How to check an online casino licence in Kenya

Take the company name, trading name, licence number and domain shown on the casino's own site and find the same line on the Gambling Regulatory Authority's list of licensed gaming companies. All four should agree. If any one does not, treat the licence claim as unconfirmed and ask the Authority on its toll-free line.

By Online Casino Kenya Editorial (prepared with AI tools under our editorial policy) · Last updated 2026-10-04

What you are checking, and why it takes four items

Section 28(1) of the Gambling Control Act, 2025 says a person shall not offer any gambling activity or service unless it is licensed under the Act. Section 67(1) then names three online gambling licences: an online bookmakers licence, an online lottery licence and an online casino licence. The check is simply whether the site in front of you belongs to a company that the regulator has licensed.

A logo or a sentence in a footer proves nothing by itself, because anyone can type one. What counts is a line in the regulator's list that agrees with the site on four points. You can use the regulator's page directly, or start from this site's table of public gaming licence holders that list a domain, which copies those lines in alphabetical order.

Step 1: collect the claim from the casino's own site

Scroll to the footer and open the terms and conditions. Under section 36(3) of the Act a holder of an online gambling licence shall display the licence in its online platform, so a licensed site has a reason to state its details plainly.

Write down four things exactly as they appear:

1. The company name, usually ending in "Limited" or "Ltd".
2. The trading name, which is the brand.
3. The licence number and the kind of licence it says it holds.
4. The domain in your browser's address bar, letter by letter.

The licence forms in the First Schedule to the Licensing Regulations, 2026 carry a licence number, a company name, a trading name, a physical address and a validity period from one date to another. If a site shows none of this, you have nothing to check, and that is already an answer.

Step 2: open the regulator's list

Open the address gra.go.ke/licensed-operators/ on the regulator's website. The page is headed "Licensed gaming companies for the trading period 2025/26". It is one long table with these columns: No., Operators Name, Trading Name, BK, PG, PL, Status and Domains.

Use your browser's find function (Ctrl+F, or "Find in page" on a phone) and search for the company name first. Brands can be spelled in more than one way, and the list contains lines where two different companies share one trading name. A company name is harder to imitate.

Step 3: compare the four items

All four items should agree with one single line. A site that matches on brand but not on company, or on company but not on domain, has not passed the check. The meaning of each column is set out in the guide to reading the GRA list of licensed operators.

Step 4: check the date of what you are reading

The list describes the 2025/26 trading period, and the regulator's page was last modified on 2026-03-19. Three rules explain why the date matters.

• Section 122 of the Act keeps licences issued under the repealed law valid only for the period of the licence, and requires the holder to apply to the Authority for a new licence when it expires.
• Regulation 30 of the Licensing Regulations, 2026 keeps such a licence in force for sixty days from the date the Regulations were published, and requires the holder to apply for the appropriate licence within that time. The Gazette supplement carrying the Regulations is dated 30 June 2026.
• The Fourth Schedule to the same Regulations sets the duration of an online gambling licence at one year, for a new licence and for a renewal.

So a line in the 2025/26 list tells you who was recorded for that period. It cannot tell you who holds a licence under the 2026 Regulations on the day you read it. Always look at the live page, and if the answer matters to you, ask the Authority.

Step 5: ask the Authority when the list does not settle it

Section 39 of the Act requires the Authority to keep a register of licences that records, among other things, the name and registration number of the licensee, the gambling activity, the date of expiry and particulars of any revocation or suspension. The same section says the register is open to the public at reasonable times and upon payment of the prescribed fee.

The published list is shorter than that register. For a question it cannot answer, the Authority's toll-free number is 0800-723-770. When the Authority suspends a licence, section 34(3) obliges it to inform the public through a notice in the Gazette and in two newspapers of nationwide circulation or any media of national coverage. Regulation 26(9) of the Licensing Regulations repeats that duty for suspension and revocation and adds the grounds.

What a failed check tells you

If no line matches, the law treats the activity as unlicensed. Section 98 makes it an offence to operate or conduct any form of gambling without a valid licence. Section 79(3) makes it an offence for a foreign based operator to provide online gambling services in Kenya without one.

For the player the practical loss is the protection that comes with a licence. The duties described in what Kenyan law requires of an online casino, such as a customer care centre in Kenya and a segregated player account, bind licensees. The complaint route in how to complain about an online casino also starts from the fact that the operator answers to the Authority.

What a passed check does not tell you

A match means the regulator recorded that company, brand and domain for the period of the list. It does not mean the company pays quickly, answers complaints well or is financially sound, and this site makes no such statement about any operator.

It also changes nothing about the games. Regulation 41(a) of the Conduct of Gambling Operations Regulations, 2026 requires an online gambling platform to have an approved domain name, and other rules cover certified random number generators. These controls are about fairness of process. Every casino game still carries a house edge, so the expected result of long play is a loss.

The word "public gaming" in the PG column has a specific meaning, covered in the short entry on what a public gaming licence is.