Anjouan vs Curaçao License: Which Protects Players in 2026
Neither regulator resolves individual disputes on the record. Here's how to actually verify a license number, and why the two jurisdictions aren't equally risky.
Published August 3, 2026· Updated August 22, 2026· By Evan Kowalski· Fact-checked by Abril González
Two license badges show up in the footer of almost every crypto casino: Curaçao and Anjouan. Both come with a regulator name, a license number, and a promise that someone official is watching. Neither one, it turns out, will actually step in if a casino refuses to pay you.
That’s not a reason to ignore the license badge — it’s a reason to know exactly what it does and doesn’t buy you, and how to check whether the number behind it is even real. This article puts the two jurisdictions side by side rather than covering each in isolation; see our standalone Curaçao license explainer and Anjouan legitimacy deep-dive for the full detail behind each column below.
Side by Side
| Curaçao (post-LOK) | Anjouan | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulator | Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) — a functioning government body | Anjouan Licensing Services (ALSI), operator of anjouangaming.com |
| Legal basis | National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK), in force since December 2024 | Computer Gaming Licensing Act 007 of 2005 (island-level law); current administrator (ALSI) only took over in May 2023 |
| Standing of the regulator itself | Confirmed government authority; CGA can revoke licenses under Curaçao law | Disputed — a former Comoros Attorney-General has called ALSI “an illegal entity” on the record (see below) |
| Sub-licenses | Abolished — every operator needs a direct CGA license since the LOK migration | Not applicable in the same way, but license numbers can cover multiple casino brands (see below) |
| AML/KYC requirement | Mandatory under the LOK | Not independently verified as a binding legal requirement in the same way |
| Handles individual player disputes? | No — states this directly (see quote below) | No — states this directly (see quote below) |
| How to verify a license | Official certificate lookup at cert.cga.cw | Public register at anjouangaming.com/license-register — but see the caution below about the register’s own operator |
Both Regulators Say the Same Thing About Your Dispute
If you take one fact from this article, make it this one: neither regulator will personally get your money back.
The Curaçao Gaming Authority states on its own site that it “does not handle individual complaints against gaming providers” directly. It tracks complaints and can act if a pattern suggests a licensed operator is breaking the rules, and it’s rolling out a standardized claim form — but that’s a way to flag a repeat offender to the regulator, not a personal refund mechanism.
Anjouan Gaming’s own third-party complaint policy is just as direct: “The Authority does not handle, mediate, or adjudicate player complaints.” Its stated process routes a dispute to the operator first, then to an independent third-party ADR provider if it isn’t resolved within 30 days — the Authority’s own role is limited to checking whether the operator has a functioning complaints process in place at all, not to ruling on your specific case.
Neither jurisdiction hands you a working ombudsman. If a casino stonewalls a withdrawal, your real leverage is a public paper trail — Trustpilot, AskGamblers, Reddit’s r/cryptogambling — not a support ticket to the regulator.
Where the Two Jurisdictions Actually Diverge
Given that both disclaim individual disputes, the meaningful difference isn’t “who fixes my dispute” — it’s whether a real, functioning government body stands behind the license at all.
Curaçao’s does, verifiably. Since the December 2024 LOK reform, operators apply directly to the CGA — a national regulator that can and does revoke licenses, with sub-licenses abolished entirely. You can look up a license on the CGA’s own certificate tool and get a straight answer about a real government-backed authority.
Anjouan’s is now an open question, not a settled one. The registry casinos and players actually use to check an Anjouan license — anjouangaming.com — is run by Anjouan Licensing Services (ALSI), an entity that, per an ABC News (Australia) investigation published 31 December 2025, was formed in May 2023 by registering two domains on consecutive days: one for a body calling itself the “Anjouan Gaming Control Board,” the other for selling the licenses themselves. A former Comoros Attorney-General, Azad Mzé, told ABC News that ALSI is “an illegal entity.” A Central Bank official described the operators behind these sites as scamming people online. The site itself discloses no directors, board members, or business address.
That doesn’t mean every Anjouan-licensed casino is dishonest — a casino can run cleanly while holding a license from a registry with disputed legal standing. It does mean that “checking the license number” carries a different weight on each side of this comparison: on Curaçao, you’re confirming a real regulator’s own record. On Anjouan, you’re confirming consistency with a register whose own operator has been called illegal by name.
How to Actually Check a License Number
Don’t stop at the badge in the footer — badges can be copied onto any site. Two concrete steps:
- Look the number up yourself, not just the casino’s own linked page. For Curaçao, use the CGA’s certificate lookup at cert.cga.cw directly. For Anjouan, use anjouangaming.com’s own license register, keeping in mind the caution above about that register’s operator.
- Check that the entity name matches. A license number that resolves to a different company name than the one in the casino’s own terms is a mismatch worth investigating before you deposit — it can mean a white-label arrangement (several brands legitimately sharing one license) or, in the worst case, a number borrowed from somewhere else entirely.
We ran exactly this check across our own portfolio: every Curaçao-licensed casino we review against the CGA’s own registry, and every Anjouan-licensed casino we review against anjouangaming.com’s register. One useful real example of why the second step matters: Bovada advertises an Anjouan license, but its only proof is a self-hosted certificate from a differently-named body (“Anjouan Gaming Board,” not the “Anjouan Gaming” register every other Anjouan casino we track actually uses), under a different number format, expired since 15 May 2024 with no renewal published. It doesn’t show up on the register at all — a mismatch you’d only catch by checking the registry directly instead of trusting the certificate the casino itself displays.
Bottom Line
A license badge is a floor, not a guarantee, on either side of this comparison — but it’s not the same floor. A Curaçao license since the 2024 reform means a real national regulator can revoke it and technically requires AML/KYC and responsible-gambling tooling, even though that regulator won’t personally settle your dispute. An Anjouan license means a casino paid a registry whose own operator has been publicly called an illegal entity by a former Comoros government official — a weaker backstop than Curaçao’s, on top of the same “we don’t handle individual disputes” disclaimer both sides share.
Either way, the license number is a starting point for your own check, not a substitute for one. Track record and community reputation carry more weight than the badge itself — see our full casino reviews for licensing details, trust findings, and Trust Scores across every platform we cover.