How to check MGA licence status: seal, register and red flags

Q: Can one company run several casinos on the same licence?

Yes. The Malta Gaming Authority’s MGA register lists, for example, eight web addresses under Elvel Limited's licence. The exact domain—the website address—you play on is therefore the one to check against the register.

The seal, the register and the licence number: how to see whether a licence is genuine and covers the very site you play on.

Written byNiklas Ekroth

Fact-checked byPatrik LindblomLast reviewed 18 October 202615 sources, of which 14 primary7 min read

Short answer

To check MGA licence status, click the MGA seal at the foot of the casino's home page. It should open a page on authorisation.mga.org.mt that shows the company, the licence number, the status and the web addresses the licence covers (MGA seal page¹). If your domain is not listed, or the status is not “Licensed”, the licence does not cover that site.

At a glance

The seal: casinos with a B2C licence must show an MGA identification tool, such as a dynamic seal, on their home page (Player Protection Directive, art. 5²).
The right address: the seal page should start with https://authorisation.mga.org.mt (MGA seal page¹).
False references: the MGA's list of web addresses with no connection to the authority held 315 addresses on 18 October 2026 (MGA³).
Swedish licence: shown in Spelinspektionen's licence register⁴.

Contents

Where do you find the licence number?
How do you check a licence in the MGA register?
Does the year in the number show when the licence was granted?
How do you check whether a casino has a Swedish licence?
How do you spot a borrowed or fake MGA licence?
Common questions
Sources

Where do you find the licence number?

You can identify an online casino’s licensee—the company holding its Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) licence—on its home page. Its terms must give the licensee’s registered name and address and refer to the MGA licence (Player Protection Directive, articles 4 and 6²).

Licence numbers take the form MGA/B2C/220/2012 or MGA/B2B/779/2020; recognition notices use RN/229/2021 (MGA seal page¹). The number’s format says nothing about whether the licence is valid today; only the register shows that.

The licence types are explained in what the MGA licence covers, and a shorter version of this check is on the front page of our MGA casino guide.

How do you check a licence in the MGA register?

The check in the MGA register, step by step

Find the seal. Casinos with a B2C licence must show the MGA seal or a similar tool on the home page of all their websites (Player Protection Directive, art. 5(1)(a)(i)²).
Click it and check the address. The page should start with https://authorisation.mga.org.mt. If it does not, the MGA asks you to report the misuse.
Read “Licensee Information”. It shows the company's name, address and “Status Of Licence”. The name should match the casino's footer and terms.
Read the “Licenses” table. Each licence has a number, a type and a status, such as “Licensed” or “Surrendered”. A casino needs a B2C – Gaming Service Licence.
Read “Website Urls”. Your domain should be listed. “ADRs” shows the company's dispute resolution body.
No seal? Search the MGA's Licensee Register by company name, licence status, web address or gaming service (MGA⁶). Recognition notices have their own register, searchable by company name or RN number (MGA Recognition Notice Register⁷).

Source: MGA seal page, read 18 October 2026¹

The MGA seal page¹ shows you the licensee’s name, address and status; a table with licence number, licence type and status; approved game types and suppliers; the company’s ADR (alternative dispute resolution) entity; and covered web addresses.

The MGA Licensee Register⁵ embeds the register and has a separate URL Checker for web addresses. If the company has received a published enforcement measure, it appears in our log of MGA enforcement decisions (in Swedish).

Does the year in the number show when the licence was granted?

Not always: the MGA publishes no official explanation of what the parts of a licence number mean.

Elvel Limited holds licence MGA/B2C/1072/2024, marked “Licensed” in the MGA register⁸, which shows no issue date. The company’s terms give 23 July 2025 as the issue date. You can read more about the company in our profile of Elvel Limited (in Swedish).

Compare the register details with the terms, rather than relying only on the year in the number.

How do you check whether a casino has a Swedish licence?

A Swedish licence and an MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) licence are different permits. Under the Swedish Gambling Act (spellagen), gambling provided in Sweden requires a licence (spellagen, ch. 3 s. 3⁹).

Spelpaus.se¹⁰, Sweden’s national self-exclusion register, only covers companies with a Swedish licence.

You can find rule-by-rule differences in MGA vs svensk licens. What playing at a casino utan svensk licens—Swedish for “casino without a Swedish licence”—means is explained on its own page.

The check in Spelinspektionen's register

Open the register. Spelinspektionen's licence register⁴ lists every operator with a valid licence or permit in Sweden. Spelinspektionen is the Swedish Gambling Authority.
Look up the web address. For operators with an online or betting licence, the register also shows the web addresses of their gambling sites.
Download the list. The operators can be downloaded as an Excel file, which you can search by company name or domain.

Source: Spelinspektionen, read 18 October 2026⁴

How do you spot a borrowed or fake MGA licence?

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) keeps a public list of web addresses falsely referring to it or its licence: on 18 October 2026, it held 315 addresses, 49 with a listing date in 2026 (MGA list of unauthorised URLs³).

On 16 July 2026, the MGA reported a pattern of websites posing as MGA-licensed operators. It states that it has no connection with them and directs you to its register to check licence status (MGA¹¹).

Under article 51 of the Gaming Act¹², no one may give the impression that a business is MGA-approved without the MGA’s written consent.

From this check, we summarise six signs—not an MGA list: the seal is an image without a link; its link leads somewhere other than authorisation.mga.org.mt; the domain is missing under “Website Urls”; the footer’s company name differs from the register; the status is not “Licensed”; or the company holds only a B2B licence, meaning a licence to supply other businesses.

Common questions

What does “Surrendered” mean in the MGA register?

You can see, for example, “Licensed” or “Surrendered” in the status field on the MGA seal page¹.

“Surrendered” means the licence has been handed back. The MGA Annual Report 2025¹³ records that 28 licences were surrendered in 2025.

Can one company run several casinos on the same licence?

Yes. The Malta Gaming Authority’s MGA register⁸ lists, for example, eight web addresses under Elvel Limited's licence.

The exact domain—the website address—you play on is therefore the one to check against the register.

Where can I find the MGA's decisions on cancelled licences?

You can find the authority’s published enforcement measures by year, from 2013, in the MGA Enforcement Register¹⁴. Licence suspensions and cancellations must always be made public under S.L. 583.06, regulation 8¹⁵.

We have collected the decisions from 2024 to 2026 in our log of MGA enforcement decisions (in Swedish).

What we do not know

The MGA's Licensee Register is a web application whose fields we have not been able to read automatically, so the search is described from the MGA's own description of it.

How we made this page

On 18 October 2026 we read the MGA's seal page, its registers and its list of unauthorised URLs, the Player Protection Directive and Spelinspektionen's licence register. The red flags are our own summary of what the register shows. Niklas Ekroth wrote the page and Patrik Lindblom checked every fact on 18 October 2026.

Sources

RegisterDynamic Seal Of Authorisation (authorisation.mga.org.mt), exempelsida – authorisation.mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
LawDirective 2 of 2018 – Player Protection Directive (V3 – January 2023) – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
RegisterUnauthorised URLs - Malta Gaming Authority – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
RegisterLicensregister – spelinspektionen.se (read 18 October 2026)
AuthorityLicensee Register - Malta Gaming Authority – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
AuthorityHome - Malta Gaming Authority – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
RegisterRecognition Notice Register - Malta Gaming Authority – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
RegisterDynamic Seal Of Authorisation – Malta Gaming Authority – authorisation.mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
LawSpellag (2018:1138) | Sveriges riksdag – riksdagen.se (read 18 October 2026)
AuthoritySå här fungerar det – spelpaus.se (read 18 October 2026)
AuthorityThe MGA publishes notice on websites impersonating licensed operators (16 July 2026) – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
LawGaming Act, Chapter 583 of the Laws of Malta (legislation.mt) – legislation.mt (read 18 October 2026)
ReportMalta Gaming Authority Annual Report 2025 – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
RegisterEnforcement Register - Malta Gaming Authority – mga.org.mt (read 18 October 2026)
LawGaming Compliance and Enforcement Regulations, S.L. 583.06 (legislation.mt) – legislation.mt (read 18 October 2026)

Change log

18 October 2026New guide.

Spotted an error? Write to info@malta-casino.se and we will correct it and log the change.

Niklas Ekroth, editor-in-chief. Has worked with digital media and the Nordic gambling market since 2015 and writes about the Malta Gaming Authority, licences and players' rights. Every page is fact-checked by Patrik Lindblom before it is published.

About Niklas · How we work (Swedish)