Licence number
A licence number is the reference a gambling regulator assigns to a specific authorisation, letting anyone match an operator’s claim against that regulator’s public register. It identifies the licence, not the brand, so one number can cover several websites run by the same company. On its own the number proves nothing; it only becomes evidence once you find it on the issuing authority’s register under the same company name.
Where a licence number appears
Operators usually print the number in the website footer, beside the regulator’s name and the licensee company, and repeat it in the terms and conditions.
There is no common format across regulators. The Malta Gaming Authority uses a pattern such as MGA/B2C/000/YYYY, while other authorities use their own references, and an Irish licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland is checked on the GRAI’s public register, which shows the holder, the licence type and its start and end dates.
Check the type, not just the number.
Licence number versus company registration number
The two numbers often sit side by side in a footer and are easily mistaken for each other, yet they answer different questions.
Licence number | Company registration number |
|---|---|
| Issued by a gambling regulator | Issued by a companies registry |
| Shows permission to offer gambling | Shows only that the company exists |
| Checked on the regulator's register | Checked on the corporate register |
| Tied to a licence type and term | Stays the same while the company exists |
| Can be suspended or revoked | Survives a licence being withdrawn |
What the number does not prove
A genuine number from a foreign regulator, such as Malta, Kahnawake or Curaçao, shows that authority supervises the operator, but it does not give you the complaints route or the protections of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, which apply only to licences issued by the GRAI.
Since remote gaming licences are still to be opened by the GRAI, a casino offering games in Ireland runs on a licence granted elsewhere, even where the same company holds a GRAI betting licence for its sportsbook.
