How do I know if a betting site is legal in my country?

Every country that regulates online betting keeps an official public register of the operators it has licensed. A site is legal for you only if it appears on the register for the country you are physically in. Find your country's regulator, open its licensee list, and confirm the brand is on it with an active status. If it isn't listed, it is not licensed to take your bet.

Is a licence from another country enough?

No. A licence only authorises a site in the country that issued it. A brand licensed in the UK is not automatically legal in Brazil, Ontario or a US state — each of those has its own regulator and its own register. Always check the list for the country you are actually in.

What if online betting is not regulated in my country?

Some countries have no licensing regime, or ban online betting outright. Where there is no official register, there is no licensed site to verify, and playing carries legal and financial risk with no local consumer protection. When in doubt, don't deposit.

How to tell if a betting site is legal in your country

Last updated: 2026-07-14 · Gamblerfy editorial team

There is one check that matters more than any bonus, review or rating: is this site licensed in the country you are physically in? A betting brand can be big, famous and perfectly legal in one country while being completely unlicensed — and unsafe for you — in another. The good news is that every country which regulates online betting publishes an official public register of the operators it has approved. Once you can find and read that list, you can confirm any site in under two minutes.

Why your country is the only one that counts

Online gambling is licensed per jurisdiction. A regulator can only authorise operators to serve players inside its own borders. That means a licence issued in the United Kingdom does nothing for a player in Brazil, and a licence in one US state does not carry over to the next. So the question is never "is this a licensed brand somewhere?" — it's "is this brand on the register for where I am?"

This is exactly why we organise everything on Gamblerfy by country rather than by brand. Each of our country pages is built straight from that market's official government register, so the list you see is the list the regulator publishes — nothing invented, nothing added.

The three-step check

Identify your regulator. Find the body that licenses online betting where you live. Our gambling regulators by country reference maps each market to its official regulator.
Open the official register. Go to the regulator's own website — never a link the betting site hands you — and open its licensee list. For the markets we cover, we've already pulled that list onto a single page per country (linked below).
Confirm the brand is on it, active. Search the brand name. If it appears with an active licence, it's legal for you. If it's missing, lapsed or suspended, do not deposit — no matter how well-known the name is.

Find the licensed list for your country

These are the markets we currently track, each built from the official register. Open yours and check any brand before you sign up:

Europe

🇬🇧 United Kingdom — UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).
🇪🇸 Spain — how to verify any site on the DGOJ register (and the .es rule).

Latin America

🇧🇷 Brazil — SPA (Ministério da Fazenda); legal sites use official .bet.br domains.
🇨🇴 Colombia — Coljuegos; legal sites use .co domains.

North America

🇨🇦 Ontario, Canada — AGCO / iGaming Ontario.
🇺🇸 Pennsylvania — PA Gaming Control Board.
🇺🇸 New Jersey — NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement.
🇺🇸 Tennessee — Sports Wagering Council (sports only).
🇺🇸 Iowa — Racing and Gaming Commission (sports only).
🇺🇸 Colorado — Division of Gaming (sports only).
🇺🇸 Arizona — Department of Gaming (sports only).
🇺🇸 Massachusetts — Gaming Commission (sports only).
🇺🇸 Illinois — Illinois Gaming Board (sports only).
🇺🇸 Washington, D.C. — Office of Lottery and Gaming (sports only, 18+).

Don't see your country yet? We add markets only once we can build the list from the official register — no placeholders. Meanwhile, use the regulators by country page to find your regulator and check its register directly.

Warning signs the check will catch

"Licensed" badge, no register entry. A logo or a licence number in the footer proves nothing until you confirm it on the regulator's site. See how to check a casino's licence yourself.
A licence from the wrong country. Some sites wave an offshore licence at players it doesn't actually cover. If the licence isn't from your regulator, it doesn't make the site legal for you.
A near-copy domain. Scam sites clone a real brand on a slightly different address. Our how to spot a fake betting site guide shows how to tell them apart.

Confirming the licence protects your money; setting limits protects you. A legal site is the floor, not a guarantee — pair this check with our scam casino warning signs and always gamble responsibly. Gambling should be entertainment, never a way to make money.

Related guides

How to choose a betting site — the full 6-point safety-first checklist.
How to check a casino's licence yourself — verify a licence number on the register.
How to spot a fake betting site — clone sites and how to avoid them.
Regulators by country — the official register for each market.