The Comoros government says it is asking the United Kingdom for help over gaming licences issued in the name of Anjouan, one of its three islands. The same licence sits in the footer of BC.Game, Thrill, Gamdom, Duel, Reels and more than a thousand other gambling sites. We opened the Anjouan register, the licence validator, the licence rules and the complaint page on 21 and 22 October 2026. Here is what a player can check today, and what nobody can settle yet.
The story broke on 19 October with an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian into the people and companies behind the Anjouan licensing business. Trade outlets followed within a day. Most of them repeated the same few numbers. We went to the primary pages and counted.
- The licence: Anjouan internet gaming licence, B2C for casinos and B2B for suppliers, based on the Computer Gaming Licensing Act 007 of 2005.
- The dispute: the Comoros government and its central bank say the Anjouan licensing bodies have no legal authority. The licensing side says it acts under island law. No court has ruled.
- Register on 21 October: 1,278 licences, every one marked valid. On 8 October we counted 1,543.
- Past their own expiry date: 89 rows still marked valid. One row expires a day before it was issued.
- Validator: bc.game reads VALID when opened through the casino seal, and NOT Licensed when you type the domain by hand.
- Complaints: the licensing body “does not handle, mediate, or adjudicate player complaints”. Disputes go to the casino, then to a paid mediator.
- Price: €17,828 to issue and €17,828 a year to renew. A Curaçao licence costs €47,450 a year.
Alex Jovanovic: “I read Anjouan seals in many of our reviews. I have never treated one as player protection, and this week gives no reason to start. The licence tells you a company name and a place to send a complaint. How the casino pays is a separate question, and you answer it with a small withdrawal.”
What the Comoros government says
Anjouan, called Nzwani locally, is a volcanic island between Mozambique and Madagascar and part of the Union of the Comoros. It declared independence in 1997 and later rejoined under an autonomy deal. The offshore authority it set up in that period has been at odds with the national government ever since.
The new statement from the government says “British citizens have been identified” in connection with an unauthorised licensing regime. It says “international cooperation efforts are under way, both in terms of financial intelligence and police collaboration”, with a direct request to the UK government and UK law enforcement. A central bank spokesperson spoke of people “abusively using the name of the Comoros Islands to give themselves apparent legitimacy” and said the government is preparing legal action at home. The UK Treasury declined to comment.
The warnings themselves are older. The Banque Centrale des Comores published a communiqué on 15 June 2022, signed by Governor Younoussa Imani. It named the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority and Anjouan Corporate Services among “fictitious structures” and sent the matter to prosecutors in Moroni, Mutsamudu and Mohéli. The Ministry of Finance republished it on 10 December 2025. According to a second central bank notice, dated 8 December 2025, no licence has been issued for online gambling and sports betting.
The licensing side answers with its own legal basis. It cites the island’s powers under the 2001 constitution and a set of 2005 island laws. Trade reports also mention an independent legal opinion from 19 September 2024, reconfirmed in February 2026. The firm behind it is not named and the opinion is not public. The central bank texts rest on banking law. We found no court decision on the gaming regime itself.
The investigation also traced the business to a family company in London. The people it names deny any role in selling licences today, and no court has ruled on any of it. We leave their names out of this post.
Alex Jovanovic: “The central bank has been saying this since 2022. What changed this month is that a government put it in writing to London and talked about the police. That raises the odds of a real ruling. I would still wait for the ruling before I call anyone’s licence fake.”
Nine names for one licence
Ask who issues an Anjouan licence and the answer depends on the page you read. We counted the names on the licensing side’s own sites and documents.
| Name | Where we read it |
|---|---|
| Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority (AOFA) | Title of the AOFA website |
| Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority | Licensing home page, validator, licence conditions |
| Offshore Finance Authority of the State of Anjouan | Validator, statutory line |
| Anjouan Gaming Authority | Public register |
| Anjouan Gaming Board | Licensing home page, validator |
| Gaming Board of Anjouan | AOFA website |
| Anjouan Licensing Services Inc. | Validator copyright, licence number prefix ALSI |
| ANJ Management Ltd. | Header and footer of the October 2026 licence conditions |
| Anjouan Corporate Services Ltd | AOFA website, as the place to submit applications |
Licence agents add more, such as Gaming Control Anjouan and the Anjouan Betting & Gaming Board. The law has two names as well. The validator and the licence rules cite the Computer Gaming Licensing Act 007 of 2005. The AOFA website cites a “Betting and Gaming Act 2005”.
The AOFA page also says who may hold a licence: “Online betting and gaming licenses are issued exclusively to companies incorporated in Anjouan.” The register tells a different story. BC.Game’s licence holder is in Belize. Most rows carry Costa Rica, Belize or Panama company names. Licence agents sell the product with no local company at all.
Our register check: smaller every week
The public register sits on anjouangaming.com. The search box shows “1 of 1278 licences” for any single hit, and the page carries the full list. The investigation of 19 October spoke of nearly 1,500 holders. On 8 October the register held more than that. By 12 October it held fewer.
That is 265 licences gone in 13 days. The register does not say why rows disappear. It has no column for lapsed, suspended or surrendered licences. Every row that remains reads “Valid”.
We checked the expiry dates against that word. On 21 October, 89 rows marked valid had an expiry date that had already passed. One example is Next Global Era Limited, licence ALSI-102310002-FI5, with 27 casino domains and an expiry date of 4 October 2026.
Another row is dated wrongly by any reading. 3-102-965756 SRL holds licence ALSI-202610004-FI1, issued on 15 October 2026 with an expiry date of 14 October 2026.
Some of the 89 may be renewals that have not been typed in yet. In early October the BC.Game expiry date moved from 1 October 2026 to 1 October 2027 on the register. Either way, the status column does not tell you whether a licence is current. The expiry date is the field to read.
What the 1,278 rows contain
| Count on 21 October 2026 | Rows |
|---|---|
| B2C, casinos and sportsbooks | 1,059 |
| B2B, suppliers | 170 |
| B2B and B2C | 27 |
| B2C, B2B and white label | 22 |
| Domains listed in total | 3,556 |
| Rows issued in 2023 / 2024 / 2025 / 2026 | 29 / 291 / 443 / 515 |
The year split covers only the rows still on the register. Licences that have dropped off are not in it. Even so, 2026 already has more surviving licences than any earlier year.
Alex Jovanovic: “A register that only knows one status is a phone book. It tells you a company paid at some point. When we review an Anjouan casino, I read the expiry date and the domain list, and I ignore the green word.”
The validator gives two answers for one casino
Every Anjouan casino must show an interactive seal in its footer. A click opens a validator page with the company name, address, support email and an operating status. We tested it with bc.game.
Opened through a seal link, the page shows Twocent Technology Limited of Ambergris Caye, Belize, licence ALSI-202410011-FI1, and “Operating status: VALID”. Above it, an orange banner says the seal page “has expired since it was generated on: Mar 5, 2025” and asks you to click the seal again. Both messages sit on the same screen.
With only the domain in the address, the same validator says bc.game is “NOT Licensed by the Offshore Finance Authority of The State of Anjouan” and shows a red INVALID. gamdom.com gives the same result. Both casinos are on the register as valid until 2027.
This changed one of our own reports. When Gamdom went offline on 13 October, we cited an INVALID validator page. It was the domain-only version. Part of that report stands: on 14 October the register had no Gamdom entry. On 21 October it lists Gamdom’s holder, Moon Revolution Limitada, licence ALSI-152406043-FI4, as valid until 29 June 2027. We have added a correction to that post.
The validator and the licence rules also disagree on where the licence does not apply. The validator lists seven excluded countries. The October 2026 licence conditions list nine.
| Excluded territory | Validator page | Licence conditions, October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Australia, Comoros, France, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | Yes | Yes |
| Austria | No | Yes |
| Germany | No | Yes |
| Sanctioned and FATF blacklisted countries | Yes | Yes |
If you play from one of these countries, the validator spells out what that means: disputes and complaints from players there “fall entirely outside the regulatory scope of the Anjouan Internet Gaming License and will not be entertained”.
What the licence asks of a casino
The rules sit in a four-page PDF, “License Conditions”, October 2026, version 5. It is issued by ANJ Management Ltd. Every page says “Confidential · For Licensee Use Only”, and the file is on the public website.
The rules that touch players most:
- ID checks: due at the first withdrawal request of any size, when lifetime deposits reach €3,000, or on suspicion. Before any payout the casino needs photo ID and a recent utility bill. Money paid in before verification sits in a restricted balance.
- Self-exclusion: the casino must block you within one working day of your request.
- Disputes: an approved mediator (ADR) is mandatory, and the casino pays for it. It must be named in the player terms.
- Blocked countries: “Effective GEO-IP blocking should be implemented”.
- Crypto: named as a risk pattern, with “proportionate blockchain tracing”.
- Money laundering reports: within 24 hours of a suspicion. Movements of $10,000 or more are reported weekly. Records are kept for five years.
- Ownership: a change of 10% or more must be reported within 10 business days. Since September 2026, nominee owners and trusts must be disclosed.
- Capital: “financial ratios as notified”. The document gives no minimum figure.
That is the rule on paper. Alex made his first withdrawal at an Anjouan casino this month. The casino asked for no ID and paid. The rules call for the check at the first withdrawal request of any size. A casino that skips it can still ask later, for example on a bigger cash-out.
Alex Jovanovic: “My first withdrawal went through with no ID request. Good for me that day. It also means the check the rules describe did not happen, and I cannot tell when it will. I keep my documents ready before a big win.”
Many withdrawal complaints at offshore casinos start with an ID request that arrives after a win. Plan for it.
Where an Anjouan player can complain
The licensing body is clear about its own role.
- Complain to the casino first, through the seal. Disputes over a game result must be raised within 14 calendar days of the session. Account disputes within 30 days.
- Wait for the reply. The casino has 30 days.
- Go to the approved mediator if it is still open after 30 days. The casino pays for the mediator.
The process runs in English only. It excludes players from excluded territories, early escalation and claims that are not about gaming. The authority tells players they “should not contact the Authority to resolve a dispute”.
Alex Jovanovic: “The 14-day window is the line I want every player to remember. If a spin or a bet looks wrong, screenshot it and write to support the same day. Two weeks later the process is closed to you, whatever the licence is worth.”
Does Anjouan ever take a licence away?
Yes, twice that we can see. The revoked licences page lists two entries.
- Knifex Ltd: revoked on 9 June 2026 for fraud. Domains knifex.bet and knifex.com.
- Amor 25 Limited: revoked on 10 July 2026 for illegal sublicensing. Domain eaglebet99.com.
Australia’s regulator, ACMA, has been busier. In February 2026 it issued formal warnings to BrightStar Digital (Pokienations) and to NovaForge (Abu King, BetAlice, Nova Jackpot, QuickWin and Vegasino). In mid-2026 it warned six more operators, two of them Anjouan licensees: NovaForge Limited for wildcasino.com and Metlait SRL for spinrise.com.
On 21 October Metlait SRL was still on the Anjouan register with licence ALSI-202509073-FI2, marked valid until 29 September 2027, with spinrise among its domains. NovaForge and BrightStar have no rows, and none of their brand domains are listed. The revoked page does not mention them either. We cannot tell whether their licences lapsed or were never there.
Why so many casinos chose Anjouan
Curaçao used to be the default offshore licence for crypto casinos. Its new gaming law took effect on 24 December 2024. The regulator now issues licences directly, and the old sublicence model is gone. Many houses moved. BC.Game surrendered its Curaçao licence on 5 December 2024 and its Anjouan licence dates from October 2024.
| Anjouan | Curaçao | |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly fee | €17,828 to issue, €17,828 a year to renew | €47,450 a year, plus €4,592 to apply |
| Extra domains | €500 each per cycle | Not checked |
| Who issues it | Island bodies, disputed by the national government and central bank | The national regulator, under the 2024 law |
| Player complaints | Casino first, then a mediator paid by the casino | Not checked |
| Public register | Yes, one status for every row | Not checked |
Licence agents advertise 0% gaming tax and approval in a few weeks. Those are sales claims, and we found no official timeline. On X, the price was the first thing many people noticed.
Casinos we know on the Anjouan register
These are houses our readers ask about. Every row was read on the register on 21 October 2026.
| Casino | Licence holder | Licence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| BC.Game | Twocent Technology Limited, Belize | ALSI-202410011-FI1 | 1 Oct 2027 |
| Thrill | Gravity Unleashed Limitada | ALSI-202506019-FI1 | 18 Jun 2027 |
| Gamdom | Moon Revolution Limitada | ALSI-152406043-FI4 | 29 Jun 2027 |
| Reels | Cavolo Boss Limitada | ALSI-082404002-FI1 | 7 Apr 2027 |
| Sportsbet.io, Bitcasino | EZ Spins Ltd | ALSI-202509076-FI2 | 29 Sep 2027 |
| Dexsport | Dexapp LTD | ALSI-202508043-FI2 | 28 Aug 2027 |
| Rakebit | Nile King Media Ltd | ALSI-202602030-FI2 | 17 Feb 2027 |
| BetBolt | Hi Steaks Entertainment Ltd | ALSI-202508042-FI2 | 28 Aug 2027 |
| Gambana | JJAM HOLDINGS Ltd | ALSI-202511041-FI2 | 29 Nov 2026 |
Search by domain and read the company name, because similar domains can belong to different holders. A search for bc.game returns two licences. One is BC.Game’s own. The other belongs to AceQueen Limited and lists only mybc.game.
How to check an Anjouan casino yourself
- Click the seal in the casino footer. Do not type the validator address yourself. A domain-only lookup reads NOT Licensed even for licensed casinos.
- Match the company name. The validator name should match the company in the casino terms and footer.
- Search the register by domain. Check that the exact domain you play on is in the list, and read the expiry date. Ignore the Status column.
- Check your country. If you live in one of the nine excluded territories, the complaint process does not cover you.
- Find the mediator in the terms. The rules require the casino to name its ADR provider. No name is a red flag.
- Be ready for ID at any withdrawal. The rules call for it at the first one. In our test the casino skipped it, so it can come later, on a bigger amount. Send your documents early and test with a small amount.
- Save proof as you play. Screenshots with the date, bet IDs, transaction hashes. The 14-day window starts with the session.
Some players on X made the same point as this list: the paper matters less than how a house behaves.
What is still unanswered
- A court ruling. The government says it is preparing legal action. None has been filed that we could find.
- The UK reply. The Treasury declined to comment. We found no statement from the UK Gambling Commission.
- Why the register shrinks. 265 rows disappeared between 8 and 21 October with no notice.
- The 89 expired rows. Renewals not yet entered, or licences that ended. The register does not say.
- Who signs the licence. Nine names on the licensing side’s own pages, two names for the 2005 law.
- The ACMA cases. Metlait is still listed after the Australian warning. NovaForge is gone without a revocation entry.
- What happens to players if the licence falls. We found no statement from the casinos above.
Alex’s verdict
The Anjouan licence has always been thin. Its own complaint page says it does not handle complaints. Its register knows one status. Its validator gives two answers for one casino depending on how you open it. None of that is new this week. What is new is a national government saying in writing that it will act.
For a player, the practical advice stays the same. Click the seal, match the company, read the expiry date, pass ID early, withdraw often. Judge a house by the money it pays out to you.
I will count the register again at the start of November and update this post. If a casino with an Anjouan licence changes how it pays you, or you get a reply from an Anjouan mediator, tell us in the comments.
How we checked: the register counts come from the full list on anjouangaming.com, read on 8, 12, 18 and 21 October 2026. The 89 expired rows and the type, domain and year counts are our own tallies of the 21 October list. The validator pages were opened on 22 October 2026, with and without the seal link from bc.game. The licence rules come from the October 2026 License Conditions PDF. The Comoros position comes from the central bank communiqués of June 2022 and December 2025 and the government statement of October 2026. The licensing side had no say in this post. Alex’s first withdrawal at an Anjouan casino in October 2026 was paid without an ID request. The cover shows two validator pages for bc.game from the same day.
FAQ
Is the Anjouan gaming licence legal?
It is disputed. The Comoros government and central bank say the Anjouan licensing bodies have no legal authority. The licensing side cites island law from 2005. No court has ruled as of 22 October 2026.
Is my money safe at an Anjouan casino?
Nothing we read in the dispute touches player balances today. The licence itself offers little protection: the licensing body does not handle player complaints. Keep balances small, pass ID early and withdraw winnings.
How do I check an Anjouan licence?
Click the seal in the casino footer, match the company name, then search the register on anjouangaming.com by domain and read the expiry date. A validator page opened by typing the domain shows NOT Licensed even for licensed casinos.
Why does the validator say INVALID for a licensed casino?
Because it was opened without the seal link. On 22 October 2026 bc.game read VALID through its seal and NOT Licensed with the domain alone. gamdom.com behaved the same way.
How many Anjouan licences are there?
1,278 on 21 October 2026, by our count of the public register. It listed 1,543 on 8 October.
Which countries does the Anjouan licence exclude?
The October 2026 licence conditions list Australia, Austria, Comoros, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus sanctioned and FATF blacklisted countries. The validator page lists seven of them and leaves out Austria and Germany.
Where can I complain about an Anjouan casino?
To the casino first, within 14 days for game results and 30 days for account issues. If it is unresolved after 30 days, go to the approved mediator named in the casino terms. The casino pays for it. The licensing body does not take player complaints.
How much does an Anjouan licence cost?
€17,828 to issue and €17,828 a year to renew, plus €500 for each extra domain. A Curaçao licence costs €47,450 a year plus a €4,592 application fee.
Is BC.Game licensed in Anjouan?
Yes, on the register. Twocent Technology Limited of Belize holds licence ALSI-202410011-FI1, issued on 2 October 2024 and valid until 1 October 2027.
Gambling is for adults only and can become addictive. Play only with money you can afford to lose, and read our responsible gambling guide if it stops being fun.
Written by
Alex writes the house files on Crypto Casino Reviews. He plays the desks he scores and checks the offer, the cashier, and the licence before the long read.
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