Non-UK-Licensed Casinos: What the Licence Means
A licence identifies an operator’s stated regulator, but the rules and protections depend on who issued it and what it covers.
What a Casino Licence Actually Tells You
A casino licence is a starting point, not a promise that every part of playing will go smoothly. It tells you that an operator says it is authorised under a particular regulator’s rules. That matters: a licensed online casino is not simply making the same claim as a site with no stated oversight. But the word “licensed” on a page does not, by itself, tell you what protections apply, how a dispute will be handled, or whether the licence covers the service being offered to you.
I used to treat the badge at the bottom of a casino website as a kind of all-clear. It looked official, so I assumed the whole operation had been checked and that I would have a clear route to put things right if anything went wrong. That was too much to read into one label. A licence is about regulatory status; the actual terms and protections depend on the regulator and the scope of its rules.
The first useful question is not just, “Is this a licensed casino?” It is, “Who issued the licence, and what does that licence cover?” Those are not interchangeable questions. Non-UK-regulated casinos operate without oversight from the UK Gambling Commission, even though they may be licensed elsewhere. A foreign licence therefore does not mean a casino is UK-regulated. The word “licensed” needs a jurisdiction attached to it.
That distinction is easy to miss when a site puts a badge in its footer and uses broad language such as “fully licensed”. The badge may identify a regulator, but the phrase alone does not explain which company holds the licence, which site or service it applies to, or whether the operator is authorised to serve people in your location. Don’t let a polished footer do the thinking for you. A logo is a claim to examine, not the answer.
Non-UK-Registered Casinos: What the Label Means
A licence also should not be confused with a guarantee of a good player experience. It cannot make every bonus term generous, every payment straightforward, or every complaint painless. Those are separate parts of the relationship between you and the operator. Even where a regulator oversees a casino, the licence does not mean you can ignore the terms or assume every disagreement will end in your favour. It means there is a regulatory framework behind the operator, not that every outcome is pre-decided.
That sounds obvious when written down. In practice, advertising makes the lines blurry. “Trusted”, “safe” and “licensed” can sit side by side as though they all mean the same thing. They don’t. “Licensed” is a claim about authorisation. “Safe” is broader and can imply more than a licence establishes. “Trusted” is a judgement, often presented without enough detail for you to test it. I now try to separate the concrete claim from the sales language around it.
The same caution applies when you see a list of UK licensed online casinos or a page calling certain sites the best licensed casinos. A list can be useful as a way to organise options, but the heading does not prove that every entry has the status you expect or that it suits your needs. “Best” is not a regulatory category. Before relying on a label, establish what regulator is being referred to and whether the claim is about the operator you would actually use.
There are licensed online casino sites associated with different jurisdictions, including Malta, Curaçao, Gibraltar and Anjouan. Naming a jurisdiction does not make those licences equivalent, and it does not answer whether a particular operator is authorised for a particular market. The point is not that one word tells you everything; it is that the regulator’s identity changes what the word means. The details matter.
I find it helpful to think of a licence as the beginning of a paper trail. It can tell you where an operator claims to sit within a regulatory system. It cannot replace reading the casino’s own terms, understanding who you are dealing with, or considering what happens if your experience does not match the advertising. Those checks are not a way to turn uncertainty into certainty. They are a way to avoid mistaking a badge for a blanket guarantee.
Do
- Attach a specific jurisdiction to the word “licensed”
- Verify who issued the licence and what it covers
- Separate concrete claims from sales language
Don’t
- Treat a footer badge as a blanket guarantee
- Assume “fully licensed” implies UK regulation
- Confuse a regulatory status with a quality guarantee
So when you see “new licensed online casinos” or a promise of the best licensed online casinos in 2026, pause over the adjective. New does not mean better protected, and licensed does not mean licensed by the same authority. I would rather know exactly what the claim refers to than rely on a reassuring label. That small distinction changes how you read everything that follows.
The UK Rules Behind the Licence Question
I used to treat “licensed” as a yes-or-no label: if a casino had a licence somewhere, I assumed that settled the question. It doesn’t. For someone in Great Britain, the key issue is whether the operator has permission to serve the British market, not simply whether it holds a licence issued elsewhere.
The Gambling Act 2005 puts the main licensing obligation on businesses supplying gambling services into the UK market. An operator serving customers in Great Britain needs a licence from the UK Gambling Commission, wherever the company itself is based. Moving its offices abroad does not, by itself, remove that requirement. Nor does holding an overseas online casino licence turn into permission from the UK regulator.
That distinction is easy to miss when a site displays a licence badge or says it is “regulated”. Those words may describe a relationship with another jurisdiction, but they do not establish that the operator is authorised to serve Great Britain. A casino licence is not a passport that automatically works across borders. The regulator and the market the licence covers matter.
Casinos Without a UK Licence: What Players Should Know
What the rule is aimed at
The framework is directed at operators, rather than treating a player as the party responsible for obtaining the casino’s licence. If a business supplies gambling services to customers in Great Britain, it is expected to hold the relevant UK Gambling Commission licence. That remains true if its website is run from another country or its company is registered elsewhere.
This is the practical meaning of a UK casino licence: it is the permission required for an operator serving the British market under the UK system. A foreign licence may be meaningful under the rules of the place that issued it, but it is not a UK online casino licence. The two labels answer different questions.
I find it useful to separate “where is this business licensed?” from “is it licensed to serve Great Britain?” They sound similar, but they are not interchangeable. The first might be answered by a badge on the site. The second concerns the operator’s authority in the market where the customer is located.
And what about the player?
The position for individuals is different from the operator’s licensing duty. The Gambling Act 2005 targets businesses supplying gambling services into the UK market; it does not make the individual player the licensing authority’s enforcement target. Players who gamble on an unlicensed site do not commit a criminal offence under UK law.
Players who gamble on an unlicensed site do not commit a criminal offence under UK law, as the Gambling Act 2005 targets the businesses supplying the services rather than the individual players.
There is also no explicit prohibition in UK law on British citizens using gambling services licensed in another country. That point should not be stretched into a claim that an overseas licence makes a casino authorised to operate in Great Britain. It describes the player’s legal position, not the operator’s permission to supply services here.
That distinction matters because “the player is not committing a criminal offence” and “the operator is licensed to serve the market” are separate statements. Both can be true at once: the player may not face criminal liability, while the operator still lacks the UK licence required to serve Great Britain. I would not read the first as a stamp of approval for the second.
The broad framework applies to Great Britain—England, Scotland and Wales. The Gambling Act 2005 does not govern Northern Ireland, so it is inaccurate to treat the whole UK as if every part were covered by precisely the same legislation. If you live in Northern Ireland, check the rules that apply where you are rather than assuming the Great Britain framework answers everything.
Read the licence claim precisely
When a site describes itself as licensed, look at what that statement actually establishes. It may identify a regulator outside the UK. That is not the same as confirming that the operator holds a UK Gambling Commission licence for serving Great Britain. If the site’s claim is vague, don’t fill in the gap yourself.
I once saw “licensed” and mentally supplied “licensed for me”. That was the wrong shortcut. A licence belongs to an operator under a particular regulator’s framework; it does not automatically extend to every country where someone can open the website. The relevant question is not whether a licence exists somewhere, but whether the operator has the UK authorisation required for the British market.
So keep the two sides separate. UK rules place the licensing obligation on operators supplying gambling services into Great Britain. They do not make a player’s use of an unlicensed site a criminal offence, and they do not explicitly prohibit British citizens from using gambling services licensed abroad. But none of that turns an overseas licence into a UK one. That’s the line.
What Non-UK-Regulated Casinos Are — and Where They’re Licensed
A non-UK-regulated casino is an online gambling site that operates without oversight from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The phrase describes its relationship with the British regulator; it does not mean the site has no licence at all. Many such casinos are licensed elsewhere, under another jurisdiction’s rules.
That distinction is easy to miss when a site puts a licence badge beside its logo. I used to read that badge as a general stamp of approval. It is narrower than that: it points to a particular regulator and the framework the operator says it follows. It does not, by itself, tell you that the casino is authorised to serve people in the UK.
The jurisdiction names you may see
Non-UK-regulated casinos are commonly associated with licensing jurisdictions including Malta, Curaçao, Gibraltar and Anjouan. These names are not interchangeable labels for one shared system. Each refers to a different jurisdiction, so seeing one on a site does not make that casino UKGC-licensed.
Malta
One of the jurisdictions commonly associated with non-UK-regulated casinos.
Curaçao
A common licensing jurisdiction for offshore sites, often linked to crypto payments.
Gibraltar
Another jurisdiction used by non-UK-regulated casinos to establish regulatory status.
Anjouan
A jurisdiction whose licences do not authorise operation in the UK or other restricted markets.
The distinction matters most when a casino’s marketing makes its location sound more reassuring than its actual status. A company may be based in one place, hold a licence issued in another and advertise to players elsewhere. Those details answer different questions. The country where a business is based is not necessarily the place that licensed it, and an overseas licence is not a substitute for a UKGC licence.
An Anjouan casino licence, for instance, does not authorise operation in the United Kingdom or other markets listed as restricted. That is a useful reminder not to assume that a licence valid in one jurisdiction gives an operator permission to take customers everywhere. Check what the licence covers, rather than treating the country name as proof of UK authorisation.
“Licensed” is not the whole description
You may also see terms such as “non-UK licensed” or “non-UKGC licensed”. In ordinary use, they refer to casinos that are outside the UKGC system, often because they are licensed in another jurisdiction. They do not identify one regulator or guarantee that every casino using the label has the same status.
I now separate three things when I read a casino’s claims: where the operator is based, which authority issued its licence, and whether that licence permits it to serve the market in question. A polished badge or a confident line about being “international” does not settle those points. The detail needs to match the actual operator, not just the casino’s trading name.
This also explains why “best non-UK licensed casino” is not a licence category. It is a broad description that can cover sites under different regulators and with different permissions. A newer casino displaying a Malta-related claim, for example, still needs to be understood through the specific licence and operator behind it; the word “new” does not change what authority regulates it.
The practical takeaway is modest but important: a foreign licence tells you to look at that jurisdiction’s scope, not to assume UK approval. “Licensed” sounds simple. The market isn’t.
UKGC-Licensed Casinos: What That Status Means
When I see a UK Gambling Commission licence attached to a casino, the important point is not the wording on its homepage. It is that the operator has the licence required to serve customers in Great Britain. That requirement applies whether the company is based here or somewhere else.
So a UK Gambling Commission-licensed online casino is not simply a casino with some kind of licence. The licence comes from the regulator responsible for gambling operators serving the British market. A casino operating under a licence from another jurisdiction does not become UKGC-licensed just because it accepts British customers, uses familiar payment methods or has a polished site.
That distinction is easy to miss. I used to treat a licence badge as a general stamp of approval, as if one regulator’s permission automatically carried over to another country. It doesn’t. The regulator and the market the licence covers matter.
Attention A casino operating under a licence from another jurisdiction does not become UKGC-licensed simply by accepting British customers or using familiar payment methods.
What the status does—and doesn’t—tell you
A UKGC casino operating licence means the operator has the authorisation needed to offer gambling to customers in Great Britain. It identifies the relevant regulatory framework for that business. It is not interchangeable with a casino gaming licence issued elsewhere, and an overseas licence alone does not meet the requirement for serving Great Britain.
The word “licensed” can still be used loosely in marketing. When checking a claim, look for the actual regulator named and ask whether the operator holds a UK Gambling Commission licence—not merely whether it has a casino licence of some kind. If the site points only to an overseas authority, that is a different status.
I also wouldn’t read the licence as a personal guarantee that every interaction will go smoothly. It tells you which regulator the operator falls under; it doesn’t make every term, payment decision or customer-service exchange disappear as a concern. That’s why I try to separate the legal status from the sales pitch.
Why a list needs context
People searching for a UK Gambling Commission-licensed casinos list may be trying to establish whether a particular brand is authorised, rather than find a recommendation. The useful distinction is between a casino that holds the relevant UKGC licence and one that merely displays a licence from another jurisdiction. A list without that distinction can blur two very different situations.
“UK licensed” is a specific claim, not a synonym for “regulated somewhere”. If a company is based abroad, that fact alone does not settle the question: operators serving customers in Great Britain still need the UK Gambling Commission’s licence. Conversely, seeing a foreign licence should not lead you to assume that the operator has UKGC status.
For me, that is the practical meaning of the label. It tells you whether the casino is authorised under the regulator responsible for Great Britain’s market. It doesn’t answer every question about how the site behaves, but it does tell you that an overseas permission is not a substitute. Different licence. Different position.
How to Judge a Casino Beyond the “Best” Label
“Best” tells you almost nothing about what happens after you deposit. I’ve learned to treat it as packaging, then go straight to the terms: what counts as eligible play, what can block a withdrawal, and what the operator can ask you to provide.
Start with the offer. A large welcome bonus can look generous until you find the wagering conditions and discover they apply to more than the bonus itself. One specialist review reported an offshore offer with a wagering requirement of 35x or more; that is a report about a particular offer, not a reliable rule for every casino. Read the current terms attached to the offer you are considering, including any expiry conditions and restrictions on games. If the wording is unclear, assume you have not understood the deal yet.
Then read the withdrawal rules before you pay in. A casino may advertise fewer restrictions or faster payouts, but that does not tell you whether your account will face extra checks, whether particular terms apply to a bonus balance, or what documents may be requested. One specialist review described operators asking for notarised documents or video calls as part of withdrawal checks. That is not a standard feature of every site, but it is a useful reminder to look beyond the deposit page. Keep a copy of the terms in force when you sign up.
I also separate the licence claim from the practical question of who you are contracting with. Does the company name in the terms match the operator named elsewhere on the site? Is the licence information easy to find, and does the site explain how complaints are handled? A polished badge or a list of “trusted” sites is not a substitute for those details. I would not treat a recommendation as proof that a casino is suitable for a UK player.
If you are comparing licensed casino sites, be precise about what “licensed” means. A UK-licensed casino and a non-UK-regulated casino do not offer the same framework, even when both display a licence claim. Don’t let a “best licensed online casino” label blur that distinction. The question is not simply whether a site says it has a licence, but whether its terms, operator details and intended market line up with what you need.
Before depositing, check the rules for bonuses, identity checks, complaints and withdrawals together. If any of those are hard to locate or written so vaguely that you cannot tell what would happen, pause. A little friction before paying beats a nasty surprise later.
Curaçao Licences, Crypto, and the Payment Trade-Off
Curaçao is one of the jurisdictions whose name you may see on a non-UK-regulated casino. That tells you something about the operator’s licensing claim; it does not make the site UKGC-licensed or establish that its licence authorises it to serve customers in the UK. I’d keep those points separate. A Curaçao-licensed casino and a casino licensed to serve Great Britain are not interchangeable descriptions.
The payment menu can look familiar at first: offshore casinos may accept cards, e-wallets, bank transfers and cryptocurrency, sometimes using alternative payment processors. But a method appearing on the deposit page is not the whole story. Check whether the casino’s terms explain how that method works for withdrawals too, and whether the payment account must match the name on your gambling account. A deposit route is not a promise that the same route will be available when you cash out.
Crypto tends to attract the “no hassle” pitch. The practical point is narrower: cryptocurrency payments can bypass the UK ban on gambling funded by credit cards. That does not turn the casino into a UK-regulated operator, and it does not tell you what protections or recourse you have if a payment is delayed or disputed. I wouldn’t read “licensed crypto casino” as shorthand for a site that is authorised in Britain.
Nor does a crypto option prove that a casino offers play without identity checks. Payment method and verification are separate issues. If a site advertises “no KYC” or promises that checks will never happen, read the account and withdrawal terms carefully rather than treating the slogan as a guarantee. A provider may still set its own verification conditions; the payment label alone cannot settle that.
Payment Risks
Alternative processors and digital currencies can make the route between your bank and the casino less straightforward, and they do not provide UK-regulated protections.
There is a trade-off here. Alternative processors and digital currencies may give you another way to fund an account, but they can also make the route between your bank, the processor and the casino less straightforward. Before sending money, check the currency, any conversion steps, and the stated withdrawal options. Don’t assume a card, wallet or crypto address used for a deposit will automatically be accepted for a payout.
I’ve found it useful to treat the payment page as one part of the decision, not proof that the whole arrangement is simple. Curaçao on the licence badge tells you where the operator says it is licensed; the payment list tells you what it says it accepts. Neither answers every question about serving UK customers or getting your money back. Read both sets of terms before deciding.
MGA-Licensed Casinos Aren’t the Same as UKGC Sites
A Malta Gaming Authority licence can be a genuine overseas gambling licence, but it is not a UK Gambling Commission licence. That distinction gets blurred in casino advertising: “licensed in Europe” sounds reassuring, yet it does not tell you that the operator is authorised to serve customers in Great Britain.
Malta is one of several jurisdictions associated with non-UK-regulated casinos, alongside Curaçao, Gibraltar and Anjouan. An MGA licence tells you which regulator the operator claims to answer to. It does not transfer the UKGC’s authority to Malta, or give the casino UKGC status. If an operator serves customers in Great Britain, it needs the relevant UKGC licence, whatever country it is based in.
I used to read a foreign licence badge as if it settled the important question. It didn’t. The badge is a starting point for understanding the operator’s regulatory setting, not a substitute for checking whether it holds the licence required for the market it is targeting.
That matters because rules can differ. Non-UK-regulated casinos may be subject to less stringent responsible-gambling and data-protection requirements than UKGC-licensed operators. An MGA-licensed casino should not therefore be presented as offering the same regulatory position or protections as a UKGC-licensed site. “Licensed” is not one universal standard.
Nor does the size of a casino change the distinction. Whether someone describes a small or large casino licence in the UK, the relevant point for a casino serving Great Britain is the operator’s UKGC authorisation—not how prominent the brand is, or which overseas regulator appears on its website. A Malta licence alone does not become a UK licence when the casino is larger, better known or busier.
The same goes for an app. A casino app is another way to access the operator’s service; the app’s presence in an app store does not make the operator UKGC-licensed. Check the company and licence information for the gambling service itself, rather than treating the app listing or an MGA logo as proof of UK authorisation.
When I see “MGA-licensed”, I now read it narrowly: the operator is pointing to Malta’s regulator. I don’t read it as a shortcut for “approved for Britain”. If you are considering a site, keep those questions separate: what overseas licence does it claim, and does it hold the UKGC licence required to serve Great Britain? A clear answer to the first does not answer the second.
Why MGA is not UKGC
An MGA licence identifies the operator’s relationship with Malta’s regulator, but it does not transfer UKGC authority or provide the same regulatory position and protections as a UKGC-licensed site.
Checking an Anjouan Licence Without Guessing
A logo in a footer is easy to add; it is not enough to establish who holds the licence or what it covers. If I were checking an Anjouan casino, I’d start with the operator’s legal name and licence details, then compare them with the public register entry. Check that the company name matches and that the entry has not expired. If the casino gives you no clear details to compare, treat that as a reason to pause, not a minor paperwork gap.
The match matters. A licence displayed by one company does not, by itself, show that another company running the site is covered. Nor does an Anjouan entry authorise the casino to operate in the United Kingdom or in other markets it restricts. A licence from overseas is not permission to serve every country. You are responsible for checking the laws that apply where you live and understanding the implications of using an offshore gambling service.
Then look at what the licence framework actually requires. Anjouan does not mandate random-number-generator testing, independent audits or separate holding of player funds. That does not prove that a particular casino’s games are unfair or that it will fail to pay. It does mean the licence alone cannot establish that testing has taken place or that your balance is protected if the operator collapses.
The funds point is the one I would not skim. Anjouan-licensed casinos do not guarantee that player money is kept apart from company funds. If the operator fails, players are unsecured creditors, so their claims do not come with the protection of segregated funds. A polished site and a reassuring licence badge do not change that position. Hard truth.
Complaints have limits too. The Anjouan authority does not handle, mediate or decide individual player complaints, and these casinos do not provide an independent dispute-resolution route comparable to UK Gambling Commission-approved services. Under Anjouan’s framework, an operator must respond to a complaint within 30 calendar days; a response is not the same as an independent decision in your favour.
So I would separate three checks: whether the register entry matches the operator, whether it is current, and what protections the framework actually requires. Passing the first checks confirms details, not the quality of the casino or the safety of your money. If a dispute arises, do not assume the Anjouan authority can step in.
The Safeguards You Give Up When You Play Offshore
The difference becomes real when you want to stop, set a boundary or challenge a decision. A non-UK-regulated casino sits outside the UK Gambling Commission’s player-protection system, so you cannot assume that the tools and complaint routes familiar from a UK-licensed site will follow you there.
Take self-exclusion. Casinos not on GamStop are not connected to the UK Gambling Commission’s self-exclusion scheme. If you have registered with GamStop, that does not block access to these casinos. That gap matters: a self-exclusion request only helps where the operator participates in the scheme. I used to treat the word “excluded” as if it covered every gambling site. It doesn’t.
Casinos not on GamStop are not connected to the UK Gambling Commission’s self-exclusion scheme, meaning a GamStop registration will not block your access to them.
The wider responsible-gambling protections may also be less demanding than those imposed on UKGC-licensed operators. You may not have the same mandatory tools, including ways to set deposit limits or exclude yourself. Before opening an account, look for the operator’s own controls and read what they actually do. A button labelled “take a break” is not the same thing as a protection you can rely on across sites.
Complaints are another weak point. At a UK-licensed casino, approved independent routes may be available if a dispute remains unresolved. With an offshore operator, you cannot take the matter to the UK Gambling Commission as though it were a UKGC-licensed business, and you do not have access to the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service for that gambling dispute. Some overseas frameworks offer no comparable independent dispute resolution at all. That leaves you more dependent on the operator’s own process.
So how do you choose a reputable licensed online casino? First, be precise about what “licensed” means: a foreign licence is not a UK licence, and it does not provide the same UK safeguards. Then check whether the site explains its responsible-gambling controls and complaint procedure clearly, and whether you can identify who handles a dispute if the operator says no. Clear wording is useful; it is not a substitute for independent oversight.
If gambling is becoming difficult to control, an offshore site’s own tools may not be enough. Do not assume GamStop covers it, and do not deposit on the strength of a licence badge alone. A badge can look reassuring. The protections are what count.
Withdrawals, Limits, and What Can Happen After You Win
A payment badge tells you how you may be able to deposit. It does not settle how a withdrawal will be processed, or how quickly you will see the money. I learned to treat “fast payouts” as a claim to check against the cash-out terms, not as a promise.
The published timeframes do not agree. One description of withdrawals at Casinos not on GamStop gives a range from 24 hours to 5 business days, depending on the payment method. Another says a withdrawal from a non UK regulated casino can take as long as three or four weeks, with no regulatory clock to enforce a quicker outcome. That difference matters: a headline speed is not a reliable expectation for every casino or every withdrawal.
Limits can change the practical picture too. One affiliate-style specialist review reports that some operators set daily, weekly or monthly withdrawal caps. Where that applies, a large win may have to be paid in instalments rather than in one transfer. Check whether the limit applies to each payment, to your account, or to a particular withdrawal method; read the casino’s own terms before depositing, because an independent review cannot confirm that a condition remains current.
I would also separate deposit options from withdrawal options. A method being available for deposits does not establish that it can be used to withdraw, or that the casino will process a payout on the same schedule. Look for the withdrawal rules, any stated limits, and the steps required before a payment is approved. If those terms are vague, that is a reason to pause—not a reason to assume the best.
A licence check is useful for establishing which regulator, if any, oversees the operator, but it cannot make a payout instant or remove the casino’s own terms. When considering a non UK regulated casino, make sure you understand who you would contact if the cash-out is delayed and what route is actually available. A win on screen is not money in your account. Read the small print first.
Can UK players legally play at casinos licensed in Anjouan?
Yes, UK law does not explicitly prohibit players from using gambling services licensed abroad, and players do not commit a criminal offence by gambling on an unlicensed site. However, an Anjouan licence does not authorise a casino to operate in the UK; operators serving Great Britain need a UK Gambling Commission licence.
Are Anjouan-licensed casinos safe and fair?
An Anjouan licence does not guarantee that a casino is safe or fair. Anjouan’s framework does not require RNG testing, audits or segregation of player funds, and the authority does not adjudicate player complaints.
What payment options are available at Non UK Casinos?
Non-UK-regulated casinos may accept credit cards, e-wallets, bank transfers and cryptocurrencies, often through alternative processors. Some also accept deposits charged to a mobile phone bill or deducted from a prepaid balance.
What is the biggest risk of playing at a non UK regulated casino?
You may have limited recourse if something goes wrong: these casinos do not provide the same independent dispute resolution route as UKGC-approved services, and you lose access to the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service. With Anjouan-licensed casinos, player funds are not guaranteed to be segregated, so you could be an unsecured creditor if the operator fails.
Are non UK regulated casinos legal for UK players to use?
UK law does not explicitly prohibit players from using gambling services licensed in other countries, and players do not commit a criminal offence by gambling on an unlicensed site. However, operators serving customers in Great Britain need a UK Gambling Commission licence; an overseas licence alone does not provide that authorisation.