How to Verify Isle of Man, Alderney, Gibraltar Gambling Licenses
I have decided to combine those three regulatory bodies in one article since the verification process is pretty much similar. In fact, all three of them are British dependencies, I guess that’s a big part why this is the case.
Moreover, Isle of Man, Alderney and Gibraltar are tier 1 gambling commissions meaning they have got very high standards regarding players’ complaints. Also it makes them very appealing to counterfeit. This is the reason why you should verify their licenses, and not take the casino's word for it.
With that being said, let’s learn:
2 possible ways how to verify a license
Important precautions, without which the verification is not 100% reliable
How to verify each license with screenshots
What unites the verification of all 3 licenses
The verification procedure is implemented in the same fashion across all of them, and can be performed in these 2 ways:
You can either click on a license seal (can be found on the bottom of the casino’s website and each gambling commission has its own seal). In this case, you are going to be sent to the commission's register of the license holders, where you are supposed to manually verify the casino's credentials. This method must be performed in the right way, and I will explain further how to do so.
Or you can directly visit the gambling commission’s official website and check if a casino’s name and domain name are in the register. I prefer to use this method since in both cases you would have to manually go through the whole register (don’t be afraid, it is pretty small). But here there is no room for domain name forgery.
I would recommend to use the second option, which consists of these 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Visit the official register of the license holders, which is presented on the commission’s official website (official addresses are going to be provided for each gambling commission).
Step 2: Establish the domain name of an online casino you would like to verify.
Step 3: Check if the domain name is in the register of the license holders.
Important precautions
While working with domain names, you have to be very careful regarding this stuff.
Domain names are unique addresses, which means that each web site on the internet has its own domain name. There is a part of a domain name which is immutable. This is the reason why all modern web browsers make it bold. As it is shown on the picture below.
Each and every letter, number, dot or dash matters in the bold part of the domain name. Even one change would make it the whole new domain name.
It is impossible to forge a domain name, and that’s how scammers are usually working around. They change just one sign in the domain name so that it becomes very similar to the official one. On that fake domain name, they put a counterfeited official website (yes, it is actually quite easy to do), which looks exactly like the official one.
The whole point is to place a fake record that some online casino has got one of these reputable licenses. I guess, it is needless to further elaborate on why it is not going to end well for casino players (especially regarding cryptocurrency deposits, which are not reversible).
Hence, each time you verify a gambling license, you have to ensure these two things:
You perform the verification on the official website of a certain gambling commission, not a fake one. I will provide you with the legit domain names for each gambling commission.
A domain name of an online casino you would like to verify and its record in the register must match 100%, otherwise it is a fake. However, there must be 100% matching of the only bold part (immutable part) of a domain name. For example: https://casino-howto.com https://www.casino-howto.com www.casino-howto.com casino-howto.com are exactly the same and all are legit since the immutable part (casino-howto.com in our case) is the same. So keep it in mind.
How to verify an Isle of Man gambling license
Step 1.
Visit the official register of the license holders: https://www.gov.im/categories/business-and-industries/gambling-and-e-gaming/licence-holders
The bold (immutable) part of the domain name: gov.im
Step 2.
Visit the casino’s website where you are planning to make a deposit. On the top of your web browser copy the bold part of the domain name.
As it is shown on the picture below.
In our case it says: pokerstars.net (other parts of the domain name do not matter for the verification purposes).
Step 3.
Now you have to check if the domain name (pokerstars.net in our example) is in the license holders register.
First thing first, we have to make sure that the verification page is not fake. And since it includes gov.im record, it is not.
Then scroll a little bit down and check if the pokerstars.net record is in the register.
Cool, now the license is verified with 100% confidence, since we have taken both critical measures. Namely, we have checked we are on the official government website and carefully matched the records.
How to verify an Alderney gambling license
If you would like to see an example with screenshots, scroll through the verification of an Isle of Man gambling license (here it is going to be very similar, in principle).
Step 1.
Visit the official register of the license holders: https://www.gamblingcontrol.org/licensees/egambling-licensees/
The bold (immutable) part of the domain name: gamblingcontrol.org
Step 2.
Visit the casino’s website where you are planning to make a deposit. On the top of your web browser copy the bold part of the domain name.
Step 3.
Now you have to check if the domain name is in the license holders register.
How to verify a Gibraltar gambling license
If you would like to see an example with screenshots, scroll through the verification of an Isle of Man gambling license (here it is going to be very similar, in principle).
Step 1.
Visit the official register of the license holders: https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/finance-gaming-and-regulations/remote-gambling
The bold (immutable) part of the domain name: gibraltar.gov.gi
Step 2.
Visit the casino’s website where you are planning to make a deposit. On the top of your web browser copy the bold part of the domain name.
Step 3.
Now you have to check if the domain name is in the license holders register. To do so, scroll down the page until you come across this section.
This is where you are supposed to match the domain name records. Just simply click on the link that is called “Approved brands” to get an access to the information regarding legit domain names.
Conclusion
The verification must not be neglected since it may cause very serious consequences. I would also add that the procedure is fairly simple and straightforward. Hence, it won’t take much time making it a very good investment of your time.
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