🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alderney Gambling Control Commission Licensed Casinos 2024

Alderney Gambling Control Commission License

Alderney is a small island located about 8 miles off the coast of France in the English Channel. It is an autonomous British Crown dependency and home to the highly respected Gambling Control Commission. The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) was established in 2000 and is responsible for the licensing and regulation of some of the biggest names in online gambling.

As a whitelisted member of the UK Gambling Commission, Alderney is authorized to advertise in the UK. The mere fact that Alderney is on the white list gives it credence as a legitimate regulator. In addition, Alderney is home to a number of big name gambling operators who have acted in good faith for over a decade.

Any casino website with an Alderney license is likely a safe place for online gamblers to go. The only unpleasant occurrence happened in 2011 with Alderney Gambling Control Commission and Full Tilt Poker the highest stakes site in the history of online poker. The commission failed to notice financial irregularities that could have prevented the collapse of Full Tilt and the temporary loss of poker players’ funds. By the way, after 15 years Full Tilt Poker disappeared for good on February 25, 2021 and all players were migrated to the PokerStars global platform.

Apart from that unpleasant episode with Full Tilt Poker, Alderney Gambling Control Commission has a pretty clean record as a eGambling regulator. Obtaining a license from the AGCC is not easy, nor is it cheap. Only financially stable online casino operators capable of offering fair gaming are granted licenses.

Gaming licensing process

Those online casinos applying for a gambling license must incorporate a company registered in Alderney and then notify their intention to obtain a license in the Alderney Gazette. The applicant must then complete the application form found on the Gambling Control Commission’s website and submit the form along with a deposit of £10,000.

Once the application and deposit have been submitted, the commission’s chief inspector will meet with the applicant to discuss the business plan, meet the applicant’s directors/executives, discuss any corporate entities associated with the business and meet with any key personnel who may require individual certifications.

Following that meeting, the Gaming Control Board will review the application and consider the face-to-face meeting in making a decision. The board will also examine the gaming site’s internal controls, gaming software and financial condition. If the license is granted, the applicant will receive written notification and may begin operating.

The Gaming Control Board will also oversee the company’s finances going forward. The gaming site must always have a cash balance in excess of the total balance of all players and the site’s assets must always exceed liabilities by 25%.

The board will also inspect the online gaming site from time to time through financial inspections and independent audits confirming that the site offers truly random and fair games. Alderney also monitors each site to ensure that it maintains acceptable terms and conditions, takes measures to prevent underage gambling and has systems in place to combat money laundering.

Licensed gambling sites must pay a flat fee of £35,000 for the first year of operation. In subsequent years, the annual fee is determined by the previous year’s “net gaming yield”. The annual fee ranges from £35,000 to £140,000, depending on how much money the gaming site brings in.

Following the Full Tilt Poker fiasco in 2011, Alderney introduced new legislation requiring gaming sites to keep players’ funds in segregated bank accounts, separate from the accounts containing the money designated for the site’s day-to-day operations.

Summary

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) is as legitimate a regulator of gambling as it gets. The gaming commission makes applicants prove their financial ability and technical expertise to host real money games to players from all over the world. Therefore this should give a strong sense of confidence to players with online casinos that have an Alderney license.