How to check a crypto casino is legit before you deposit

A crypto casino holds your money from the moment your deposit arrives. A crypto payment cannot be pulled back once it is confirmed, so the time to check a casino is before you send anything. These are checks you can do yourself, using sources the casino does not control.

What does a gambling licence actually give you?

A gambling licence is permission from a regulator, a public body that sets rules for gambling companies. A named company applies for it and agrees to follow those rules. The regulator can take the licence away.

A licence gives you:

• A named company on a public record. You know which legal entity holds your money, and you can look it up yourself.
• Rules the casino has agreed to. The Curaçao regulator, for example, says it monitors its licensed casinos' terms, their safer gambling measures and the safeguarding of player funds.
• Sometimes, a complaint route. This varies a lot between regulators.

It does not give you:

• A guarantee that you will be paid. No licence promises this.
• A referee for your dispute. Several regulators say plainly that they do not settle arguments between a player and a casino.
• Permission to play from your country. A licence in one place does not make the casino legal where you live.

How do you check a casino licence yourself?

A licence logo in a footer is only a picture that anyone can copy. The check that counts happens on the regulator's own website.

1. Find the regulator's name, the company name and the licence number in the casino's footer and terms.
2. Go to the regulator's website yourself. Do not rely on a link the casino gives you.
3. Look up the company, the licence number or the site address on the register, which is the regulator's public list of who it has licensed.
4. Compare. The company name should match the casino's terms, the licence should be active, and it should cover the site you are on. A company's licence does not always cover every website that uses its name.
5. If the casino shows a clickable seal, click it and read the address bar. The page should sit on the regulator's own domain and name the exact site address you came from.

Where are the official registers?

A casino may name a regulator that is not in this table. The method is the same.

• Curaçao Gaming Authority: licence register and seal rules
• Malta Gaming Authority: licensee register
• UK Gambling Commission: register of gambling businesses
• Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission: permit holders

What changed in Curaçao?

Many crypto casinos say they hold a Curaçao licence. As of October 2026:

• A new law, the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK), came into force on 24 December 2024. Some rules of the older law still apply during the changeover.
• The regulator, once called the Gaming Control Board, is now the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA).
• The CGA publishes PDF lists of online gaming licences, of certified test labs and dispute bodies, and of licences that were revoked, suspended or not extended.
• The licence list names companies, not websites. Entries marked B2C may offer games to players. Entries marked B2B supply other gambling companies.
• The seal ties a website to a licence. The CGA says clicking it must open cert.cga.cw, and the certificate must show the exact domain you are on, the operator and the current licence status.

If the certificate shows a different domain, the CGA says the site "should be considered unauthorized or fraudulent". It also says its lists do not guarantee that a licence is still valid, so check the certificate as well as the list.

Who actually runs the site?

The brand name on the homepage is not the company. Look in the footer and the terms for the full company name, its registration number, its registered address and which country's law applies.

The company in the terms should be the one on the regulator's register. If the site names no company at all, you do not know who holds your money. Stop there.

Why does a crypto casino ask for ID?

KYC stands for "know your customer". It means the casino checks who you are, usually by asking for a photo ID, and sometimes for proof of address or of where your money came from. AML stands for "anti-money laundering". These are the laws that make businesses that handle money watch for the proceeds of crime.

Casinos ask for ID to confirm your age and identity and to meet AML rules. When they ask varies by casino and by regulator. Common points are:

• when you sign up
• before your first withdrawal
• when your deposits or withdrawals pass an amount the casino has set
• when something about the account looks unusual

The red flag: ID demanded only at withdrawal

Be careful with a casino that takes deposits with no questions, then asks for documents only when you try to cash out. A late check is not always bad faith, because AML rules can require one. But the casino already has your money while you wait, and one acting in bad faith can keep asking for more.

Great Britain's rules show better practice. The Gambling Commission says online gambling businesses must check your age and identity before you gamble, and cannot ask for ID as a condition of withdrawing if they could have asked earlier. Casinos licensed elsewhere are not bound by that rule.

Read the verification section of the terms before you deposit. A casino advertised as "no KYC" may still keep the right to ask for documents at any time. If you would not send the documents the terms list, do not deposit.

How do you know the games are fair?

In-house games: provably fair

Some crypto casinos run their own games, such as dice. These are often provably fair. Before you bet, the casino shows you a hash, which is a scrambled fingerprint of a secret value called the server seed. Later it reveals the seed, and you can check that it matches the fingerprint. That shows the result was not changed after you bet.

It does not show that the game is cheap to play or that the casino will pay you. See how provably fair works, or check a result with the provably fair verifier.

Slots and live games: providers and test labs

Slots and live dealer games usually come from outside companies called game providers. A slot's results come from a random number generator (RNG), which is software that produces unpredictable numbers. You cannot check an RNG yourself. Regulators rely on independent test labs to do that.

As of October 2026, eCOGRA, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) and BMM Testlabs appear both on the UK Gambling Commission's list of approved test houses and on the Curaçao regulator's list of certified test labs. Treat a lab logo like a licence logo. It only counts if it leads to something you can check.

Which terms and conditions signal trouble?

Read the general terms and the bonus terms before you deposit. Problem terms often involve bonus abuse rules, a maximum cash-out, or the small print around a wagering requirement. Use your browser's search to find wording like this.

One of these alone does not prove a scam. Several together, with nothing clearly defined, is a reason to walk away. For bonus terms, see wagering requirements explained and the wagering calculator.

What are the signs of a clone or scam site?

A clone is a copy of a real casino's website on a different address, built to take deposits or logins.

• The address is slightly different from the one you expected: one letter changed, or a different ending.
• You arrived through an advert, an email or a direct message, not your own bookmark.
• The site is on a regulator's warning list. The Malta Gaming Authority publishes a list of sites that falsely claim its licence.
• Someone asks for the secret recovery words or private key that control your wallet. No casino needs these.
• You are told to pay a fee, or make another deposit, to release a withdrawal.

What can you do if something goes wrong?

At a casino licensed offshore, meaning outside the country you live in, your options are often limited.

1. Complain to the casino in writing. Keep records: screenshots of your balance, bet IDs, transaction IDs, chat logs and a copy of the terms.
2. Ask which independent dispute body the casino uses. This is called ADR, short for alternative dispute resolution. The Curaçao regulator certifies ADR bodies and lists them on its register page. Malta requires its licensed operators to have one. In Great Britain, ADR is free once the business has had 8 weeks to resolve your complaint.
3. Report the casino to its regulator. This may not get your money back. The Curaçao Gaming Authority says it "does not handle individual complaints against gaming providers" and cannot order a casino to compensate a player. The UK Gambling Commission says it does not resolve complaints about gambling transactions. Malta's regulator leaves the merits of a dispute to the ADR body.
4. Consider legal action. This often means the courts of the country where the company is based, and it can cost more than the amount in dispute.

For how payments work, see crypto casino deposits and withdrawals.

A checklist to run before you deposit

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