🔎 UK Gambling Operator Licence Check — GC Register

Check gambling operators against the official Gambling Commission public register (gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register). Give it business names, trading names, domain names or account numbers; get back, for each, the matching licensed operators, their account number and licence status (Active / Surrendered / Revoked / …), with a link to the official register entry — the evidence a bank, affiliate or partner needs before dealing with a gambling business.

Output is one licence_check row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one completed licence check (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.05 per completed licence check). Source: www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run 7UiMtJDK69l5uLvSz on build 0.1.4 (2026-09-17), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

input	query	found	match_count	operators
bet365	bet365	True	3	[{"name": "Hillside (Technology) Limited", "account_number": "38721",
Flutter	Flutter	True	3	[{"name": "Dale Edward Such", "account_number": "22365", "licence_stat

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 2 checked (0 unavailable, 0 empty) of 2 | licence-check billable=2 | licence-check charged=2

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string) — e.g. licence_check
• input (string/null) — e.g. bet365
• query (string/null) — e.g. bet365
• found (boolean/null) — e.g. True
• match_count (integer/null) — e.g. 3
• operators (array/null) — e.g. [{"name": "Hillside (Technology) Limited", "account_number": "38721", "licence_s
• no_operator_found_is_an_answer — null in every sample row
• unavailable_reason (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source (string/null) — e.g. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/businesses/results

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "operators": [
    "bet365",
    "Flutter"
  ]
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 2 × $0.05 licence-check = $0.12 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "operators": [
    "bet365",
    "Flutter"
  ]
}

A bounded run for checking the field shape before scheduling.

3. A full-size run

{
  "operators": [
    "bet365",
    "Flutter"
  ]
}

The same input run on a schedule; each run is billed only for what it delivers.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run 7UiMtJDK69l5uLvSz, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "licence_check",
  "input": "bet365",
  "query": "bet365",
  "found": true,
  "match_count": 3,
  "operators": [
    {
      "name": "Hillside (Technology) Limited",
      "account_number": "38721",
      "licence_statuses": [
        "Active"
      ],
      "active": true,
      "detail_url": "https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/business/detail/38721"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC",
      "account_number": "55149",
      "licence_statuses": [
        "Active"
      ],
      "active": true,
      "detail_url": "https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/business/detail/55149"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hillside (UK Sports) ENC",
      "account_number": "55148",
      "licence_statuses": [
        "Active"
      ],
      "active": true,
      "detail_url": "https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/business/detail/55148"
    }
  ],
  "no_operator_found_is_an_answer": null,
  "unavailable_reason": null,
  "source": "https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-register/businesses/results"
}

🔧 How it works

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: RATE_PER_SEC=1.5.

Charging. Each completed licence check is charged at the moment it is pushed (licence-check); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

What is and is not a check

A completed check is one query the register resolved — matching operators found (with their licence status) or a provably empty search ("no operator found"). Both are charged. An empty query or a register outage is not a check and is not charged; those rows appear in the "issues" view. A run that completes no check fails loud and charges nothing.

Source & pacing

The Gambling Commission public register, read anonymously (no key). The actor paces at 1.5 requests/second with a contact User-Agent and bounds a run to 50 operators (up to 10 detail pages per query).

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Completed licence check (licence-check)	$0.05	$0.04	$0.04	$0.03

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 2 completed licence checks: $0.02 start + 2 × $0.05 = $0.12
• 25 completed licence checks: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.05 = $1.27
• 100 completed licence checks: $0.02 start + 100 × $0.05 = $5.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 1024 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 2 checked (0 unavailable, 0 empty) of 2 | licence-check billable=2 | licence-check charged=2.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other company registry checks actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (RATE_PER_SEC=1.5); there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Fewer rows than expected → the source had fewer items in scope → widen the input.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

🔗 Related Actors

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• UK Gazette Insolvency Notice Watch — Insolvency notices published in The Gazette — the UK's official public record: notice code, category, the subject named in the notice, publication ti…
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• 🏢 About NexGenData — NexGen Watch is NexGenData's fleet of 256 public monitoring and lookup actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

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