Is an Anjouan Casino Licence a Red Flag?
An Anjouan gaming licence is not automatically a scam signal, but it is a genuinely weaker licence than Malta, Curaçao’s reformed CGA/LOK regime, or Kahnawà:ke — and the honest answer to “which countries recognise it” is: the regulator itself does not publish one. That gap, not the licence type alone, is what turns a routine offshore authorisation into a real red flag.
This guide assumes you already have the basics of what an Anjouan licence covers — see our Anjouan Gaming Licence Explained guide for what it allows, its complaints process, and the countries it commonly excludes. This page focuses specifically on the two questions that guide doesn’t answer: how to read “recognised/red flag” language, and what to actually check before you trust an Anjouan-licensed site with your money.
What “Anjouan-licensed” actually means
Anjouan Gaming describes itself as “the designated regulatory authority for internet gaming licensing under the laws of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of the Comoros.” It issues B2C and B2B internet gaming licences and runs a public register at anjouangaming.com where you can search a licence holder’s name, licence number, and current status (Active, Suspended, Revoked or Expired). That register is the single most useful thing on the whole site for a player — more useful than the marketing language around the licence.
Why “which countries recognise this licence” has no clean answer
Search demand around this licence keeps asking which countries “accept” or “recognise” it. There is no single published list — not from Anjouan Gaming, and not from any national regulator naming Anjouan as an accepted foreign licence. Anjouan Gaming’s own site states licences are “recognised and respected by industry stakeholders worldwide,” which is a statement about industry acceptance (payment processors, game suppliers willing to work with Anjouan-licensed brands), not about any government formally recognising the licence as satisfying its own domestic requirements. Those are different things, and conflating them is the single most common misreading of this licence type.
Our main Anjouan guide lists the markets Anjouan-licensed operators commonly exclude by their own terms (the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and similar regimes) — that is a restriction list, built from what operators choose to write into their own terms, not a recognition list built from any regulator accepting the licence.
The practical gap versus a stronger licence
The reason this licence type draws more scrutiny is specific, not vague. Regulators like Malta’s MGA require licensees to keep player funds segregated from operating funds under statute (see our guide to player fund segregation), publish a formal alternative dispute resolution (ADR) route for unresolved complaints, and run ongoing supervisory checks. Anjouan Gaming’s public materials describe licensing and a public register, but do not publish an equivalent statutory fund-segregation requirement or a named independent ADR body the way Malta, and to a lesser extent Curaçao’s post-2026 CGA/LOK framework, do. That is the real, checkable gap behind the “red flag” framing — not the jurisdiction’s name by itself.
Red flags that matter more than the licence type
- No licence number displayed, or a number that doesn’t return a match on the Anjouan Gaming public register.
- A “recognised worldwide” claim used as a substitute for details — legitimate operators link directly to their register entry rather than relying on the phrase alone.
- A request to pay a fee to “unlock” verification or a withdrawal. This is a well-documented scam pattern independent of licence type: no licensed casino, on any licence, ever requires a payment to complete identity verification. If you’re asked for this, stop and see our guide on checking a casino’s KYC policy for how to tell a real verification request from a stalling tactic.
- No independent complaints route named anywhere in the terms. If a dispute can only be escalated back to the operator itself, there is no external pressure forcing a resolution.
Offshore licences and emerging markets
Search interest in this topic includes players in markets — Kenya among them — where domestic gambling regulation has been tightening. Kenya’s licensing authority transitioned from the Betting Control and Licensing Board to a new Gambling Regulatory Authority under the Gambling Control Act, 2025, and industry legal commentary describes a clear policy direction toward requiring visible, accountable local licensing rather than accepting offshore-only authorisations for operators actively targeting the domestic market. We have not found a specific enforcement action naming Anjouan by name, so treat that as the general direction of travel rather than a settled legal fact about any one operator — the practical takeaway for a player is the same either way: an offshore licence with no local recognition does not give you a local regulator to complain to if something goes wrong.
How to verify a specific operator before you deposit
- Find the exact licensed company name and licence number in the casino’s footer or terms.
- Search that name and number on Anjouan Gaming’s public register and confirm the status reads “Active.”
- Check the terms and conditions for a named complaints or dispute-resolution route, not just an internal support email.
- Cross-reference against our broader guide on checking any online casino’s licence if the brand also claims a second licence elsewhere.
FAQ
Is an Anjouan casino licence a red flag?
Not automatically — Anjouan Gaming runs a genuine public register you can check. It becomes a red flag when it’s combined with other gaps: no verifiable licence number, no named independent complaints route, or a “recognised worldwide” claim used in place of specifics. Judge the operator’s actual transparency, not just the licence’s name.
Which countries recognise an Anjouan gaming licence?
There is no published list. Anjouan Gaming’s own site describes the licence as “recognised and respected by industry stakeholders worldwide,” which refers to industry acceptance, not any government formally recognising the licence as satisfying its own domestic gambling law. No national regulator lists Anjouan as an accepted foreign licence.
Is an Anjouan gaming licence secure?
It provides a real, checkable public register and licence-status lookup, but it does not publish the same statutory fund-segregation requirement or named independent ADR body that stronger licences like Malta’s require. Treat it as a lighter-touch licence and rely on the operator’s own transparency and your own account behaviour (small first deposits, testing a withdrawal early) rather than the licence name alone. Check what documents any casino should be asking for, regardless of licence, in our KYC verification guide.
Is an Anjouan-licensed casino a legal risk in Kenya or similar markets?
Kenya has been moving toward requiring visible, locally accountable licensing rather than accepting offshore-only authorisations, following the Gambling Control Act, 2025 and the transition to the new Gambling Regulatory Authority. That’s a regulatory direction, not a specific ruling against any named operator — but it means an Anjouan-only licence gives you no local regulator to escalate a complaint to if a Kenya-facing site holds only that licence.
Sources
- Anjouan Gaming — official regulatory authority page and public licence register
- Malta Gaming Authority — how player funds are protected (for the fund-segregation comparison)
- Gambling Control Act, 2025 (Kenya) and the BCLB-to-GRA regulatory transition — reported by Kenyan gambling-law commentary (betlawkenya.com, gamblingkenya.com); general policy direction, not a primary government citation for any single-operator claim
- Last reviewed: August 2026. General information, not legal advice. Always verify a specific operator’s current licence status on the regulator’s own register before depositing.