Online Gambling Licensing Jurisdictions

February 5, 2015

For an online casino (or other similar gambling portal) to offer real cash gambling services, it must have obtained a special license to do so. You should only ever play in a licensed online casino because if some kind of issue arise, you will have the proper legal backing that you are entitled to as a player.

The majority of today’s best Australian online casinos are licensed by one of the following trustworthy authorities which are based in one of the following jurisdictions. Some of these authorities are well-known for imposing tougher controls over their licensees and carrying out strict vetting procedures compared to other jurisdictions. You can often tell a lot about a casino just by finding out where it is licensed.

Some of today’s best Australian online casinos are licensed in Malta, by the Malta Gaming Authority (formerly the Lotteries & Gaming Authority of Malta). This tiny European Nation is located in the Mediterranean Sea, just south of Sicily. One of the other major licensing jurisdictions is the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which is located on the St Lawrence River and not too far from Montreal.

This authority is based in 48 square kilometres of land which is known as the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (Indian Land Reserve which is independent of Canada). The Kahnawake Gaming commission happens to be the largest major licensing jurisdictions in the whole of North America. You also have the Curaçao Internet Gaming Association (CIGA) which is located in Curaçao (in the former Netherlands Antilles). One of the other authorities is the Directorate of Offshore Gaming which is based in Antigua, in the West Indies, east of Puerto Rico.

The authorities/jurisdictions mentioned above are often classed as 'second-tier' licensing jurisdictions. In one way or another, they slightly fall short of the high standards that the following ‘top-tier’ authorities are known for. These include The Gambling Supervision Commission, which is located in the Isle of Man (in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland). There’s also The Gibraltar Regulatory Authority which is a British oversees territory located beneath the southernmost tip of Spain (not even 4 miles in size).

The two other major online gambling licensing jurisdictions include the UK Gambling Commission (located in the United Kingdom) and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, which is a part of the UK Gambling Commission. This authority happens to be located in the English Channel and this Island is one of several UK Channel Islands. You will find that many of today’s best Australian online casinos are licensed in one of these 'top-tier' jurisdictions.

Some casinos may also be licensed in one of several other third-tier/rubber-stamp jurisdictions around the world such as Costa Rica, Panama, Belize or Anjouan, but we only recommended playing at the casinos which are licensed by one of the top-tier authorities.