Gambling Licensing Agencies and Regulators

If you wish to read more about licensing agencies around the US and the world, follow the links below to agencies’ official sites.

UK Gambling Commission

The UK Gambling Commission is the regulator for all brick-and-mortar and online gambling in the United Kingdom (except sports betting). The UK Gambling Commission was founded with authority derived from the UK Gambling Act of 2005.

The passage of the Gambling Licensing and Advertising Bill in late 2014 gave the UK Gambling Commission more responsibilities, this time involving the Point-of-Consumption Tax. This tax was meant to target British gaming companies that moved offshore, usually to Gibraltar, to avoid the UK’s taxation on gambling. The Point-of-Consumption Tax imposed a standardized 15% tax on revenues taken from British residents, no matter where the company was based. All gambling operators servicing the UK Internet gambling community complained about the new tax, while a few left the British market.

The UK Gambling Commission, along with Gibraltar’s regulators, are considered to be among the most respected in the industry. Besides taxation, the UK Gambling Commission oversees advertising by gaming companies, which sometimes goes overboard in the United Kingdom.

Gambling Supervision Commission (Isle of Man)

The Gambling Supervision Commission has been the gaming regulation agency on the Isle of Man since 1962. When online gambling became a factor in the 1990s, the Manx gaming agency was poised to become a major factor in the growing industry. Today, the GSC is a key regulator, with nearly 100 license holders.

A partial list of the current license holders on the Isle of Man includes Rational Media (PokerStars), Microgaming, Paddy Power Holdings, Cozy Games, Luxbet, Asian BGE Limited, Novigroup, and Mondogoal (DFS). The current members of the Gambling Supervision Commission are Ron Spencer (chairperson), Jerry Carter (deputy chairperson), Jon Allen, Suzanne Collins, and Howard Callow.

Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC)

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission was established in 2000 to license online gaming operators. Alderney is one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel between England and France. It is tiny but has a business-friendly attitude. Alderney offers its license holders a 0% tax rate, and only collects a yearly fee from the operators.

The AGCC has a solid reputation in the industry, though its slow response in de-licensing Full Tilt Poker in the wake of the Black Friday Scandal spurred criticism. When Alderney did suspend the license, it led Full Tilt to shut down worldwide operations.

Jersey Gambling Commission

Jersey Island is another of the Channel Islands — the largest, in fact. The Jersey Gaming Commission was founded in 2010 to offer licenses to online casinos, sportsbooks, poker sites, software providers, and third-party testing labs. Because it was late to the party, the JGC has yet to license many operators. Jersey’s low tax rate and lack of restrictions make it a favorable place for online operators, though.

Gibraltar Licensing Authority

The Gibraltar Licensing Authority is one of the busiest and most respected online gaming regulators in the world. For a country of only 32,000 people, that’s impressive, though the tiny nature of Gibraltar is the reason why so much attention is paid to online gambling.

After Gibraltar fashioned pro-gambling laws in the 1990s, many UK-based online gambling companies relocated to Gibraltar. These companies are traded on the London Stock Exchange but were able to skirt Gibraltar because it was a tax shelter. By the time a new online gambling law was passed in Gibraltar in 2005, over 30 UK gaming companies were located in Gibraltar.

These brands are some of the most famous in the world: Ladbrokes, William Hill, 888 Casino, Betfair, Betfred, bet365, and Unibet are some of the companies licensed by Gibraltar. With a 1% tax rate on gaming revenues, it was no wonder so many chose to locate in Gibraltar. The UK’s Point-of-Consumption Tax has spoiled the party somewhat, but after a period of retrenchment and consolidation, the Gibraltar gaming sites have settled into a new business pattern.

Spanish Gaming Commission

The Comision Nacional del Juego or the Spanish Gaming Commission was established in 2014 to regulate Spain’s online gambling market. Since its inception in 2014, top international gaming companies have rushed to gain licensing in Spain. It is seen as one of the most promising emerging markets in the online gambling industry.

The Spanish Gaming Commission keeps Spain’s poker players segregated from the wider European poker market at present. There is talk of Spain signing an international poker compact with either France or Italy or both. If this happens, then the combined player liquidity of those countries could spark a major increase in online poker in the three biggest countries which speak Romance languages.

ARJEL in France

The French online gambling authority is “Regulatory Authority for Online Games”, whose French translation creates the acronym “ARJEL“. The French Gambling Act of May 12, 2010, also known as Article 34 of Law No 2010-476, established ARJEL. The ARJEL committee has 7 permanent members, who are appointed by the President of the French Republic. Jean-Francois Vilotte is the current chairman of ARJEL, which is based in Paris, France.

ARJEL oversees French online gambling and land-based gaming. France has fairly strict laws, so online gambling takes place only in the most restricted cases. When the regulator was established in 2010, French Internet service providers (ISPs) did not give the organization much respect. When the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (TGI or “High Court of Paris”) determined that ARJEL had the ability to fine ISPs huge amounts when they declined to follow ARJEL’s mandates, the French regulator became a force. ARJEL now has strict enforcement against online gambling operators active in France.

Belgian Gambling Commission

The Belgian Gambling Commission has a growing blacklist of sites that cannot operate inside the countries. Over 100 brands are now banned. Companies that gain licensing must set up specific Belgian-only websites and pay high taxes on the revenues. Especially in the online poker niche, this has a prohibitive effect on licensed online gambling in Flanders and Wallonia.

Danish Gambling Authority (DGA)

The Danish Gambling Authority has offered licenses to gambling companies since 2012. License holders must set-up Danish-only services, which have a high tax rate of 20% on gaming revenues. Only a few operators have become license holders, including Betway, Karamba, Tivoli Casino, and Dansk 777.

AAMS of Italy

The Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies) of Italy is the online gambling regulator in the Italian peninsula. The AAMS is a result of a long move towards liberalization. This began in 2003 when the European Commission investigated the Italian online gambling industry. A 2006 report showed that 621 sites were on the blacklist and should have been banned. The list included websites that were licensed in other European countries, so the banned sites list was quite stringent.

Starting in 2010, the AAMS was created to begin the liberalization process. Since then, more legitimate European gaming sites have been licensed by Italy. The Italian gaming market has become one of the fastest-growing online gambling markets in the world. The Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies was founded in 1927 by the government of Benito Mussolini, to oversee the market in tobacco, salt, and quinine. Eventually, the state monopoly on salt and tobacco was rescinded. Instead, the AAMS got into the gaming sector (1988), eventually becoming a major factor in lotteries (1994) and bingo (2000).

Malta Gaming Authority

The Malta Gaming Authority is another key licensing organization. The MGA began as the Lotteries and Gaming Authority. The MGA underwent reforms in 2015, stemming from the Everleaf Network situation. The MGA and Maltese authorities admit the Everleaf scandal hurt player trust, so they have been working this past year to rebuild trust in their oversight.

Many UK and European online gambling software developers have their headquarters in Valetta, Malta. Malta upholds EU standards when it comes to gaming law, but (like Gibraltar) Malta serves as a tax shelter. Because Malta was a part of the British Empire for nearly 150 years, the Maltese people are familiar with British law and the English language. As a small country that relies on tourism and Internet commerce for its revenues, the small island nation has become a haven for gaming operators.

A partial list of license holders in Malta includes top companies like Betfair, Digimedia Limited, Alea Gaming Limited (Net Entertainment), Apollo Entertainment Ltd (Microgaming), Rational Gaming Europe Limited (PokerStars), Unibet Ltd, BBML Group Limited, Bonnier Gaming Malta Limited (NYX Gaming, Net Ent), Casumo Services Limited, Co-Gaming Limited (Evolution, Amaya, Yggdrasil), Cryptologic, Boss Media, Headlong Limited, iGame Malta Limited, Interwetten, Mangas Gaming Malta Limited, Mr Green Limited, Panda Media Limited, Realm Entertainment, Betway Limited, eSports Media Limited, Betsson Platform Solutions, Bwin.Party Services, and GTECH. A full list would be hard to include in limited space, but it is impressive.

Czech State Supervision of Gambling and Lotteries Department of the Ministry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance in the Czech Republic has the authority to offer online gambling licenses to domestic and international operators. The authority to regulate online gambling was conferred by the 2012 Lottery Act. Licenses are issued by the State Supervision of Gambling and Lotteries Department, which is an agency within the Czech Ministry of Finance.

For a time, the Czech regulators allowed domestic operators to maintain licensing, while banning foreign companies. The five domestic license holders were Sazka, Fortuna, Tipsport, Synot Tip, and Chance.

In 2015, the Gambling and Lotteries Department offered 20 licenses to foreign companies, with 20 being the maximum number of companies allowed to hold licenses. This touched off a controversy because around 30-35 foreign operators applied for licenses. Companies like 888 Holdings were held out of the market. In early 2016, Czech officials reversed positions, allowed up to 40 licenses. Companies like 888 Poker were allowed in the country. 888 now has a licensing deal with King’s Casino Rozkadov, a top land-based casino in the Czech Republic.

Russian Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media Service (Russia)

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) is the chief regulator of online gambling in the Russian Federation. On official sites, Roskomnadzor is said to assist the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation in its duties. The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, also known as “The Russian Communications Ministry”, is headed by Vladimir Putin’s friend, Nikolai Nikoforov. Most directives and announcements are handled by Roskomnadzor, though.

Regulation of online gambling in Russia is as meandering and complicated as the hierarchical structure of regulators. In 2004, the Russian Federation passed laws that allowed mobile gambling to take place, but these liberties were removed in 2006. The year 2006 is important for Russian gamblers because that is the year that Vladimir Putin banned most forms of gambling in the Russian Federation, based on his deep Russian Orthodox faith. Moscow casinos were closed, while any form of land-based gambling was moved to one of four special administrative districts located on the frontiers of Russia — far away from the popular centers.

Online casinos, sportsbooks, and poker sites continued to accept Russian players, but most operators were offshore operators (with exceptions for Russian sportsbooks). In 2010, a law was passed which allowed officials to fine individual gamblers between 500 and 2000 rubles for gambling illegally. In 2012, the Russian Supreme Court ruled that no form of online gambling should be found on Russian search engine results. Though a court in Pskov earlier had said that Russian ISPs were not obligated to block gaming sites, that ruling was overturned in 2012.

In March 2014, Roskomnadzor released a blacklist of over 50 websites of both domestic and international operators, effectively banning them from Russian activity. In July of 2014, the Russian Finance Ministry claimed to be looking into regulation and taxing of online poker. Later in the same year, the Duma passed Bill 478806-6, which effectively criminalized online poker. Since that time, Roskomnadzor periodically has announced new sites that have been added to the blacklist, including sites like Ladbrokes, 888 Poker, bwin.party, Titan Poker, Unibet, Betway, Pinnacle Sports, JackpotCity, and Marathon Bet. Even Poker Listings, a prominent review site that published jackpot information was banned. Russian bookmakers were not spared, as Liga Stavok, 1xbet, Favbet, Fonbet, and TrioBet were all banned.

In January 2015, the Russian Federation announced that online gambling operators needed to join a self-regulatory organization (SRO), with members funneling taxes through the SRO. This was supposed to allow the Russian government to better see which sites were operating as regulated sites, thus allowing officials to better police the unregulated sites. It is uncertain how many operators trusted the Russian Federation enough to sign up for the SRO.

In January 2016, the Russian Federation’s Civic Chamber said it was considered declaring poker a game of skill, which would have paved the way for regulation and taxation. The Russian Ministry of Finance said later in the year that it was considering the licensing of sports betting, along with assessing a 10% tax on such gaming. Those familiar with the Russian Federation’s spotty history on gambling are likely to be skeptical of such pronouncements.

Online Gambling in Cyprus

At one time, Cyprus was a significant hub of licensing for online casinos and poker sites. The Cypriot licensing agency was considered a bit suspect in the online gambling industry, though several gaming companies were based out of Nicosia, Cyprus. In 2012, the Cypriot government banned all forms of gambling, except fixed-odds sports betting and lotteries. Even betting exchanges are banned. 270 sites are on the black list in Cyprus, and Cypriot ISPs are required to block those sites.

Financial Services Regulatory Commission’s Division of Gaming (Antigua and Barbuda)

The Financial Services Regulatory Commission’s Division of Gaming oversees licensing for online operators in Antigua and Barbuda. The FSRC Gaming Division was founded in 1994 as one of the first online betting licensing authorities. It has been a leader in the industry for the past 22 years, often championing the rights of small countries to uphold international commerce laws.

In 2003, Antigua sued the United States government in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) international court. Antigua argued that the US government had violated the 1998 General Agreement on Trade Services (GATS), which stated it would not ban international businesses from activities that were not banned inside a country. Because the United States had signed the GATS treater and also allowed various kinds of gambling, Antigua argued the USA violated international law by trying to punish license holders in Antigua and Barbuda.

Antigua and Barbuda won the WTO case, then won a later round of litigation in 2013, after two US administrations chose to ignore the WTO ruling. In the 2013 case, the WTO court ruled that Antigua could seek financial redress with the United States by selling pirated US intellectual property (movies, music, tv shows in DVD/CD/Blu-ray form). Antigua decided not to dabble in such sales, as it would hurt American artists.

In 2008, the UK government whitelisted Antigua’s online gambling sites. This meant that license holders could advertise in the United Kingdom. In 2010, Antigua signed a deal with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which stated that holding a license from one authority conferred rights and privileges in the other licensing authority’s domain.

Curacao Internet Gambling Association (Curacao)

The Curacao Internet Gambling Association (Curacao) is the online gaming regulator for the island nation of Curacao. Curacao is a Caribbean island nation in what used to be called the Netherlands Antilles, before independence.

Though Curacao has a constituent government, it is nominally a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (This is like Australia still viewing the Queen of England as their monarch, despite independence.) Curacao is influenced by the Dutch legal system and culture and is considered a trustworthy online gambling licensing authority. CIGA was founded in 2002, despite the country doing a brisk business in online gambling since 1993. The picture of the offshore online gambling operator is partly formed by the startups located in Curacao.

Some of that image is unfair. For instance, the Affactive Group (Casino Titan, WinPalace) and Revenue Jet (Loco Panda, Grand Macao) claimed to have been licensed in Curacao. After months of operating as rogue casinos, Casino Meister thought to call CIGA about licensed these rogue sites, only to learn that CIGA had never even heard of the particular sites in question.

Readers will be happy to know that the Affactive and Revenue Jet owners eventually got their just rewards, but not because of their online gambling scams. The owners were arrested in Israel and extradited to the United States to answer charges they masterminded a cyber-attack against J.P. Morgan-Chase and 10 other US financial institutions, in the largest-ever cyber-attack in the United States. They still await trial on 30 charges which would put them in prison for the rest of their lives. Real licensing is handled by the Curacao E-Gaming Licensing Authority.

CIGA’s policies are considered very business-friendly. The tax rate is about 2% of revenues. Also, operators can offer sub-licenses, allowing them to set up alternative sites with the same license. Curacao has few jurisdictional restrictions, so operators can accept players from most locations — except the Netherlands.

DAC (Aruba)

Aruba’s gaming regulator handles brick-and-mortar and online gambling. Aruba’s first casino was built in 1959, the same year Castro was shutting down Havana’s casinos. Soon enough, Aruba became known as the “Las Vegas of the Caribbean”, as the casino culture helped draw tourists.

When the Internet appeared, Aruba became a licensing authority for online gambling sites. Aruba is similar to Curacao, as it once was a part of the Netherlands Antilles and it remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands bans all forms of online gambling. However, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVIFSC) licenses binary options traders. 14 such binary options operators are licensed by the British Virgin Islands FSC.

Online Gambling Regulation in China

It is illegal to gamble at a casino or poker sites in Mainland China. Certain state-sponsored sports betting and lottery gambling is allowed, through two massive gaming organizations: The China Sports Lottery and The China Welfare Lottery. The State Council authorized both lotteries, as well as a non-gaming government overseer for each.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs was authorized to oversee the Chinese Welfare Lottery (sometimes called the China Welfare Lottery Issuance Center or “CWLC”) in 1987. The General Administration of Sports was authorized to oversee the Sports Lottery in 1994. These organizations have sold lottery tickets online at times and have a wide-ranging network for doing so, with local affiliates (for lack of a better word) selling tickets in individual provinces. Online lottery ticket sales have been suspended at times when corruption scandals have happened.

Despite laws against illegal online gambling, it is estimated that billions of dollars a year are wagered illegally on the Internet, either through Chinese domestic websites or on international online gambling sites. Article 303 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China outlaws most forms of gambling. Fines and fixed-term imprisonment of “not more than 3 years” are imposed on those who partake in illegal gaming. Crimes involving vices like gambling, drug use, drug peddling, and prostitution sometimes involves “re-education through labor”, though that method of behavior modification also involves crimes like petty theft, fraud, and fighting.

China has no single online gambling regulator, because of the ban on non-state gaming on the Internet. A patchwork of national, regional, and local authorities police such activities.