No KYC · United Kingdom

Offshore Licences at No KYC Casinos: What a Register Proves, and the Limit of It

Every no KYC casino that markets to UK players holds a licence from somewhere other than the Gambling Commission, or holds none that a register records, and the card for each operator in our list says which. This page is about reading those records yourself: where each regulator keeps its register, what a valid entry looks like, what the entry proves and what it does not, and what it means in Great Britain, where the Commission's position is that a licence from another country permits nothing.

It also sets out the limit of a register. An entry establishes that a licence exists, under a number, to a company, with a status. It does not establish how the regulator handles complaints or whether it will intervene in a withheld withdrawal, and for the overseas regulators in the table we have no primary source on either, so the cards say "licensed by" and nothing more.

Written by Arjun Mehta · Payments & Compliance WriterChecked by Sarah NolanLast updated 17 October 2026

The registers, and where each lives

Gambling Commission — Where the record lives: Public register on the Commission's site · How to search: Company name, trading name or domain
Curaçao Gaming Authority — Where the record lives: Certificate page on the Authority's own domain, reached from the footer seal · How to search: By the seal's link, or by licence number
Anjouan Gaming — Where the record lives: Licence register on the regulator's site · How to search: By number or holder
Tobique — Where the record lives: Validation page · How to search: By number
Mohéli — Where the record lives: A register we did not consult · How to search: Treated as unverified on the cards
Costa Rica — Where the record lives: Companies register only · How to search: Not a gambling licence The Commission's advice to players is to check a business in its public register before gambling, and the same advice applies, with the regulator substituted, to every row of the table. The register is the regulator's own statement of what it has licensed; a footer is the operator's.

What a valid entry looks like

Gambling Commission. The entry lists the company, the licensed activities, the licence status, and the domains the licence covers with a status for each. The domain you are using must appear and must be active; a company can hold a live licence while a particular domain has been dropped, and we found that case among operators marketing to UK players.
Curaçao Gaming Authority. The seal in a footer should open a certificate page hosted on the Authority's own domain, showing the licence number, the holding company and the status. A seal that opens an image, or a page on the casino's own domain, is not a register entry. The holding company must match the company named in the operator's terms.
Anjouan Gaming. The register lists licence numbers, holders and validity dates. The number from the footer must appear with an unexpired date, and the holder must match the terms. We found a footer number that the register attributed to a different company, and a holder whose licence had expired while the domain was absent from the register.
Tobique. The validation page confirms a number against a holder; the same two checks apply.

Three signs that an entry is not valid for the site you are using: the company in the register differs from the company in the terms; the status reads anything other than active; or, on the Commission's register, the domain is missing or inactive. Each is treated as no licence on the card, with the reason shown.

What our lookups found

Across the operators that appear in UK search results for no KYC casinos, the registers produced every outcome the table allows for.

Confirmed — What we found: Number, company and active status in the issuing register · Card treatment: Regulator and number shown with the date
Probable — What we found: A number in a register matching a domain-named company; footer not read from the UK · Card treatment: Shown as probable; "check footer" noted
Not found — What we found: No regulator named on the site, or none in any register we consulted · Card treatment: "Not found"; placed below every confirmed operator
Expired — What we found: Holder's licence past its validity date; domain absent from the register · Card treatment: Bottom of the list, reason shown
Company registration only — What we found: A Costa Rican incorporation and nothing else · Card treatment: Treated as no licence
Gambling Commission licensee — What we found: A UK licence, which forbids the no KYC model · Card treatment: Labelled a licensed casino, not a no KYC one "Not found" is a statement about our search, not about the operator. An operator might hold a licence from a regulator whose register we did not consult, or display its number somewhere we did not look. We score the outcome as if no licence existed, because for a UK player an unverifiable licence gives no more protection than none, and the card wording keeps the distinction while the position does not.

What each licence means in Great Britain

Section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005 makes it an offence to provide facilities for gambling without an operating licence, punishable by up to 51 weeks' imprisonment and a fine, and the point-of-consumption provisions apply that to any remote operator abroad that knows, or should know, that people in Great Britain use its service. The Commission's guidance is one sentence on the point: a gambling licence issued in another country does not permit an operator to provide gambling to consumers in Great Britain.

Gambling Commission — Permission in Great Britain: Yes · Conditions reaching a UK player: Verification before play; GamStop; slot stake cap; bonus wagering at most 10x; free ADR after eight weeks; customer funds disclosure
Curaçao, Anjouan, Tobique — Permission in Great Britain: None · Conditions reaching a UK player: None; the operator's own terms only
Not found, expired, or registration only — Permission in Great Britain: None · Conditions reaching a UK player: None The second row is why a no KYC casino can exist at all: the Commission's licence puts identity verification before the first bet, and only an operator outside it can defer the check. The Act names no offence for the adult player who uses such an operator and gives that player nothing in return; the Commission's report on illegal online gambling lists what unlicensed sites typically lack and records withheld payouts among the outcomes.

The limit of a register

A register entry establishes that a licence exists, under a number, to a company, with a status and sometimes a date. That is enough to separate an operator with a licence from one with a seal.

It is not evidence about how the regulator handles complaints, whether it will intervene in a withheld withdrawal, what it requires of a licensee that accepts crypto, or what happens to customer funds if the operator fails. For the Curaçao Gaming Authority, Anjouan Gaming and Tobique we have no primary source on any of those questions, and the cards therefore say "licensed by" and no more.

The Gambling Commission, by contrast, publishes its licence conditions, its complaints route and its enforcement figures: in the nine months from April to December of last year it issued 592 cease-and-desist notices, had 203,571 URLs removed and saw 627 sites closed or geoblocked. A register that comes with a published rulebook and a published enforcement record is a different kind of evidence from one that comes with a number, and that difference is the whole of the gap between the first row of the table above and the rest.

Reading a licence line on a card

"Gambling Commission, account [number], active, domain listed." The full set of conditions applies; the operator is a licensed casino, not a no KYC one.
"[Regulator], [number], active" for Curaçao, Anjouan or Tobique. A real licence, no UK permission, no UK conditions; the operator's terms are the whole of your protection.
"Probable." A register entry matching a domain-named company; the footer was not readable from the UK. Check it yourself before depositing.
"Not found." We searched and saw nothing. Scored as nothing.
"Expired" or "revoked." The operator is at the bottom with the reason, and readers with accounts there should know.
"Registration only." Costa Rica or similar; not a gambling licence.

Two minutes with the regulator's register confirms or overturns any of those lines on the day you read it, and the date on the card tells you when we last looked. A line that has changed since that date is a reason to re-run the check rather than to trust the card, and a register that cannot be reached at all is a reason to treat the licence as unverified until it can. You must be 18 or over to gamble in Great Britain; if you have registered with GamStop, operators outside the Commission's licence are outside the scheme you joined, and the National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare, is free on 0808 8020 133 at any hour.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Curaçao or Anjouan licence a real licence?

Where the regulator's own register confirms it, yes. It is a licence from a different regulator for a different market. The Gambling Commission's position is that it does not permit an operator to provide gambling to consumers in Great Britain.

How do I check a licence number from a footer?

Take it to the regulator's own register: the Commission's public register, the Curaçao Gaming Authority's certificate pages, the Anjouan register or the Tobique validation page. Confirm the company matches the operator's terms and the status is active. A seal in a footer is not a register entry.

What is a Costa Rican licence?

There is none for online gambling. A Costa Rican company registration is an incorporation record, and an operator showing only that has no gambling licence we can find.

Can a no KYC casino hold a Gambling Commission licence?

No. The licence requires verification before play, so a licensee cannot run the model. One operator in our wider list is a licensee and is labelled a licensed casino for that reason.

What does the regulator abroad do if the casino will not pay?

We have no primary source on the complaints procedures of any overseas regulator in our table, and we say so rather than guess. The register proves the licence exists; it does not prove what the regulator will do.

What does not found mean on a card?

That we searched the registers we know and saw nothing. It is not proof that no licence exists; it is scored as if it were, because for a UK player an unverifiable licence gives no more protection than none.

What does a revoked licence mean for an account I already hold?

That the regulator abroad has withdrawn its permission, and the operator's terms alone now govern the balance. The card keeps such operators visible at the bottom of the list rather than removing them, so that readers with accounts can see it.