Check any casino's licence on the register
This guide shows you how to confirm, on the regulator’s own register, whether the company behind a gambling site holds the licence it claims. It is written for readers in Ireland, where the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland now licenses online betting but has not yet opened its licence class for online casino games. We explain where each register sits, what to match against the site’s terms, and why a foreign licence gives you less protection than an Irish one.
What a licence claim actually tells you
Almost every gambling site prints a licence line in its footer, usually a regulator’s name, a licence number and a company name that is often different from the brand on the homepage. That line is a claim made by the operator about itself, and it proves nothing until the regulator that supposedly issued the licence confirms it on its own register.
The distinction matters more in Ireland than in most markets at the moment.
Under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has begun issuing remote betting and remote betting intermediary licences, and those licences appear on a public register that can be filtered and downloaded as a file. Licences for remote gaming, which is the class that would cover online slots, roulette and blackjack, have not yet opened, and we found no commencement order for them when we checked the GRAI’s published material. Until that class opens, no online casino can hold an Irish licence for its casino games, so a site claiming one is misrepresenting itself.
Casino sites serving Irish players during this transition operate under licences issued abroad, most commonly by the Malta Gaming Authority, and the check you run is against that regulator’s register instead of the GRAI’s.
Five steps to verify a casino licence
The procedure below works for the GRAI register and for foreign registers such as the MGA’s, because each one lets you search by company name and shows the licence status.
- Step 1
Find the licence line in the footer
Scroll to the bottom of the site and note the regulator named, the licence number and the company that holds it. If the footer names no regulator or company, treat that absence as your answer. - Step 2
Read the operator's terms and conditions
Open the terms page and find the legal entity that contracts with you. This company name, not the brand, is what you search for, and it should match the name in the footer exactly. - Step 3
Open the regulator's own register directly
Type the regulator's address yourself, such as grai.ie or mga.org.mt, rather than clicking a seal on the casino's site. Cloned seals can link to imitation pages that look official. - Step 4
Search by company name and URL
Enter the legal entity name in the register. The MGA register also offers a URL checker, which confirms whether the specific domain you are using is covered by that licence. - Step 5
Confirm status, licence type and dates
Check that the status reads active, that the licence type covers casino games rather than betting only, and that the start and end dates show the licence is current today.
Irish and foreign licences compared
A licence from a foreign regulator is a real licence, but it was written to protect that regulator’s market and its obligations reach Irish players only as far as the operator chooses to extend them. The GRAI’s licence conditions, by contrast, apply to Irish customers directly, including the ban on credit cards as a deposit method and the requirement to connect to the planned National Gambling Exclusion Register.
The comparison below sets an Irish licence, as it currently exists for betting, against a Malta Gaming Authority licence held by a site serving Ireland.
GRAI licence against an MGA licence
Each row describes what the licence itself provides to a player in Ireland, based on the regulators’ published material.
GRAI licence (Ireland) | MGA licence (Malta) |
|---|---|
| Covers sports betting only for now | Covers casino games and betting |
| Irish credit card ban applies | Card rules follow Maltese conditions |
| Complaints go to an Irish regulator | Complaints go to a regulator in Malta |
| Public register, searchable and downloadable | Public register with a URL checker |
| Enforced under Irish law in Ireland | Enforced under Maltese law in Malta |
Warning signs when the register disagrees
When the register and the website disagree, the register is right, and the disagreement itself is the finding.
The most common mismatch we see is a company name in the footer that does not appear on the register at all, or appears with a status of suspended, cancelled or expired. A second pattern is a licence number that exists but belongs to a different company, which happens when a brand borrows the credibility of a licence it does not hold. A third, harder to spot, is a valid licence that covers a different domain from the one you are on, and the MGA’s URL checker exists for exactly that case.
Treat any claim of an Irish licence for online casino games as false while the GRAI’s gaming class remains unopened.
Where a site names a regulator whose register you cannot find, or whose register offers no search by company, you have no independent confirmation at all. In that situation the licence line is decoration, and any dispute over a withheld withdrawal or a KYC request would have nowhere credible to go. Keep a screenshot of the register entry if you do decide to open an account, since it records what you checked before depositing.
Related Terms
Questions about checking a casino licence
Can an online casino hold an Irish licence yet?
No. The GRAI has opened remote betting licences, but the remote gaming class covering online casino games has not opened, so no casino can hold an Irish licence for those games.
Where is the GRAI register?
The GRAI publishes its register of licence holders on grai.ie. You can view and filter it online or download the full register as a file.
Is a seal in the casino's footer enough?
No. Seals can be copied or linked to imitation pages. Open the regulator’s website yourself and search its register by the operator’s legal company name.
What does the MGA URL checker do?
It lets you enter a website address and see whether that domain is covered by a Malta Gaming Authority licence, which catches sites borrowing another operator’s licence number.
Does a betting licence cover the casino section?
No. A GRAI remote betting licence covers betting activities. Casino games offered on the same site are run under a separate licence, usually issued abroad.
Who handles my complaint against a foreign-licensed casino?
Complaints about casino games go to the operator first and then to the regulator that issued its licence, such as the MGA, not to the GRAI.
More about online casinos
What we check first is the licence type, because it is the step readers skip most often. An Irish remote betting licence on the GRAI register covers sports betting only, so a sportsbook brand that also runs a casino tab is relying on a separate foreign licence for those games.