Methodology

What GLI Is

A public snapshot of license data as it appears in official regulator registries. Every record reflects the most recent verification against the source registry. GLI records the data as published — it does not rate, rank, score, or recommend operators.

Data Sources

Data is sourced exclusively from publicly available regulator records. Verification is performed against the official regulator registry, and each license stores a source reference and a last-verified timestamp.

• Current source: Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) public registry.
• Jurisdiction model: licenses are recorded by country, and — where licensing is issued at the sub-national level, as in the United States — by state. GLI never surfaces “licensed in the USA”; it records the specific state license (e.g. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan).
• No enrichment: no inference, no estimation, no fuzzy matching. If data is not present in the official regulator record, it is not included.

Operator Status

Operator status reflects an operator’s presence in the regulator listing — not a judgment of quality or trustworthiness.

• REGISTERED — the operator is present as a registered entity in the regulator record.
• LISTED — the operator appears in the regulator listing.
• UNCLEAR — the operator is not found in the queried regulator registry. This is not a negative judgment; it reflects absence of data.

License Status

License status reflects the state of a specific license as recorded in the source registry.

• VERIFIED — the license was confirmed active against the official regulator record at last verification.
• SUSPENDED — the regulator record indicates the license is suspended.
• REMOVED — the license is no longer present in, or has been withdrawn from, the regulator record.
• UNCLEAR — status could not be determined from the regulator record.

Each license is also classified by category — online casino, sports betting, casino operator, supplier, platform provider, affiliate, fantasy, poker, or unknown — mirroring the categories used by the source regulators.

Deterministic Resolution

When an operator holds multiple licenses, the verification endpoints return a single license using a fixed, deterministic rule — no weighting or scoring:

1. Prefer a license with status VERIFIED.
2. Else the first license with a non-UNCLEAR status.
3. Else the first license by creation time (ascending).

The operator detail pages always display all licenses for full transparency.

Default = UNCLEAR

If an operator or brand is not found in regulator records, status returns UNCLEAR. This reflects absence of data in the queried registry — it is not an assessment of the operator.

Timestamps

Every license carries a last-verified timestamp recording when the record was most recently checked against the source registry. Regulator records may change between verification cycles; GLI cannot guarantee real-time accuracy and always links back to the official source.

Verification History

Status changes are retained as history. Each operator detail page shows the recorded sequence of license status transitions, so changes over time are visible rather than silently overwritten.

Public API

License, operator, and regulator data is exposed as structured, read-only JSON. Responses use an explicit field allowlist; internal fields are never exposed. The API returns reference data only — no rankings, recommendations, affiliate links, or editorial content.

• GET /api/v1/operators — paginated operator records
• GET /api/v1/operators/[slug] — single operator
• GET /api/v1/licenses — paginated license records
• GET /api/v1/regulators — regulator records

What GLI Does Not Do

• No rankings, scoring, or ratings
• No recommendations or endorsements
• No reviews or editorial content
• No affiliate links or calls-to-action
• No persuasive language (“best”, “trusted”)
• No treatment of declared data as legal fact
• No legal, regulatory, or compliance advice

Users must verify license information directly with the relevant regulatory authority before making any decision. See the disclaimer for full terms.

Operator

GamingLicenseIndex is published and operated by: