How to Find Legit and Legal Online Casinos in the UK

When you are playing online with real money, you want to know that you are at a legit and legal online casino site. This way you can be sure that your money and data are not at risk of falling into the wrong hands. There are lots of ways to ensure that you play at great legal online casinos in the UK, and we have curated a list of the very best for you to consider.

We will only ever recommend legal online casinos to you. There are plenty of gaming sites in the UK that you can play at, so there really is no need to turn to unlicensed and sketchy operators. On this page, we will review the UK gambling laws that you need to know, the future of British gambling and take you through how to spot a legit site.

If you are looking for a wider selection of great sites, as well as a wealth of information on gambling at online casinos in the UK, then head over to our main page listing the best online casinos for UK players or the one listing the best mobile casinos in the UK.

The Current Legal Situation for Online Casinos in the UK

Given that you have come to this page, you may be wondering, are online casinos legal? So, let’s clear this up: online casinos are legal in the UK. All operators that wish to market their services to players in Britain must hold a full remote gaming licence from the Gambling Commission (UKGC). This organisation oversees all gambling in Great Britain and holds the power to fine companies or strip their gaming licences if they fail to uphold player protection standards.

Online gambling is a quickly growing industry in the UK, with 10.7% of Brits statin that they had gambled remotely in the past four months in 2010. This was up from 7.2% four years previously. This number seems to be consistently growing, which is not that big of a surprise when you consider the choice and quality available in the market. Click to read more about the future of British gambling.

The Gambling Commission

The Gambling Commission is the official regulatory body for all gambling in Great Britain. It is responsible for the oversight of land-based and online gambling in England, Scotland and Wales. It is expressly not responsible for overseeing gambling in Northern Ireland. It is, however, commonly referred to as the UK Gambling Commission or UKGC.

The Commission issues licences for gambling operators and ensures fairness across the industry. In short, it enforces the gambling laws of the land. It is the first port of call when there are issues with an operator, and it conducts investigations into any allegations of breaches of conduct or laws by any gambling operators. Visit The Gambling Commission website to find out more about the Commission, what it does and how it operates.

The Future of Gambling in the UK

One of the major changes that may be on the horizon for gambling in the UK is the possible introduction of a low maximum bet limit for online games. This would follow legislation limiting fruit machine bets to £2 per spin. The UK parliament is currently taking the issue under advisement and debating a similar restriction for online games.

The other biggest developments in the UK gambling scene are likely to be technological advances in the quality and accessibility of the games. With virtual reality games becoming more widespread, people’s views of what gaming can be is changing. live casino games continue to become more and more popular, with great titles being released every year that change the possibilities of remote gaming.

Below, you can find all of the latest UK gambling news. You will find updates about legal online casinos as well as changes in the law, investigations by the UKGC and more in the articles written by our dedicated team.

How to Recognise Legit Online Casinos

Many people ask, are online casinos legit? The answer is that many are, although not all sites online should be trusted. There are a number of things that you can do to make sure that you are playing at a legal online casino UK. The first thing to do is to ensure that it has a licence from the Gambling Commission. This goes a long way to confirm that it is a legitimate operation.

You can see other markers of legit online casinos UK in the table. The most important thing that we can tell you is that if, for whatever reason, you are concerned about a site, then check with external organisations, have a look to see its certificates, and double-check in order to keep yourself safe. The next few sections will take you through the features of all legit operators in the UK online casino list.

The UK and Other Popular Licences

Without a shadow of a doubt, the most important characteristic of any legit online casino in the UK is a full remote gambling licence from the UKGC. All sites must be fully licensed, otherwise they are breaking the law. It is as simple as that. This is the first thing that we check when we carry out a UK casino review.

There are other gaming licences that you can look at to confirm the quality and trustworthiness of a site. However, it is crucial that you understand that only the UKGC licences are valid in the UK. Still, it can be useful to see that organisations like the Malta Gaming Authority and the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner have found a site to be acceptable.

You can see some of the most respected gambling authorities in the world below. If you see these logos on the operator site, then you can rest assured that it has passed lots of tests by the organisations and that its games are safe to play. And the more seals of approval, the better in our opinion. See more about UK casino licensing.

Terms and Conditions

Now, before you roll your eyes at the idea of small print and consider skipping ahead, remember this: when venturing into the realm of real money gambling, especially on the best online casino for roulette in the UK, it’s imperative to carefully review the terms and conditions. By law, any operator is mandated to clearly present their terms of service for all players to access.

Next, all terms and conditions of bonus offers must be clearly outlined next to the offer details themselves. These should include the playthrough requirements, time limits, deposit requirements, excluded payment methods and any other major restrictions or requirements.

Gambling Taxes in the UK

You know what they say about death and taxes. Certainly, no one can ignore taxes when it comes to gambling. It is important to know where you stand, as many countries charge gamblers on their winnings. Luckily, there are no gambling winnings taxes in the UK. This means that you do not need to declare your winnings and do not need to pay tax on them.

The gambling taxes in Britain are imposed on the revenue of the operators. In fact, the gambling taxes for operators in the UK is pretty high when compared with other countries. This means that we are all contributing to the taxman’s income by gambling, but we do not need to think about it as players. Any site that tells you that you should pay winnings tax in the UK is lying to you and should not be trusted.

Legal Online Casinos Prevent Money Laundering

By law, all legit casinos in the UK are required to do their part to combat money laundering. Legal casino online sites have long been seen as a potential place where criminal could launder their cash. However, there are now lots of laws in place to make sure that this does not happen.

The strongest protection in place is a requirement that all players provide valid ID when signing up to a legitimate online casino. You must do this before you are able to play any games or to deposit any cash into your player account. So, make sure that you register using your real and correct personal data.

Responsible Gambling

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• www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk
• www.gamcare.org.uk
• www.about.gambleaware.org
• www.gamblingtherapy.org

The most legit online casino sites all promote responsible gambling. They do so in a number of different ways. But this should be seen as a responsibility of any and all gambling operators. In the list below, we have laid out a few of the things that casino sites are able to do in order to help players gamble responsibly.

• Setting limits
• Advice on how to recognise addiction
• Time limits for playing games
• Account block features
• Self-exclusion
• Links to problem gambling charities

One of the most important things that you can do as a player is to understand what addictive or irresponsible playing looks like. That is why it is important that all operators work hard to give plenty of resources for players to learn about this. Most sites will provide a questionnaire, which you can complete yourself, that will indicate if you may have a problem with gambling.

The next step, if you are worried about your gambling habits, is to turn to a responsible gambling organisation for help. You can see a list of the largest and best-known such organisations and charities in the table, with direct links to their websites. Our advice is, as soon as you start worrying about your gambling, then seek help and advice. All legitimate online casino sites work hard to help players in this respect.

Data Protection and Player Security

Another key part of creating a legit online casino is to ensure that the website is protected against hackers and malware. This will keep players’ personal and financial data safe from criminals. There are lots of top software companies out there that create data protection and anti-virus programs. The biggest names in SSL encryption for casino websites are Thawte, COMODO, Verisign, GoDaddy and McAfee.

All legal online casinos should be data encrypted. You can see if this is the case on a specific site by looking for a padlock symbol in the URL bar (next to the website name at the top of the screen). If you do not see a padlock there, then the site is not encrypted. If it is, you can see the security certificate by clicking on the padlock.

The other side of things is to ensure that the games themselves are safe to play and are fair to players. All casino games should be checked by an independent testing agency before they are marketed to players in the UK. This testing is carried out by eCOGRA, GLI and iTechLabs on the most part for the British market. You will often see logos from these three in the footer of safe online casinos, showing that they have given the operator their seal of approval.

Additional Things to Consider

There is one thing that does not always seem apparent. Quality and legitimacy do not always go hand in hand. This has two consequences that you should be aware of: just because a site looks good does not mean that it is a legal casino online; just because a site is legal does not mean that it is the best option available. You should only ever play at legal casino sites, and you should do yourself justice and stick to playing at the top UK online casinos.

Using Legal Payment Methods – What Happened to Credit Cards?

Another thing to be aware of is the fact that UK casinos can no longer accept credit card payment. This is because the UKGC has banned playing on credit in order to protect players from irresponsible choices when gambling.

Instead of playing on credit, you have access to lots of great and secure payment methods at the best legal online casinos. We recommend that you consider paying at casinos with PayPal. However, if this does not suit you, there are lots of other options at the top real money casino sites.

Warning – How to Recognise Illegal Casinos and Avoid Scams

So far, we have talked about what goes into the most legit casinos on the internet. But we should take a little moment and talk about how to avoid illegal and dodgy casinos. First things first, you can rest assured that every casino supported on this page is legal and legit. That goes for all casino sites that we recommend.

Next, you can check out a few things on the site itself to see whether it is a reputable operator. We will go through these below. These are the characteristics of illegal and untrustworthy sites. Have a look, take a note and know that you can keep yourself safe.

No current and valid licence from the Gambling Commission

Incorrect or weird-looking logos in the footer of the website, rather than the Gambling Commission, trusted payment companies and gambling charities

Unusual, unfamiliar or unreputable payment methods, with no internationally trusted options available

Online reviews of the site mentioning that the company closed player accounts without reason

Unprofessional website with poor quality design, glitches and/or a poor level of English used

Bonus offers that have terms and conditions that seem to good to be true

No clear terms and conditions outlined on the website, or only offered to members, requiring you to sign up before you can see them

To save you some time and some potential heartache, we have put together a quick blacklist of casinos that you should avoid. These sites are unacceptable for a range of different reasons, including some of the issues listed above. But you really should take our word for it, avoid these sites and stick to legit online casinos.

The list of off-limits casinos changes over time as different operators lose or gain licences. The thing to remember is that you can always check to see UKGC licences. If you do this, you can check for yourself that a site you have chosen is a legal online casino. A UK licence is also a positive sign for players wanting to join any of the top rated online casinos internationally.

Conclusion – The Most Legit Online Casinos

As you can hopefully see from this page, there is a lot that goes into each of the best legal online casinos in the UK. There is far more to running a legit casino online than simply making a selection of games available.

The top 10 UK casinos all have licences from the Gambling Commission, and work hard to prove that they are trustworthy and secure sites. This involves using data security, third-party audits, accepting top payment methods and more just to ensure that players are safe and are given the best possible experience overall.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any questions after reading through our guide to legal casinos online in the UK, then you are in luck. We have collected some of the most commonly asked questions from our readers on this subject and answered them here. We hope that this will clear up any remaining uncertainties for you.

What are the most legit online casinos?

The most legit online casinos in the UK are those that hold full remote gaming licences from the Gambling Commission. You can see a list of recommended legal casino sites here; we have checked every single site that we suggest to you.

Are all online casinos legal and legit?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Scams and illicit sites do exist, although the Gambling Commission works hard to police the market and prosecute those who run illegal sites. You can, however, easily find lots of great legal sites to play at. See our list of top legal sites for a range of high-quality licensed sites.

What online casino is legit in the UK?

There are dozens of great legit casinos in the UK. It is a large and competitive market, with lots of operators holding valid licences to market to Brits. Finding the right casino among the throng can seem difficult, but we offer lots of advice on how to compare and rate online casinos.

Is online gambling legal in the United Kingdom?

Absolutely, online gambling is legal and rigorously regulated in the UK. The Gambling Commission is responsible for the oversight of the industry and is respected around the world as one of the toughest and most effective gambling regulators.

Are casino winnings taxed in the UK?

No, unlike many other countries, casinos winnings are not taxed in the UK. Instead, the gross profits of the operators themselves are taxed. You can read more about the taxation of gambling in the UK if you are interested in learning more about the subject.

How can I recognize a non-legal online casino?

There are a number of things that you can do to recognize an illegal online casino. You can follow our advice on the matter to be sure. In short, you should check for a site's UKGC licence and appraise the legitimacy of the site yourself by looking at payment methods accepted, the terms and conditions, bonus offers and overall professionalism of the site.