Best UK Licensed Online Casinos

great online casino, they make a deposit, hit a decent win – only to find that when it comes to withdrawing their cash the casino comes up with bogus reasons to deny payouts.

Sometimes, even, going as far as to lock the player’s account and cease all communication – despite the player not doing anything wrong.

With the UK’s online gambling regulations continuing to tighten (and they’re expected to get even stricter), many rogue, illegitimate operators will be looking to take advantage of this, taking bets (illegally) from UK players.

In this article, we’re going to look at a couple of the main things to look for when choosing a UK-based casino. We’ll also be covering some of the things you should consider – from a personal perspective – when joining a new site. Let’s kick things off with the most important thing for UK players; licensing.

Licensing and Regulation

By law, any online casino wanting to accept real-money bets and wagers from players located in the United Kingdom must hold an online gambling license issued by the UK’s Gambling Commission – also known as the UKGC.

It doesn’t matter whether the casino in question is located in the UK or not; if they want to let UK players use their site, they must hold a valid license from the UK’s Gambling Commission.

Now, thankfully, despite displaying worrying signs of overreach when it comes to the regulation of online gambling, the UKGC is incredibly strict with its licensees. They’re widely regarded as being the top online gambling regulator in the world, and they are (usually) very quick to take action against operators breaking the terms of their license agreement or those acting unfairly.

This is good news for players; playing at a site governed by the UKGC affords you a number of protections players from other parts of the world seldom enjoy, and if you do play at a UKGC-licensed casino – provided you adhere to the terms and conditions – it’s incredibly unlikely anything will “go wrong” or that you’ll run into problems withdrawing your money.

So, How To Find UKGC-Licensed Casinos?

The easiest way is to simply check the top UK casinos here at Casinomeister. All the casinos we work with have undergone strict vetting and have proven themselves to be reliable, trustworthy and transparent.

However, if you’re looking for UKGC-licensed casinos yourself, there are a couple of things you can do to check that the site you’re playing at is actually who they say they are – and that they’re allowed to accept players from the UK.

(Just recently we saw, in the forum, a member complaining about signing up to a site that looked almost identical to LeoVegas – expect they were in no way connected to them, and had simply “stolen” their website’s design.)

Firstly, any casino that holds a license from the UK Gambling Commission must display their license information in the footer area of their website. This will usually include a link directly to the UKGC’s website, and it will also give you their license number. This allows you to independently check the validity of the license yourself, making sure you’re not playing at a rogue site.

The UKGC also has a public register of online gambling operators it has issued licenses to. Anyone can view this register and it can be found here.

Note: Many online casinos operate as white-label platforms (White Hat Gaming and Jumpman Gaming, for example), so you may find that an actual casino’s domain name is listed under another brand. There’s nothing wrong with that, it just means the casino is operating under the main company’s license.

To reiterate something: If you live in the UK, NEVER play at a site that doesn’t hold a valid online gambling license from the UK Gambling Commission.

Do so, and you’re at serious risk of not getting paid out should you win. To further crack down on players being treated unfairly, the UKGC also requires all of its licensees to work with a dispute resolution service – something we’ll explore below.

Dispute Resolution Services: What You Need To Know

One of the other benefits of playing at a UKGC-licensed casino is that the casino in question is required to work with an independent alternate dispute resolution (ADR). This is, essentially, an independent body who hears your complaint – and then rules on it.

The UKGC website states: “Licensed gambling operators are required to meet certain standards when handling complaints, and offer dispute resolution by an independent third party or ADR provider.”

They also provide further guidance to operators, as shown below:

“You must make sure your policies and procedures for accepting and handling complaints are fair, open and transparent. Your procedures must give customers clear and accessible information on how to make a complaint. They must also include the timescales you will take to respond, and information about how the customer can escalate the complaint if they are not satisfied.”

So, when would you use an ADR?

Well, you’d use them if you have an issue with an online casino – and the casino themselves are unwilling to budge on the position you’ve taken. For example, if you’re being denied your winnings – but you think the casino is denying them unfairly – you could take your case to the ADR service. They will then make a ruling, which the casino (in virtually all circumstances) will abide by.

If you’re still not happy, you can take your complaint directly to the UKGC – although they very rarely get involved with specific cases.

Here at Casinomeister we also offer our Player Arbitration Service – PAB – where we work with you and the casino to attempt to come to a resolution if issues arrive.

The reason we mention the dispute resolution services is that it’s a good first port of call for those experiencing issues with online casinos; although we should point out that in order to take your case to an ADR, you must have attempted to get the problem resolved through the casino’s own internal complaints department first. Casinos licensed by the UKGC are required to display information about their complaints process as well as the ADR which they cooperate with.

Finding A UK Casino That’s Right For YOU

So, you’ve found an online casino you like the look of – you’ve checked to make sure that it’s licensed by the UKGC – and you’re ready to begin playing! But, just before you do, there are a few other considerations you should take into account. These aren’t relevant to safety, but they will impact the level of enjoyment you receive at the casino – so keep these in mind.

Game/Provider Selection

Today, most online casinos try to offer as many games as possible – and it’s not uncommon to find operators offering more than 1,000 games to UK players alone! One of the biggest considerations when choosing an online casino is the game selection/software providers offered. For example, if you’re only interested in playing NetEnt slots, you won’t run into many issues – virtually all UK-based casinos offer them.

However, if you’re looking for some of the less-common online game developers – think Bally, Aristocrat, Novomatic, Merkur, etc – you may need to expand your search a bit! Videoslots – a casino that is accredited here at Casinomeister offer one of the biggest selections of games you’ll find online, and they offer games from game developers from all corners of the planet!

It’s worth checking out the selection of games on offer (and the game developers available) before joining a site, just to make sure you’re able to play the games you want to play! Thankfully, you don’t usually need to create an account to view a casino’s games – just head to their homepage, and you’ll find a breakdown of what’s on offer.

Payment Options

Playing at UKGC-licensed casinos has its benefits when it comes to payment methods too. UK-based casinos are among some of the only ones in the world to accept PayPal payments – although you won’t find many sites offering cryptocurrency options in the UK – yet.

It’s worth double checking the payment method you want to use is available – and these can usually be found in the casino’s footer section. As a general rule of thumb, every UK casino accepts major debit and credit cards (VISA and MasterCard) and most will also accept Skrill and Neteller too. Trustly is becoming more popular at UK casinos too, allowing you to make instant deposits directly from your bank account.

Bonuses and Loyalty Programs

Another factor to take into account when choosing a UK casino is the welcome bonus offer available – and the ongoing promos. Thanks to the UKGC’s rule change a couple of years ago, UKGC-licensed casinos are no longer allowed to “combine” a player’s real-money balance with their bonus balance; something that used to cause great confusion, and often resulted in players accidentally breaking the terms and conditions of the bonus (resulting in a lack of payout.)

Generally speaking, most UK online casinos have pretty similar welcome bonus offers – usually a 100% matched deposit bonus up to £100 – but if you look around you can find bonuses that are better than others. It’s something else to take into account, and you may want to check out the “Promotions” page on the casino’s website to see what kind of offers they’re giving their regular players too.

Withdrawal Speeds

Compared to a few years ago, the speed at which withdrawals are processed at online casinos has improved greatly. Play at a top casino, and you can expect your withdrawal to be processed well within 24 hours; some Casinomeister-accredited UK casinos like Videoslots and Rizk Casino are also known to pay out – essentially – instantly, meaning you get access to your winnings sooner!

Payout speeds aren’t a major factor in determining whether a casino is right for you or not – but some players do want fast payouts (which is understandable), so it’s something you may want to look into.

Mobile Gaming

Today, a large number of online casinos have their own mobile apps – and if you plan on playing from a mobile device regularly, it may be worth playing at a site that has a dedicated app. If they don’t, you may want to consider quickly checking out the site from your mobile device to make sure it runs well, doesn’t lag, and is truly mobile-optimized.

Again, it’s not a huge deal-breaker, but it’s something else to take into consideration and is especially relevant for those who plan on doing the majority of their gameplay from their phone or tablet.

Conclusion

Above all else, please, please, please remember to ONLY play at a site that’s licensed from the UK Gambling Commission. Once again, the link to check the sites they license can be found here.

If you’re looking for a reputable and trustworthy casino – and want to play somewhere that has a proven track record in being fair with their players – then you’ll want to check out our Accredited Casino list at Casinomeister. As we mentioned earlier, all of these casinos undergo extensive vetting – and we have good relationships (often with the CEOs) of the companies, so you’re in very safe hands if you play at one of these sites. If you do run into any issues while playing at one of our accredited casinos, we’ll always be on hand to help out where needed.

Remember, gambling should be fun and enjoyable – so it’s worth spending a few extra minutes before joining a site to make sure the casino is legit, licensed by the UKGC and that it offers the games, payment methods, bonuses and other features you want.