Are Betting Brokers Licensed? What a Licence Does and Does Not Cover
A footer line is not proof. Here is what each broker's own pages claim, what the regulator's own register shows for the same licence, and how to run the check yourself.
Yes: each of the four brokers this site covers, BetInAsia, AsianConnect, MadMarket and Sportmarket, names a licence and a regulator on its own pages. A named licence is not a confirmed one. Checked against each regulator's own public register, three of the four show a gap stated in years, not vague wording, between what the broker's footer or terms say and what the register shows; a fourth broker's domains sit on a register entry naming a different company. None of that proves wrongdoing on its own, but it means a licence line is worth checking before it is worth a deposit. A licence, even a confirmed one, was never a deposit guarantee or a complaints department. Below is what each broker states, what its register shows, and how to check one yourself.
A Footer Line Is Not Proof
A licence number sitting in small type at the bottom of a page does the same job a padlock icon does on a checkout screen: it tells you to stop reading and trust what comes next. That is backwards. A licence claim is a sentence an operator writes about itself, and the only way to know whether the sentence holds is to take it to the regulator that supposedly issued it and read that register's own page, not the broker's.
Side note: "licence" is one word doing very different amounts of work across this industry. It can describe a multi-year probity investigation with audited accounts behind it, or an online form, a company registration fee and a same-day certificate. Both get filed under the same six letters. Back to the four brokers this site actually covers.
Run that check on BetInAsia, AsianConnect, MadMarket and Sportmarket and the footers and the registers do not always agree. This site's own four-broker hub already flags the pattern in general terms; below are the actual years, broker by broker, plus a method you can run yourself on any operator this site has not covered at all. If you have not read how a betting broker works in the first place, the plain mechanics sit on their own page, and this one will not repeat them.
How to Check a Licence Yourself
This is the part a broker's own marketing page will not walk you through, because it is the part that can go against the broker. Four steps, in the order that actually saves time.
- Find the legal entity, not the trading brand.
The name on the sign-up button is rarely the name on the licence. Look for the operating company in the terms or the footer: often a name you have never seen on the homepage, sometimes registered somewhere the marketing copy never mentions.
- Search the regulator's own public register, by name and by domain.
Take that entity name, and the broker's domain, to the regulator it names (the Curaçao Gaming Control Board, the Anjouan Gaming register and the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, GSC for short, are the three that come up across this site's four brokers) and search both. A domain-only search can miss an operator trading under several brands; a name-only search can miss a domain the register ties to somebody else's licence.
- Read the status word, not just the date underneath it.
A register entry might say active, valid, or assessment in progress, and that word carries more weight than the issue year printed next to it.
- Check the licence covers the product you are about to fund.
One licence rarely covers everything a broker sells under a single login. A segregated-funds promise, for example, can cover a broker's main wallet and stop at the door of a separate direct exchange account, so read what the licence actually names before assuming it reaches the product you are opening.
Four Footers, Four Registers
Below is the part this site's hub only sketches: the years each broker states against the years its own regulator's register shows for the same licence, read directly off both pages rather than off marketing copy. Read every row as "broker states X, register shows Y", not as a verdict.
(Registers are not always tidy either: a search can end on a PDF that has not been reformatted in years, sitting two clicks deeper than it should. That does not make an entry wrong, only occasionally unpleasant to read.)
| Broker | What it states | What the register shows |
|---|---|---|
| BetInAsia | Its current footer states a Curaçao licence running since 2025. | The Curaçao register lists that same licence with a later issue date, also in 2025, and a status of assessment in progress. BetInAsia's own review reads the two claims side by side. |
| MadMarket | Its own terms cite 2023 for its Anjouan licence. | The Anjouan register lists that same licence code with an issue year of 2024. The full mismatch, code and company name included, sits on the dedicated review. |
| Sportmarket | Its footer cites 2024 for its Isle of Man licence. | The Isle of Man regulator's own public register instead shows that licence valid from 2019, several years earlier than the footer's own date. |
| AsianConnect | Its about page states that it holds a Curaçao licence. | The Anjouan register ties AsianConnect's own domains, including its main one, to a different company, KageBridge Ltd, under a separate Anjouan licence entirely. AsianConnect's own review reads the claim against the register in full. |
What a Licence Does Not Buy You
A licence is not a deposit guarantee, and none of the four brokers here calls itself one.
MadMarket's complaints route did not turn up anywhere in the pages read for this site, worth saying plainly rather than assuming its absence means there simply is none.
BetInAsia's current pages name no complaints route either; an older, archived version of its terms once pointed complaints toward "our licensing body Gaming Services Provider N.V.", but that page is old enough that it should not be read as current, and this site does not treat it as such.
Sportmarket alone names an outside GSC arbitration route after its own internal attempt; its segregation promise has a documented gap. AsianConnect's route stays internal. The full breakdown sits on the four-way comparison.
A footer states it. A register answers it.
Where the Four Brokers Sit on This
None of the above rules any of the four out on its own; it only tells you what to check before you decide.
BetInAsia names the Curaçao Gaming Control Board and, on this site's own coverage list, reaches every venue tracked. Not for you if the assessment-in-progress status above is the kind of open question you would rather not carry while your money sits with a broker.
MadMarket states an Anjouan licence and prints its exchange commission as a flat rate on its own product page, no hedging. Not for you if a jurisdiction one independent review has flagged, or an operator name that does not match its own terms, is a line you will not cross.
Sportmarket is the only one of the four naming an outside arbitration route through its own regulator. Not for you if the turnover rule sitting behind that same set of terms is more friction than you are willing to accept for that reassurance.
AsianConnect's own licence claim is the hardest of the four to square with a public register, its domains instead turning up on Anjouan's register under a company name it does not mention anywhere on its own pages. Not for you if you would rather register with a broker whose current licence you can confirm the same afternoon, on the regulator's own site, without a second search.
Weighing BetInAsia against MadMarket head to head has its own page if those two are what is left on your shortlist once the licence question is answered.
Questions people ask
Is a betting broker regulated?
Each of the four brokers this site covers names a licence and a regulator on its own pages: BetInAsia and AsianConnect both claim a Curaçao licence, MadMarket names an Anjouan licence, and Sportmarket names the Isle of Man. Naming a regulator is not the same as a confirmed, current status, as the register comparison above shows for three of the four. Check the current terms and the regulator's own register before treating any of the four as settled.
What does a broker's licence not cover?
It does not cover the odds you are offered, the depth of the market behind a price, or how fast support answers a ticket, and it is not a deposit guarantee on its own. For most of the four brokers here, the only complaint route found sits inside the broker itself rather than with an outside body.
How do I check a licence myself?
Find the legal entity behind the trading brand, usually in the terms or the footer, then search that name and the broker's domain on the regulator's own public register rather than trusting a badge image. Check that the licence actually covers the product you are about to fund, since one licence rarely covers everything sold under a single login.
Does a licence protect my deposit?
No, not on its own. None of the four brokers here describes its licence as a deposit-guarantee scheme, and for three of the four the complaint route this research found sits inside the broker rather than with an outside regulator. Sportmarket is the exception, naming an outside arbitration route through its Isle of Man regulator once its own 28-day process has run its course.
Where can I complain if something goes wrong?
It depends on the broker. AsianConnect's terms name an internal mediation step with a mediator it picks itself. MadMarket's complaints route did not turn up in the pages read for this site. BetInAsia's current pages name no complaints route, though an old, unconfirmed snapshot once named its licensing body as a contact. Sportmarket names an outside route, the Isle of Man GSC, after its own 28-day attempt. If direct access to the exchange is open to you instead of a broker at all, the direct routes are compared on their own page, and this question does not arise.