The UKGC register is the Gambling Commission’s free, public list of the gambling businesses it licenses. If a casino says it holds a UK licence, this is where you confirm it. The check takes a few minutes and needs no account.
On 28 October 2026 we downloaded the Commission’s licence file and counted 137 active remote casino operating licences, out of 4,506 licence rows of all kinds. Our count two days earlier, on 26 October, was 138. The register changes as licences start and end, so every count is true only on its date. This guide shows you how to look up one casino, and how to repeat the count yourself.
For the bigger picture, see our guide to the Gambling Commission. If the casino you are checking is not UK-licensed, use how to check a gambling licence instead.
What the register covers
The register of gambling businesses is on the Commission’s website, at gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/businesses. When we read it on 28 October 2026, the page said “Last updated: 28 October 2026” and listed 2,635 records. Each record is a business (an account), and each business can hold several licences.
You can search by business name, trading name, domain name or account number. The Commission also offers the full register as a download in Excel, CSV and as a Zip file with all datasets (Register of gambling businesses, Gambling Commission, read 2026-10-28).
The register covers licensed businesses. It does not list the unlicensed sites that target Great Britain. If you are in Great Britain and a site offers you gambling and does not appear to hold a licence, the Commission asks you to report it through its “Tell us something in confidence” page.
Step by step: check one casino
1. Get the company name and the web address
Open the casino’s terms and conditions. Look for the company that operates the site, plus any UK licence number. Write down the exact company name and the domain of the page you are on (for example, the part before the first slash in the address bar).
2. Search the register
Go to the register and search for the company name or the domain name. If you have a UK licence number, the first digits give the account number: a number such as 039198-R-319450-029 sits under account 39198.
3. Open the licence summary
A business record shows the account number, the legal name and head office address. A summary menu shows counts of trading names, domain names, premises and regulatory actions. The licence summary lists each activity with its licence number, status and dates.
4. Check the activity
You are looking for the Casino activity under a Remote licence. A remote licence is the type the Commission says is required for any gambling provided to players online or by other remote means. A business can hold a Bingo or Betting licence without a Casino one.
5. Check the status
Active is what you want. The register defines other statuses too:
- Active: licence is active and up to date.
- Pending: a new licence has been applied for or is being varied and is not yet active.
- Expired: the licensee has not applied for a new operating licence after the current licence reached its end date.
- Surrendered: the business gave the licence up because it no longer needs it.
- Suspended: the Commission has suspended it pending investigation.
- Revoked: removed because of regulatory action or breach of licence conditions.
It also lists Forfeited, Lapsed and Revoked (Non payment of fee).
6. Match the domain
Open the domain names for the account. Each domain has a status of Active, Inactive or White label. The domain you are on should be listed, and Active. The Commission notes that domain names and trading names are provided by the gambling business, and it cannot guarantee the accuracy of information provided by third parties.
7. Read the regulatory actions
If the summary shows a count above zero for regulatory actions, open them. The register describes these as sanctions and/or settlements imposed by the Commission as a result of regulatory action or investigation. A sanction does not always mean a bad casino today, but you should read what it was for and when.
Worked examples (read 26 to 28 October 2026)
We checked three brands we review. These are examples of how to read the register, not rankings.
| Brand | Register entry | Licence and status | Domains |
|---|---|---|---|
| LeoVegas | LeoVegas Gaming PLC, account 39198 | 039198-R-319450-029: Casino, Bingo and General Betting (real and virtual event) activities, all Active. Casino from 1 Nov 2014 | leovegas.co.uk Active; leovegas.com and www.leovegas.com Inactive |
| Videoslots | Videoslots Limited, account 39380 | 039380-R-319311-036: Casino, Bingo, General Betting (real event), Linked Gambling Software, all Active. Casino from 1 Nov 2014 | www.videoslots.com and www.videoslots.co.uk Active (also www.mrvegas.com and www.megariches.com) |
| Casumo | Recro Limited, account 61549 | 061549-R-336718-003: Casino and General Betting activities, Active | casumo.com Active |
Three lessons come out of this:
- The legal name is not the brand. Casumo sits under Recro Limited. An older record, Casumo Services Limited (account 39265), shows as Surrendered. If you search only for the brand, you can miss the right entry or land on the old one.
- The domain status matters. LeoVegas’s UK licence is active, but leovegas.com is marked Inactive on the UK register. This suggests that domain is not the one the UK licence is used for. That fits the casino’s own terms, where the international site states a Malta licence (MGA/CRP/237/2013). Read our LeoVegas review for how we handle the two. Your own rights depend on which entity you actually play with.
- One account can cover several brands. Videoslots Limited’s UK record also lists other domains, such as www.mrvegas.com.
Our Videoslots review lists both its UK and Malta licence numbers.
How to count licences yourself
If you want to repeat our count:
- Download the licence file, business-licence-register-licences.csv, from the register’s download page.
- Open it in a spreadsheet. The columns are Account Number, Licence Number, Status, Type, Activity, Start Date and End Date.
- Filter Status to Active, Type to Remote and Activity to Casino.
- Count the rows. On 28 October 2026 we got 137, and the 137 rows had 137 different licence numbers.
The Commission also publishes the domain names as a separate file, business-licence-register-domain-names.csv, with account number, domain name and status. That is how we checked the domains above.
Source for the count: Gambling Commission licence register CSV, downloaded and counted by GiroReal on 2026-10-28.
Limits of the register
- It shows licence status, not service quality. It cannot tell you whether a casino pays quickly or has fair bonus terms.
- It shows what the business has declared for domains and trading names. It may lag behind a rebrand.
- It covers the Commission’s licensees only. A casino with a Malta or Curaçao licence will not appear here, and that is not a warning sign by itself. Check its own regulator: see the Malta Gaming Authority and Curaçao Gaming Authority pages.
If you disagree with a licensed business about a gambling result or its service, the Commission says to complain to the business first.
Content is for adults aged 18 or over. If gambling is no longer fun, see our responsible gaming page.