Crypto Casino Licences in 2026: Curaçao, Anjouan and How to Check One

Why licences matter at a crypto casino

A gambling licence means a regulator has agreed to let a company offer games under a set of rules: anti-money-laundering controls, age checks, fair games and, in stronger regimes, protection of player funds and a working dispute process. It also means there is a body you can complain to, and one that can suspend or revoke the licence if the operator breaks the rules.

At crypto casinos the licence carries extra weight because the usual safety nets are missing. There is no card chargeback, no bank to dispute a payment with, and often no national ombudsman in your country. Once you send coins, the licence and the operator’s track record are most of what stands between you and a casino that simply refuses to pay. Our guide to gambling with crypto covers the wallet side of that risk.

A licence is also the first thing we check when we look at an operator for our crypto casino rankings. It is a minimum, not a verdict. Plenty of licensed casinos have poor withdrawal terms, and a licence from a light-touch regulator says much less than one from a strict one.

The licences you will see in 2026

You may also see casinos that say they are “registered in Costa Rica” or “incorporated in Cyprus” with no gambling licence at all. A company registration is not a gambling licence. Where a site shows a company number but no regulator, assume it is unlicensed.

Curaçao under the LOK: direct licences from the CGA

For years most Curaçao casinos did not hold their own licence. A handful of master licence holders issued sub-licences to hundreds of operators, with very little direct oversight from the island’s regulator. That system is the source of Curaçao’s mixed reputation, and of the old licence numbers such as 8048/JAZ or 1668/JAZ that you still occasionally see on outdated footers.

The National Ordinance on Games of Chance, known by its Dutch initials LOK, came into force on 24 December 2024. It created the Curaçao Gaming Authority as the single licensing body and ended the master and sub-licence model. Operators now apply to the CGA directly. New-style licence references look like OGL/2024/1798/1048, a format you can match against the register. Licences are granted first on a provisional basis and can later be converted to an indefinite licence; an application can also be rejected at either stage.

The CGA has kept adding rules since the law took effect, covering responsible gaming, anti-money-laundering, terms and conditions, dispute resolution, supplier registration and, in 2026, a cryptocurrency policy for licensees. Local reporting in June 2026 described the regulator’s message to operators as compliance being “no longer optional”.

A direct CGA licence is a real step up from the old system, but it is still an offshore licence. Player protections are lighter than in markets such as the UK, the CGA does not guarantee player balances, and its supervision record is only a couple of years old.

Curaçao’s registers and 2026 enforcement

The most useful thing the LOK gave players is transparency. The CGA’s licence register page links to downloadable lists of land-based casinos, online gaming licences, certificates, and an enforcement register that records licences the CGA has revoked. The register page itself warns that licensing status can change over time, so check it on the day you sign up rather than relying on an old screenshot.

The enforcement register has already been tested. BC.Game’s former Curaçao operating companies lost their position after a Curaçao court declared them bankrupt in late 2024 over unpaid player winnings, and in September 2025 the CGA confirmed that BC.Game’s parent company and another group, Rabidi N.V., remained listed as revoked after they briefly disappeared from a version of the file. BC.Game now trades under an Anjouan licence; our BC.Game review covers that history in detail.

What changed in 2026

• Enforcement policy. In July 2026 the CGA published an enforcement policy for online gaming, setting out how it handles breaches.
• Wind-down rules. Also in July 2026, the CGA issued instructions on how licensees must wind down. Reporting on the rules says an operator whose licence is revoked as an enforcement measure must immediately stop using the CGA seal, stop taking new players and stop accepting bets while it settles player balances. Where a provisional or indefinite licence application is rejected, the company is given six weeks from the rejection letter to wind down in an orderly way.
• Public warnings. The CGA has warned about sites that falsely display its name, logo and digital seal, including EZZ.CASINO in June 2026.
• Unanswered questions. In April 2026 local reporting found that a company linked to several casino brands had been removed from Curaçao’s commercial registry while a licence associated with it still appeared active. The CGA had not publicly explained the status at the time of reporting.
• Portal security incident. In September 2026 the CGA said it was investigating unauthorised access to its online gaming portal, and in October 2026 it announced a move to a new regulatory platform, with the old portal offline.

For players, the practical lesson is simple: the register is now the source of truth for Curaçao. If a casino is not on it, or the licence number on the footer does not match the company and domain on the register, treat it as unlicensed.

Supplier licences and the December 2026 deadline

The LOK does not only license casinos. It also covers the businesses that supply them. Under a two-year transition that ends on 24 December 2026, suppliers of critical goods or services must comply with new supplier rules. According to the CGA’s announcement, suppliers based in Curaçao need a CGA supplier licence and registration, while foreign suppliers do not need a Curaçao licence but must register if they provide critical services to Curaçao licensees.

The CGA’s examples of critical suppliers include RNG game studios, live dealer studios, poker and peer-to-peer software, sportsbook software, odds and line providers, bet settlement services and game aggregators. Article 5.16(4) of the LOK prohibits licensed operators from working with unregistered suppliers. Industry commentary expects operators that keep using non-compliant suppliers after the deadline to face action against their own licences.

Anjouan: rapid growth and rising scrutiny

Anjouan is one of the islands of the Union of the Comoros. Its licences are issued under the Computer Gaming Licensing Act of 2005 by Anjouan Gaming, which describes itself as the internet gaming regulator for the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, operating under the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority. Licences are relatively quick and inexpensive to obtain and openly accommodate crypto, which is why so many crypto casinos, including several that left Curaçao, now display them.

Anjouan Gaming does run a public register. Its verification page lets you search by licence number, company name or operational domain, and shows the holder’s name, licence number, licence type (B2C or B2B) and status. In February 2026 it announced the suspension of one licence pending investigation, and in June 2026 it stressed publicly that its licences are not a universal authorisation to operate everywhere: licensees remain responsible for complying with the law in every market where they advertise, accept players or process payments.

Why Anjouan draws scrutiny

• Disputed legal basis. The Central Bank of the Comoros has repeatedly said it does not recognise the offshore authority behind the licences, and has warned about entities selling licences in Anjouan’s name.
• Light supervision. Public information on inspections, sanctions and complaint outcomes is limited compared with Malta or the Isle of Man.
• Global pressure on offshore gambling. In September 2026 the Financial Action Task Force published its first detailed report on money-laundering risks in gaming and gambling, flagging unlicensed and offshore operators, complex ownership structures and virtual assets. Anjouan Gaming responded that it had strengthened its licence conditions and application requirements, without publishing the specific changes.

None of that means every Anjouan-licensed casino is unsafe. It means the licence on its own tells you little about how closely the operator is watched, so the operator’s own record, terms and payout history matter more.

Kahnawake and Tobique: Canadian First Nation regulators

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Quebec has regulated online gaming since 1999, and its Regulations concerning Interactive Gaming were most recently amended in January 2026. It publishes its permit holders, runs a formal player complaint process, and posts advisory notices. In 2026 those notices included the revocation of one client provider authorisation in April, the suspension of another in September, and warnings about several sites falsely claiming to be regulated by the Commission.

The KGC’s complaint process requires you to complain to the operator first. After that you can email or use its online form, and the Commission reviews the dispute under its regulations. It does not publish fixed timelines, and a complaint already being handled elsewhere, or aired publicly, may be affected.

The Tobique Gaming Commission is the regulator of a First Nation in New Brunswick, licensing under its Gaming Act of 2023. A growing number of crypto casinos display a Tobique licence, sometimes alongside an Anjouan one. It is a much younger regime with a limited public enforcement record, and most published descriptions of it come from licensing consultancies. Check the Commission’s own register for the operator’s name, licence number and expiry date, as with any other licence.

Neither licence makes a casino legal to use in Canada as a whole. Provincial law decides that. Our Canada guide explains the provincial picture.

Malta and the Isle of Man: the stricter end

The Malta Gaming Authority is an EU regulator with detailed rules on anti-money-laundering, player funds and responsible gambling. Since 2019 it has had a policy allowing licensees to accept virtual financial assets with its approval, but few crypto-first brands hold an MGA licence, because the compliance burden and cost are much higher than offshore. The MGA’s licensee register includes a URL checker, so you can test the exact domain you are on.

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission requires a Manx company with resident directors and a resident designated official, and can reject applications that look like shell set-ups. Its online gambling licensee register lists each licensee and, for those offering services to the public, their website addresses. It also keeps a list of former licence holders, which is useful if a casino’s footer claims a licence that has lapsed.

If you find a crypto-friendly casino holding one of these licences, it usually signals more scrutiny than Curaçao or Anjouan. Do still check the domain: some groups hold a Malta licence for one brand and run others under an offshore licence.

National licences, and what Brazil showed in 2026

The strongest protection comes from a licence issued where you live: the UK Gambling Commission, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen, Ontario’s regulator or a US state commission. These regimes come with local complaint routes, deposit limits and self-exclusion schemes. They almost never allow crypto deposits, which is why crypto players rarely meet them. Our UK and US guides explain those markets.

Brazil is the 2026 example of how quickly the ground can move. After launching a licensed market under Law 14.790 of 2023, with operators on .bet.br domains authorised by the Finance Ministry’s Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), the government issued Provisional Measure 1,394 on 25 September 2026. It bans fixed-odds betting and online casino games nationwide, including offshore operators serving people in Brazil. Licensed sites went offline on 6 October 2026, federal authorisations are extinguished around 25 October 2026 with no refund of the licence fee, and the measure lapses unless Congress converts it into law, with the first deadline falling in late November 2026. Industry groups have said they will challenge it in court. Our Brazil guide tracks the latest position.

How to verify a licence step by step

1. Scroll to the casino’s footer and note three things: the licence holder’s company name, the regulator, and the licence number. The company name usually differs from the brand name.
2. Open the terms and conditions and check that the same company is named as the operator you are contracting with. If the terms name a different company, note both.
3. Type the regulator’s website address yourself, or find it through a search engine. Do not click the seal in the footer: seals can be copied or point to look-alike pages, as the CGA and KGC warnings in 2026 show.
4. Find the register. For Curaçao it is the CGA’s licence register page; for Anjouan, the “verify a licence” page; for Malta, the MGA licensee register; for the Isle of Man, the online gambling licensee register; for Kahnawake, the permit holders page.
5. Search for the company name and the licence number. They should belong to the same entry.
6. Check the status. Active, indefinite or provisional is fine; suspended, revoked, expired, surrendered or “under assessment” for a long time is not.
7. Check the domain. Anjouan, Malta and the Isle of Man registers show authorised websites. If the domain you are on is not listed, ask support why before depositing.
8. For Curaçao, also open the enforcement register and search for the company name. A company listed there should not be taking new players.
9. Note the date you checked and save a copy or screenshot of the entry. Registers change, and the CGA does not publish older versions.
10. If any step fails, ask support for an explanation in writing. If the answer is vague, treat the casino as unlicensed and choose another.

Red flags in a licence footer

• No company name, only a brand and a seal.
• A seal that is a static image with no link, or a link that goes to a page on the casino’s own domain.
• Only an old-format Curaçao number such as 8048/JAZ in 2026.
• A licence number that the register lists under a different company.
• A licence from a body you cannot find any official website for, or one that only appears on licensing-consultancy sites.
• Terms naming a company in one country and a licence in another, with no explanation of the relationship.
• A domain that is not listed on a register that does list domains.
• Support that cannot or will not tell you who holds the licence.

One red flag can have an innocent explanation; two or more together are a reason to walk away. Our no-KYC casino guide lists other warning signs that often travel with a weak licence.

What a licence does not guarantee

• That you are allowed to play. The licence lets the operator offer games under its regulator’s rules; your own country’s law decides whether you may use it.
• That your funds are protected. Most offshore licences do not require player balances to be held separately from company money. If the operator fails, you are usually an unsecured creditor.
• That disputes will go your way. Complaint routes at offshore regulators are limited and slow, and the regulator cannot force a payment in the way a court can.
• That bonuses and withdrawals are fair. Restrictive wagering terms and low withdrawal limits can be entirely legal under a licence. Our bonus guide explains what to look for.
• That games are fair. Licensed casinos must use tested games, but you should still check RTP and, for originals, use provably fair verification.

That is why we treat a licence as the minimum, then look at withdrawal terms, transparency about restricted countries, game fairness and the operator’s payout record. Our about page explains how we rate operators, and the coverage page lists the markets we cover.

If a licensed casino will not pay

1. Ask support for the specific reason, in writing, and for the clause in the terms it relies on.
2. Gather evidence: deposit and withdrawal transaction IDs, chat transcripts, screenshots of your balance and of the terms as they stood when you played.
3. Use the casino’s formal complaints procedure if it has one. Most regulators expect this first.
4. Complain to the regulator named on the licence, quoting the licence number and the company name exactly as the register shows them.
5. Consider independent complaint mediation sites, which can put pressure on operators even without legal powers.

Prevention is easier than recovery: deposit small, withdraw early, and do not leave large balances on any casino. Our instant withdrawal guide explains how to test a cashier with a small withdrawal first.

How we use licences in our reviews

Every review we publish names the licence holder and regulator we found, and links to the regulator rather than to the casino’s seal. Where a brand has changed licence, as BC.Game did, we say so and explain why. You can see this across our casino reviews and the wider casino hub.

A Curaçao or Anjouan licence moves a casino from “unknown” to “licensed”; the rest of the review has to earn the rating. If you are comparing operators, our Stake alternatives guide and USDT casino guide apply the same checks.

Finally, a licence cannot protect you from overspending. Set a deposit limit before you play, and if gambling stops feeling like paid entertainment, our responsible gambling guide lists the tools and support available.