All online casinos operate with a license from one of the online gaming jurisdictions. To the players the license indicates that there is some authority that is regulating the functioning of the online casino and to which the casino is accountable. There are about 50 recognized online gaming jurisdictions out of which five are considered most reputed. These are Antigua & Barbuda, Kahnawake, Curacao, Malta and Alderney.

The jurisdiction of Antigua & Barbuda was the first to be formed in 1994. Currently there are about 100 online gambling sites licensed by it. The regulatory body here is the Division of Gaming, which comes under the Financial Services Regulatory Commission. Of late the jurisdiction of Antigua has been in the news for taking on the United States, when the latter put restrictions on online gambling. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission was established in 1996. It operates from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake in Canada. Though online gambling is illegal in Canada, special provisions apply to Kahnawake. Kahnawake is the largest gaming jurisdiction with about 300 online gambling sites licensed by it. One of the reasons for Kahnawake’s popularity is the strong follow up probity checks periodically conducted on its licensees. The jurisdiction of Malta began licensing online gambling in 2000 through The Lotteries and Gaming Authority. Malta has about 200 licensees. In 2007 Malta made it to the “white list” of the United Kingdom and its popularity has grown since then. The jurisdiction of Alderney, established the year 2000, is one of the smaller ones with about 50 licensees. The Alderney Gambling Control Commission is the regulatory body that oversees the licensing procedure. One of the unique features of Alderney is that it allows online gambling sites licensed in other jurisdictions to operate mirrored sites from Alderney under a Restricted Use eGambling license. The Curacao Internet Gaming Association is the regulatory body of the Netherlands Antilles. It was instituted in 2002 and has licensed about 250 online gambling sites. The applicant licensees are required to register with the Netherlands Antilles Chamber of Commerce as a locally formed legal entity before a license can be issued to them.

Online casinos registered with these jurisdictions generally draw higher traffic because players feel more relaxed when playing at these casinos. In the fist instance the probity checks conducted on the applicants is rigorous and exacting. The key features of these checks are whether the applicants have been subject to litigation in the past and whether they possess the financial resources needed to sustain an online gambling operation. The software proposed to be used by the applicant licensees is thoroughly tested by third party experts. Particular attention is paid to whether the RNG is fair and whether the games offer fair payout percentages. The probity checks also examine the administrative set up for controls. These look for transparency in the bonus and payment mechanisms and whether security concerns have been addressed. Finally these gaming jurisdictions offer a mechanism for redressing complaints.