How to Check If a UK Casino Is Still Active

What Does “Active Casino” Actually Mean?

A casino can look active in Google while no longer being active in the way an old review describes it.

Search results, cached pages and affiliate reviews can survive long after a casino closes, changes domain or moves to another operator.

For A2Z, “current” therefore means more than finding an old page with the brand name on it.

We want to know whether the current website is operating, who is legally responsible for it now and how the domain appears in the UK Gambling Commission record.

1. Check the Live Website

Start with the casino itself.

Open the current domain directly and see what actually happens.

Useful outcomes include:

• the casino loads normally
• the domain redirects to another casino or group site
• a closure notice is displayed
• the domain is parked or for sale
• the site exists but no longer accepts UK customers
• the domain no longer resolves

A redirect deserves particular attention.

If an old casino automatically sends visitors to another brand, that can tell you something useful about what happened to the traffic or customer journey. It does not, by itself, prove that the two brands have the same operator or that the old casino should still be counted as active.

2. Check the Licensing Statement

If the casino is operating in Great Britain, inspect the licensing information shown on the live site.

UKGC guidance says licensed gambling websites should display their licensed status and link to the Public Register.

A typical statement identifies:

• the legal gambling business
• the Gambling Commission account number
• the licensed status of the operator

Record the company and account number exactly as shown.

This is more useful than assuming that the company named in a five-year-old review is still responsible for the casino today.

3. Search the UKGC Public Register

The Public Register can currently be searched by:

• business name
• trading name
• domain name
• account number

As of 31 October 2026, the register contains 2,634 gambling-business records.

Once you find the relevant business, check the licence status as well as the domain record.

Licence status can include:

• Active
• Expired
• Forfeited
• Lapsed
• Pending
• Revoked
• Surrendered
• Suspended

An Active operator record is different from an Active domain. You need to look at both layers.

4. Read the Domain Status Carefully

The UKGC register currently uses three domain classifications:

Active

The operator has told the Commission that the domain is actively being used to offer gambling facilities.

Inactive

The domain is not currently in use, or was declared but never started being used.

White label

The domain is operated by the licensed operator in partnership with another organisation or operator.

These labels are much more useful than simply counting every domain underneath an operator.

For example, White Hat Gaming's current UKGC record contains Active, Inactive and White label domains at the same time. Treating every one of those domains as the same type of current sister site would flatten three different relationships into one list.

That is why A2Z keeps domain status alongside the operator relationship rather than storing only the operator name.

5. Check Redirects and Domain Changes

A casino does not always disappear cleanly.

An old domain may:

• 301 redirect to a new domain for the same brand
• redirect to another casino
• redirect to an operator landing page
• stop resolving entirely

The first case may simply be a domain migration.

The second or third requires more research. Do not automatically describe the destination as the old casino's new operator or sister site until the current licensing information supports it.

This is also why search-engine results are useful evidence but should not replace checking the destination that the domain serves now.

Closed, Inactive and Historical Are Not the Same

These labels answer different questions.

A closed brand is a consumer-facing casino that is no longer operating in its previous form.

An Inactive UKGC domain means that particular domain is not currently being used under that operator record.

A historical relationship describes something that genuinely existed before — for example, a casino previously operating under another licence holder.

One brand can have all three pieces of history.

For example, the old domain can become inactive while the brand moves elsewhere, or the brand itself can close while the previous operator relationship remains useful historical information.

The UKGC also keeps businesses on the Public Register for three years after their licence ends, so appearing somewhere in historical register data does not by itself establish that a casino is currently operating.

How A2Z Classifies Casino Status

For Brand and Finder work, a useful check is:

1. Current URL
   Does the expected casino domain load, redirect or fail?
2. Live licensing statement
   Which legal operator and UKGC account number are displayed now?
3. UKGC licence status
   Is the operator's licence currently Active?
4. UKGC domain status
   Is the exact domain Active, Inactive or White label?
5. Brand status
   Is this genuinely a current UK-facing casino, or should it be labelled inactive, closed or historical?
6. Relationship update
   If the operator changed, update the current network while preserving the old relationship as history where useful.

That is also the reason a Finder database needs status fields rather than a simple yes/no list of casino names.

For operator changes, see What Happens When a Casino Changes Operator or Licence? .

For older network relationships, see Why Casino Sister-Site Lists Become Outdated .