Preface
In 2021, the pandemic forced many people to hide in their homes, unable to move freely without risk to themselves. This catastrophe has shaken many spheres of human life, and the entertainment industry is no exception. In such a difficult time, it was necessary to do something that could cheer up the people locked in their homes. Fortunately, a solution was found, and the entertainment sphere smoothly flowed from the real world to the virtual one. This is how the first online casino appeared. But despite the huge similarity with land-based casinos, virtual casinos have a number of differences. In this article I will pay attention to one important aspect in the process of choosing an online casino.
So, what’s the most important criterion in choosing casino?
Let's try to figure it out.
Gambling license
Based on my personal experience, I can honestly say that first of all you should pay attention to the availability of a casino license. If we briefly talk about what a license is, then an online casino license is an official document that guarantees a lawful provision of gambling services. The operational area of such a permit is defined by the jurisdiction that issued the license. It is a permit to carry out gambling activities. This is a document specially created to control the organizations of gambling in the countries where these casinos are located. However, an online casino is not tied to a place and can be available in different countries, so the licenses for such casinos are slightly different.
Why is it so important for an online casino to have a gambling license?
The importance of the license cannot be underestimated. Currently, a license is required for online casino operators. It is the basis of legality - it is a fact. But there are pitfalls in this issue. Thus, no license allows casinos to operate in a country where there is a legislative ban on such enterprises. One of the advantages of having a license is the opportunity to work with top game manufacturers (developers such as netent or microgaming) and leading payment systems. Of course, companies consider cooperation with each casino operator individually and not every license can guarantee the casino owner cooperation with similar companies. The same applies to the leading payment systems (PayPal, Skrill, etc.). Without a license, they simply will not cooperate with the casino.
However, to be honest, today the reality is that game manufacturers and payment systems in pursuit of profit are sometimes ready to work with projects without requiring operators to confirm the availability of a license. In such cases, all risks and all responsibility are fully borne by the operator of the online casino. And the last thing I want to say, speaking about the value of the license for the operator, is that the license allows you to get new and keep old high rollers in the project (these are people who play at high rates, which form up to 80 percent of the profits of the largest online casinos)
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers these days, sites where it is impossible to earn money, since winning and withdrawing funds to an online wallet or bank cards from such resources is simply not provided. Such sites are called “scams”. That is why you need to be careful in a casino choosing process. And the license serves as a good guideline for this.
Benefits of the license
We figured out that every online gambling establishment requires an official operational permit to provide services to players legally. In order for the gambling platform to become successful and popular, it is important to gain the trust of customers and create a good reputation. The presence of a special gambling license helps in this. It shows customers that the casino operates legally and reliably.
Let's summarize why a gambling license is important:
Differences between licensed and unlicensed online casinos
|
With a permit |
Without a permit |
Influence of authorities |
No impact |
A constant fear of banning and punishment Software partners |
Software partners |
Any certified content creator available |
Very few software suppliers |
Bank accounts |
Any bank within the jurisdiction |
No ability to register official accounts |
Advertising |
All available popularising means
|
Limited advertising tools, ineffective in some regions |
Players’ trust |
Enhanced loyalty from gamblers all over the world |
Uncertainty from players to make deposits |
Therefore, it would be logical for all prudent players who do not want to invest their money in an unknown site to choose only those establishments that have managed to obtain licenses and pass all checks. In order for a casino to confirm the legality of its current business, it needs a permit issued by a special gambling committee. A gambling license is required for gambling games such as slot machines, poker, roulette, lottery and sports betting.
Jurisdictions that issue licenses
To make it easier for you to choose a casino, I will tell few words about the jurisdictions involved in issuing licenses. As you can see in the diagram, there are a lot of them. At the moment, there are about 60 jurisdictions that are engaged in issuing licenses for online casinos. Among them there are large countries: Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Great Britain, etc. It is worth highlighting at once that there are many jurisdictions. They are all very different: different in the cost of obtaining a license, different in taxation, different in terms of issuance, different in the procedure itself. It's easier to get some licenses and more difficult to get others. In all this abundance of jurisdictions, there are the most popular ones, which we will talk about right now.
The first and one of the most prestigious gambling licenses is Malta. Malta today is one of the most reputable at the same time not cheap jurisdictions. Among other things, it is the first country in the European Union to regulate gambling. Malta has been issuing licenses since 2000. The regulatory body in Malta is the Gambling Commission, which sounds like the "Lottery and gambling authority". The license has 2 types of licenses (B2B and B2C) issued for 5 years with the right to renew. The period of its receipt is approximately 2 months. Summarizing all of the above, it can be stated that Malta is an authoritative European jurisdiction, the license of which can usually be seen only on verified sites
If the operator operates under a license of this jurisdiction, then he can count on cooperation in principle with any company producing games or payment systems, because the passage of the license procedure itself. It is somewhat similar to Malta, but there is one significant difference: this jurisdiction has one universal license for all types of gambling business at once without division into classes.
This is one of the most widespread and popular jurisdictions in the world. At the moment, this is probably the best offer in terms of price and quality. Licenses apply to all types of gambling (just like the Isle of Man license). The advantages of this small island in the Caribbean are zero percent on casino profits, fast registration (usually about 1.5-2 months) and low running costs. The owner of an online casino is obliged to place on the territory of Curacao computing power (server). The Internet gambling industry forms the lion's share of Curacao's budget, so an attractive taxation system has been formed here for casinos.
Canada is known for its tolerant attitude to gambling at the legislative level. In 1996, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established, which, among other things, deals with the licensing of online casinos. The first annual license fee is $40,000, a technical check of the software costs $15,000, and the annual license renewal fee will cost $10,000.
To obtain a Gibraltar license, the owner of an online Casino must prove financial stability, provide a business plan and be ready to conduct currency transactions exclusively through Gibraltar banks (payout of winnings, processing of players' credit card data). License holders pay 1% of gross profit, but not less than £85,000 per year.
To sum up, if you know that an online casino has one of these licenses, you can have no doubt about this organization. For sites that have received a license, it is not just a document about legal business - it is a confirmation of their status, which attracts new players.
How to choose a good licensed casino? (Tuman.io.)
How to choose the best option for yourself? The number of online casinos in the world is growing every day. This choice should be approached thoroughly, checking all known information about the site. Selecting a casino seems difficult. In fact, it is, if you do everything manually. For example, it may be difficult for an inexperienced user to check whether an online casino has a license. Usually you can view the license at the bottom of the site or write to the support site with a request to provide you with this document for review. Sounds complicated, doesn't it?
The solution to this problem has already been found. Nowadays, there are many catalogs where you can view online casinos, one of them is tuman.io . In my opinion, this is a resource that is necessary for all players and gambling people – catalog of all online casinos in the world. The site has collected the addresses of reliable and honest online establishments, casinos with real payouts and winnings.
Now let’s tell little more about the capabilities of the site. A feature of tuman.io is the ability to filter projects by licenses and not only. Once on the main page of the site, you need to find the section "Online casino" and go to it. Then you will see a filter in the right corner of the screen where you need to specify the criteria based on which you are looking for a casino (in our case, select the "license" option). It remains only to apply the filter, and the site itself will generate the project options that are suitable for you. The site is able to generate casinos suitable for you based on all the items you have specified in the filter.
Conclusion
Summing up all that has been said, I would like to focus your attention on the most important points:
1) There are many jurisdictions, but there are few good jurisdictions. If you decide to look for an online casino with new licenses, then you will need to learn more about each of them.
2) Each jurisdiction has its own unique requirements for operators and conditions for issuing a license.
3) The presence of a license will not allow the operator to work freely around the world. There are a number of restrictions on the jurisdiction itself and plus bans on gambling activity at the legislative level.
4) Choosing an online casino, always pay attention to the availability of at least one of the licenses for the project. It is better not to cooperate and do not register on online casino sites without licenses.
5) Trying to find a new casino for yourself, it is better to use special Internet resources (catalog sites, like tuman.io)
6) After obtaining a gambling license, casino owners have a chance to cooperate with large developer companies. That is why it is more pleasant to play in an online casino that has a license.
In conclusion, I can say that for online casino owners, a license is a thing that proves the legality of their business and attracts new visitors to the site, and for players, the license is a kind of guideline, after seeing it, it becomes clear that this site does not belong to scammers, that you can relax and just play a pleasant game on it. So, I hope in this article I was able to reveal what an online gaming license is and why modern online casinos become uncompetitive without it.