There are lots of licensing jurisdictions over the world that offer licenses for online bookmakers that want to serve sports gamblers worldwide. But, not all of them are the home of fair and safe bookmakers.
These jurisdictions give out licenses even to other forms of gambling sites such as online casinos where you can play casino slot games and mobile casino games just like with mobile sports betting. Mobile bookmakers and mobile casinos let you prolong your chances because you can take the action anywhere you want. In fact, many big bookmakers today encompass both casino gambling and sports betting.
To make things easier the bookmakers usually open their offices in these jurisdictions. So, if you happen to find yourself there, you might see all the popular online bookmakers on the same street with the same address.
Anyway, whichever form of gambling site you are looking for, make sure for these sites to be licensed by the following jurisdictions. These make sure that the bookmakers adhere to a certain level of quality as opposed to licensing jurisdictions that are the home of rogue gambling sites such as Comoros, Costa Rica, Panama, Cyprus etc.
Gibraltar
This is one of the most popular jurisdictions for both online casinos and bookmakers. Gibraltar is a free gambling territory with many land-based casinos that has been issuing licenses to online sites ever since 1998. The regulating body that issues the licenses and makes sure that the bookmakers are up to the standards is the Gibraltar Licensing Authority. The best thing about this licensing jurisdictions is that only select bookmakers and gambling sites have a chance of receiving a license. Such companies need to offer detailed business plans and solid financial backing, otherwise no license for them.
United Kingdom
United Kingdom is the jurisdiction where all bookmakers that want to serve UK players have to go to get their license. The regulatory body that does all the licensing work is the Gambling Commission, one of the highest authorities in the world of online gambling and betting. The Gambling Commission has become a model by which other jurisdictions tend to operate. The Gambling Commission also recommends UK players to place bets at bookmakers that are licensed by other jurisdictions that appear on the Commission’s whitelist, such as Gibraltar, Malta and Curacao.
Malta
Malta is another licensing jurisdiction of the same rank as Gibraltar, where the majority of online bookmakers and casinos have their offices. It provides licenses for many bookmakers and does that according to the standards of the European Union. In fact, Malta was the first member of the EU that began offering regulation for online gambling and betting sites.
Curacao
Curacao is a Dutch Caribbean island formerly part of the Netherland Antilles, known for some of the best beaches and architecture as if you were in Amsterdam. This is because the island used to be a Dutch colony. Nevertheless, the Government of Curacao offers different kinds of gambling licenses among which sports betting licenses. It’s one of the first license providers in the online gambling industry and is respected by the Gambling Commission.
Kahnawake
Kahnawake is probably one of the least known licensing jurisdictions, but very popular for bookmakers that want to offer their services to players from the USA. It’s a Canadian Mohawk Territory, an Indian reserve in Quebec. It’s one of the fastest growing licensing jurisdictions in the world with very high standards for online bookmakers. It started providing interactive websites with licenses in 1999.
Whenever you stumble upon a bookmaker licensed in one of these 5 licensing jurisdictions, rest assured that you have found a safe, reputable and fair bookmaker. This is because of the standards that these jurisdictions impose on the sites that they have to follow if they want to be licensed there.
