iGaming Licences Affiliates Should Recognise
MGA, Curaçao, UKGC, GGL, ADM, DGOJ, ANJ, SPA, HGC. The badge on the offer is a statement about which players the brand may take, which ads you may run, and which register you should look at before you send a click. A working field guide, not a legal opinion.
A licence on an affiliate offer is doing one of three jobs. It tells you which players the brand is allowed to take. It tells you which advertising rules land on your content. Or it is there to look expensive. Your job is to know which of those three you are looking at before you build a page around the brand.
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Licensing regimes move. Before you send paid traffic into a regulated market, read the brand's contract, look the operator up in the public register, and if the money is serious, buy an hour from someone qualified in that country. What follows is the field guide: the badges that show up on real offers, what they usually mean for an affiliate, and the check that takes five minutes.
The GEO filter sits next door, in where affiliates can send iGaming traffic. This post is the badge on the offer once the GEO is open.
The distinction that saves you a month
A point-of-supply licence (MGA, Curaçao) says the operator is licensed where it sits. It does not, by itself, let that operator take German, Italian, British or Brazilian residents. Affiliates miss this constantly. "They have an MGA" is not an answer to "may I send DE traffic".
A point-of-consumption licence (UKGC, GGL, ADM, DGOJ, ANJ, SPA, HGC) says the operator is licensed to take residents of that market. That is the badge you want when the GEO is that market. It also usually means the advertising rules of that market apply to you, because the operator is liable for what its affiliates publish.
If the GEO is regulated and the badge is only point-of-supply, stop. If the GEO is unregulated or grey, the point-of-supply badge is a quality signal, not a permission slip, and you still need the brand's allowed-GEO list in writing.
The badges, one at a time
UKGC, United Kingdom Gambling Commission. Point of consumption for Great Britain. The tightest common player-protection regime you will see on an offer, and the operator is directly accountable for affiliate advertising under the LCCP. CAP Code on the creative, no targeting under-18s, affordability and safer-gambling rules on the product. If you promote a UKGC brand into GB, expect creative pre-approval and a source list with teeth. A UKGC badge does not let the same brand take Germany.
GGL, Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder. Point of consumption for Germany, under the GlüStV. Cross-operator deposit ceiling, OASIS self-exclusion, a daytime watershed on slots and poker advertising, a public whitelist. Germany for affiliates is the full pass. Check the whitelist for the product you are promoting, not only for the operator's name.
ADM, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli. Point of consumption for Italy. The product is licensed. Advertising is the problem: the Dignity Decree still makes most gambling advertising illegal, so an Italian deal is often a deal you can hold and cannot shout about. If the manager says "just be careful on Facebook", they have not read the file.
DGOJ, Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego. Point of consumption for Spain. Advertising is boxed in by Real Decreto 958/2020: identity of the operator, responsible-gambling marks, restrictions on bonuses and on who you may target. Spain is open. It is not casual.
ANJ, Autorité Nationale des Jeux. Point of consumption for France. Licensed sport and poker have one shape; casino is a different argument. Advertising rules are strict and the operator's licence conditions reach the affiliate. Confirm the product, not only the country.
SPA, Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas. Point of consumption for Brazil, under Lei 14.790/2023, live as a federal regime since January 2025. Authorised operators sit on a public list; unauthorised sites were blocked. If you send Brazilian traffic, you send it to an SPA-authorised brand, on a .bet.br, in Portuguese, with PIX on the cashier. The CPA looks large because the licence is expensive and the rail converts. That is not a reason to send the same traffic to an offshore book.
HGC, Hellenic Gaming Commission. Point of consumption for Greece. Licensed market, local advertising rules, a real sportsbook culture that local sports already covers. Check the HGC register. A Greek-language page pointing at an unlicensed book is not a localisation. It is a problem.
MGA, Malta Gaming Authority. Point of supply. Serious, audited, widely recognised, and not a ticket into every European GEO. An MGA brand still needs the local licence to take UK, DE, IT, FR, ES, GR, BR residents. What the MGA badge is good for: a quality read on the operator, payment-processor comfort, and a player-protection baseline. What it is not: a GEO list.
Curaçao, CGA under the LOK. Point of supply, and no longer the cheap sublicence people remember. The old master/sub structure is gone. Direct CGA licences under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance have been the regime since late 2024, with a real rejection rate and a local-presence requirement phasing in. A Curaçao badge in 2026 is a statement that the operator went through that process, or that it is still wearing a dead one. Look it up on the CGA side. Do not take "Curaçao" as printed on a footer as the answer.
A table you can keep
| Badge | Kind | Typical GEO it actually opens | Affiliate-facing catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| UKGC | Consumption | Great Britain | Operator liable for your ads; CAP Code; affordability on the product |
| GGL | Consumption | Germany | Whitelist per product; watershed; LUGAS ceiling on the player |
| ADM | Consumption | Italy | Product licensed, most advertising banned |
| DGOJ | Consumption | Spain | RD 958/2020 on creative and targeting |
| ANJ | Consumption | France | Confirm the product; casino is not sport |
| SPA | Consumption | Brazil | Public authorised list; .bet.br; PIX |
| HGC | Consumption | Greece | Register check; local ad rules |
| MGA | Supply | Does not, by itself | Quality signal, not a DE/UK/IT pass |
| Curaçao CGA | Supply | Does not, by itself | Confirm it is a current CGA licence, not a retired sub |
The five-minute check, every time
- Open the public register for the GEO you want to send (GGL, UKGC, SPA, ADM, DGOJ, ANJ, HGC, CGA, MGA).
- Find the operator, not the brand nickname. Brand names move. The legal entity is what the register lists.
- Check the product. Sports betting licensed, slots not, is a common split.
- Screenshot the entry with the date.
- Compare it to the allowed-GEO list on the offer. If they disagree, the register wins.
Run this before you write the review, not after the page is indexed. How to read an iGaming offer puts the same check in the deal-reading order.
On AFFILIFY the licence does not change the wallet. Deals are still per brand and GEO, in USD, pending until the 15th. A licensed GEO often pays a higher CPA because the player cost more to acquire, not because the platform added a bonus. Price the friction. Do not assume the badge is a raise.
Frequently asked questions
Does an MGA licence mean I can send traffic from anywhere in the EU?
No. Gambling is licensed per country. An MGA licence is a point-of-supply authorisation for the operator. Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Greece and the UK each require their own consumption licence to take their residents. The MGA badge is a quality read. It is not a GEO list. Use the brand's allowed countries, then confirm against the local register.
Is Curaçao still a real licence?
Yes, but not the one from 2019. Sublicences under master licence holders ended. The Curaçao Gaming Authority now issues direct licences under the LOK. Some operators completed that process. Some did not. Look the entity up. A footer that says Curaçao is not the check.
What if the brand is licensed but not for the product I promote?
Then you are promoting an unlicensed offer for that product. A GGL sports-betting licensee is not, by that fact, a GGL slots licensee. The register lists products. Match them. This is the mistake that looks like a paperwork detail and is not.
Do I need my own affiliate licence?
In most countries where affiliates live, the licensed activity is operating the gambling business, not ranking a review. Some markets are moving the other way, and some operator licences already pull marketing partners into the operator's conditions. That is a local question. It is also why a deal's source list and creative-approval clause are not decoration. This is not legal advice; if you are the business, ask someone who is.
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