Checking a licence yourself

The four steps

1. Find the number in the footerNot the badge image — the licence number printed beside or beneath it, usually in small type.
2. Open the regulator's own siteNot a directory, not a comparison site, and not a page the casino links to that is hosted somewhere else.
3. Search the registerMost registers of this kind accept a number and some accept a domain. The result is a record with a status.
4. Check the domain is namedThe single check most people skip. A live record that does not name the address in the browser bar is not covering the site being played on.

What a record actually tells you

That a regulator holds a live entry naming this operation and, if the domain appears, this address. It is the strongest single piece of evidence available to a player from outside, and it is evidence rather than proof.

What it does not tell you

• How quickly withdrawals are paid — not recorded by any regulator.
• Whether players from a particular place are accepted — a commercial decision that changes without notice.
• Whether the terms are fair — regulators of this kind do not review commercial terms clause by clause.
• How a dispute will be resolved in an individual case.

Why one field out of twelve is filled in here

Because one register entry has been opened and read by this site so far, with the date written down. The other eleven entries say not looked up, which is a statement about this site's reading rather than about those operators' licences.

More on how any of this works

The rest of how any of this works is below, each page built around one question rather than around a template. The reasoning behind the order of every list here is on the method page, the twelve entries are in the casino index, and the arithmetic that all of it rests on is in the learn section.