What a UKGC licence actually means

Every site accepting players in Great Britain needs a remote operating licence from the Gambling Commission. The licence is not a quality badge — it is a set of obligations, and knowing which ones tells you what you can actually rely on.

How to check, in one step

Regulator: Gambling Commission, under the Gambling Act 2005
Public register: gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register
Required for: any operator taking GB customers
Self-exclusion: GAMSTOP mandatory since 31 March 2020
Minimum age: 18, verified before play

Typographic cover: what a UKGC licence means

Start with the register

The Commission publishes a public register of licensed operators. It is the only check worth doing, it takes a few seconds, and it settles the question completely: the trading name and the company behind it either appear or they do not. A logo in a website footer is not evidence — logos are copied.

What the licence obliges an operator to do

Verify age and identity before you play. Not before you withdraw — before you gamble at all.
Take part in GAMSTOP. Mandatory for all GB-licensed online operators since 31 March 2020, so one registration covers every licensed site.
Disclose how customer funds are held. Operators must tell you the level of protection your balance has if the company fails — the ratings run from "not protected" to "high", and it is stated in their terms.
Provide a complaints route and free ADR. If a complaint is not resolved, it goes to an independent adjudicator at no cost to you.
Refuse credit cards. Gambling on a credit card has been banned since 14 April 2020 — see payment methods.
Apply the statutory levy, in force from 1 October 2025, which funds research, prevention and treatment.

What it does not promise

A licence says nothing about the quality of the odds, the generosity of an offer or how fast a withdrawal lands in practice. It is a floor, not a ranking. That is precisely why our rating method looks at published criteria on top of the licence rather than treating the licence as the whole answer.

The "not on GAMSTOP" question

Sites advertising that they are not on GAMSTOP are telling you, accurately, that they hold no GB licence. Everything on this page then falls away at once: no self-exclusion, no ADR, no fund-protection disclosure, no stake limits, and no regulator with any power over them. We do not list them, and the reason is this paragraph rather than a matter of taste.

If something goes wrong

Complain to the operator first and keep it in writing — the ADR route requires you to have done so. If the answer is unsatisfactory or eight weeks pass, escalate to the operator's named ADR provider, which is free to use. The Commission itself does not settle individual disputes, but it does use complaint data when it looks at a licensee.