁶. In Hong Kong, the government has stated that if illegal gambling is found in an amusement game center, the participating customers are also considered to have violated the law, not just the operator⁹. Playing on a site that lied about its license means you have no regulator to complain to when something goes wrong, and in some places you may have a problem of your own. For more on the general method, see our guide to how to check a gambling license, and for the sites that fake these claims, see fake gambling license claims.

Where each register lives: a quick table

Not every jurisdiction has one. Some regulators publish licensee lists; others publish nothing searchable at all, and in those cases the only route is to contact the regulator directly, which we cover further down. Where a register does exist, it is always free, always public, and always more trustworthy than anything the operator says about itself.

PAGCOR: how to verify a Philippine licensee

PAGCOR is the most important regulator for readers in the Philippines, and it gives you two separate things to check. The first is its published List of Licensees for Gaming Venue Operations, a PDF on the PAGCOR website that names the companies licensed to run gaming venues. One caution comes from PAGCOR itself: the list does not certify that each licensee offers all PAGCOR-approved game offerings, so seeing a company on the list does not mean every game it advertises is covered².

The second is newer. PAGCOR has announced an online verification facility, described as a way for the public to check whether an online gaming provider is licensed or not, delivered through an app designed to protect online gaming players¹. The practical method, which licensed operators describe in their own help pages, is to find the operator's disclosed company name and check it against PAGCOR's list of accredited operators, then confirm the approved gaming scope¹⁰. A licensed Philippine platform such as Casino Plus states that it is licensed and regulated by PAGCOR and that players can freely check its legitimacy online¹¹.

Two things are worth knowing about the Philippine situation. First, online play in the Philippines is legal only when the operator is licensed by PAGCOR, and PAGCOR does license operators other than itself: it publishes a list of licensees for gaming venue operations, and licensed platforms must display their registration number¹². Second, PAGCOR has warned the public against fake online gaming sites and urged people to check its list of licensees before accessing offshore gaming sites, and it runs a POGO hotline, 09278098610, for reporting suspected illegal offshore gaming activities and websites⁶.

If you want to go deeper on the Philippines, see our pages on PAGCOR Entertainment City licensees and gambling in the Philippines.

MGA: how the Malta register works and unauthorized URLs

The Malta Gaming Authority is one of the most commonly cited regulators on sites aimed at Asian players, and its license numbers follow formats such as MGA/B2C/XXX/YYYY and MGA/CRP/NNN/YYYY; not all are in the B2C format. A real example is the license MGA/B2C/748/2019, held by an operator that publishes the number on its own site¹⁴. You can read more about the format in our guide to how to read a gambling license number.

The register side matters just as much. The MGA maintains a public register of its licensees, and the check is the same as the UK Gambling Commission describes: confirm the license exists, that it covers the activities the site offers, and that the site's domain is among the approved domains⁸. For the full walkthrough, see how to check a Malta Gaming Authority license.

The MGA also gives you a quick format check: its license numbers look like MGA/B2C/XXX/YYYY or MGA/CRP/NNN/YYYY, and not all of them are in the B2C format. Real examples include iBET's MGA/B2C/748/2019 and Betfair International's MGA/CRP/131/2006¹⁴. But a correctly formatted number is only the first step, because the MGA can only act on operators it licenses; if a site is unlicensed and a withdrawal stalls or an account is frozen, there is no regulator to turn to³. We cover these sites in detail on websites falsely claiming an MGA license.

One more Malta point for players who may visit: the MGA and the Responsible Gaming Foundation run a Unified Self-Barring System for land-based gaming premises in Malta, where players can apply to bar themselves from all land-based venues by completing a form and providing a copy of their ID card¹⁶.

Anjouan licenses: a growing alternative register

Anjouan, a small licensing jurisdiction that has grown quickly as an alternative to Curaçao, runs a different kind of register: a validation page tied to a specific domain. When you open the validation link for a licensed site, the page shows the operating status, the holder company and the license number. A live example from September 2026 shows status VALID for the domain coinpoker.com, operated by Precise Interactive Inc under License No. ALSI-202412004-FI1⁴. The same license record lists its restricted territories as all FATF-blacklisted countries and sanctioned jurisdictions⁴.

The practical difference from a searchable list is that you validate one site at a time rather than browsing all licensees. That makes the check quick, but it also means the validation link matters: a fake site can link to a real validation page for a different domain, so the link is worth taking from the Anjouan Gaming Authority's own site rather than only from the operator. For the full method, see how to verify an Anjouan gaming license, and for background on the jurisdiction, see Anjouan gaming licenses.

Anjouan's growth is visible in the market. In late September 2026, a major crypto casino announced it would move from its Curaçao license to an Anjouan license, a sign of where smaller operators are heading as Curaçao's system changes. If you are comparing the two, see Anjouan vs Curacao gambling licenses.

Hong Kong: a register you can download

Hong Kong is an unusual case: gambling itself is tightly restricted, but the government publishes genuinely open license data. Through the data.gov.hk open data platform, the Home Affairs Department publishes a register of Amusement Game Centres and premises holding an annual Amusements with Prizes Licence. For each center or premises the register records the license number, name, address and telephone number⁵. It is machine-readable data rather than a polished search page, but it is a complete public record, and it is the official way to confirm that an amusement venue you plan to visit holds a current license.

The reason this register exists at all is the legal line Hong Kong draws. Amusement game centers are licensed businesses, but the government has stated plainly that if illegal gambling is found in an AGC, the participating customers are also considered to have violated the law⁹. So the register is not a formality: it is how you confirm a venue is on the right side of that line before you walk in. For the wider picture, see gambling in Hong Kong.

What a register can and cannot tell you

A public register is the best single check available, but it has limits worth knowing before you rely on it completely.

What a register does tell you:

• Whether the operator holds a current license, and under what number.
• What activities the license covers, such as casino games, betting or both.
• Which website domains the license actually approves, which is how you catch a real license being used to front a fake site⁸.
• The operating status of a specific domain, in Anjouan's case, including the holder company and license number⁴.

What a register usually cannot tell you:

• Who ultimately owns the operator. Registers list the license holder, not the beneficial owners behind it, so a site can carry a well-known regulator's name, such as the Curaçao Gaming Authority, while the people actually running it stay out of sight.
• Whether the operator treats players well. A license means the operator passed the regulator's checks, not that it has no complaints. For that, see how to complain to a gambling regulator.
• Whether the license covers your country. A license from one regulator does not decide local legality, which depends on where you are. Betfair, for example, holds a Malta license for most countries but is treated as an unlicensed gambling service provider in Singapore⁴.

One more caution from PAGCOR's own list: being on the licensee list does not certify that a licensee offers all PAGCOR-approved game offerings, so a license check and a game-scope check are two different steps².

How to contact a regulator directly

When a register does not exist, does not load, or shows something confusing, the fallback is to contact the regulator. Most publish a phone number and email, and they answer licensing questions as part of their job. Here are the main contacts for readers in Asia:

A few practical notes on the bigger ones. PAGCOR's self-exclusion and responsible gaming work runs through the contacts above, and its Online Self-Exclusion Application portal handles individual applications, while family exclusion applications go through a separate email channel²⁶. PAGCOR also requires its licensees to have dedicated personnel and information available for responsible gaming queries, including exclusion and treatment referrals, so a licensed venue's staff should be able to point you to the right place²⁷.

In Macau, exclusion application forms are available from DICJ itself, the Resilience Centre of the Social Welfare Bureau, and any casino, or downloadable from the DICJ website. If you submit a self-exclusion application through a casino, DICJ will contact you to verify your details, and you must attend the DICJ office in person with original ID. Under Macau's Law 10/2012, the DICJ director can bar a person from all or part of the casinos for up to two years at the person's own request or at the confirmed request of a spouse, ascendant, descendant or second-degree relative²⁸. DICJ reads identity documents to obtain your ID number, name, sex and date of birth, stores them in its administrative system and sends them to all or some casinos in Macau solely to run the self-exclusion program³⁰.

If your question is about a specific operator rather than your own play, see how to complain to a gambling regulator, and for disputes with a licensed operator, see gambling ADR.

A quick checklist before you deposit

1. Find the license claim in the site's footer: the regulator's name and the license number⁷.
2. Check the format. An MGA license looks like MGA/B2C/XXX/YYYY or MGA/CRP/NNN/YYYY, and not all are in the B2C format; a wrong format is a red flag before you even open the register¹⁴.
3. Open the regulator's own register, not a link on the gambling site. Search for the operator's name or number.
4. Match the details: license status, permitted activities, and above all the approved domain names. A real license fronting a fake domain is a known trick⁸.
5. Check the regulator's warning notices. The MGA, for example, publishes lists of URLs falsely claiming its licenses³.
6. If anything does not match, do not deposit. Report the site to the regulator: PAGCOR takes reports on its POGO hotline at 09278098610⁶.
7. If there is no register, call or email the regulator directly using the contacts above and ask.

The whole check takes about five minutes. It will not tell you whether a site is worth playing on, but it will tell you whether there is a regulator standing behind it, and that is the one thing no operator can fake.