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A brand is not the licensed entity: from the name on the site to the company on the register

The name on a sportsbook's site is a brand. The licence is held by a company, and which company can change with the activity, the year and the territory. This guide follows six names from the site to the register.

Published 7 min read

A register lists companies, and names hang off them

On the Gambling Commission's register, each entry is a business with an account number, which the register calls the unique reference number of the business [1]. The business declares its trading names and domain names to the Commission, and the Commission says it cannot guarantee the accuracy of information provided by third parties [1].

You can search by business name, trading name, domain name or account number [1]. That lets you start from a brand or a domain. The licence belongs to the business the name sits under, and a name can sit under more than one.

Six names and the companies behind them in Great Britain

The table follows six names through the Commission's register, read on 9 October 2026. Account numbers are the register's own. The rows show different patterns.

Six names and what the Gambling Commission's register shows for them
Name on the siteWhat the register shows
bet365Three companies carry the trading name bet365. Hillside (UK Sports) ENC (account 55148) is licensed for remote real-event betting, virtual-event betting and pool betting. Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC (55149) is licensed for remote casino. Hillside (Technology) Limited (38721) is licensed for remote gambling software. The domain bet365.com is listed on the first two [2] [3] [4]
BetfairThe trading name betfair is on five records: TSE Malta LP (39561, betting intermediary), PPB Counterparty Services Limited (39439, general betting), PPB Entertainment Limited (39426, bingo and casino), PPB Games Limited (39411, casino and pool betting) and Betfair Casino Limited (39435, casino). Betfair Limited (2062) holds a software licence and has no trading names recorded [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Paddy PowerThree of the companies that carry betfair also carry the trading name paddy power, so they appear under both names: PPB Counterparty Services Limited (39439), PPB Entertainment Limited (39426) and PPB Games Limited (39411). The register shows paddy power on six records, not three: Power Leisure Bookmakers Limited (1034, 348 premises) and PPB GE Limited (52819) carry it as an active name, and Paddy Power Holdings Limited (38939, licence surrendered 21 October 2024) lists it as inactive [6] [7] [8] [11] [12] [13]
LadbrokesLC International Limited (54743), with a Gibraltar head office, is licensed for six remote activities, among them betting intermediary, bingo, casino and pool betting. It lists 14 active trading names, among them ladbrokes, coral, bwin and gala, and two inactive ones. One company carries many names. The trading names ladbrokes and coral are also on Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited (1611), which lists 2,680 premises, so each name sits on two records [14] [15]
William HillTwo companies, two trading names. William Hill Organization Limited (2752) holds non-remote and remote licences, lists the trading name william hill and 1,251 premises, and has no domain recorded. WHG (International) Limited (39225), with a Gibraltar address, holds a remote licence, lists the trading name william hill online and the domain www.williamhill.com [16] [17]
BetwayBetway Limited (39372), with a Malta head office, is licensed for remote casino, real-event betting and virtual-event betting. It lists the active trading names betway, hippodrome online, jackpot city and spin casino, one inactive name, and 12 domain names [18]

Summaries of the register's entries, trading-name and domain-name tabs, read on 9 October 2026.

A brand can sit on many companies, as Betfair does. A company can carry many brands, as LC International and PPB Counterparty Services do. And the company you find depends on the activity: bet365's betting, casino and software licences are on three companies.

The fields the register lists tie a licence to a business, its trading names and its domains [1]. They do not say which of a brand's companies provides a particular product on the site. If that matters to you, ask the site.

The company behind a name changes over time

In a reply to a freedom of information request dated 11 December 2024, the Commission named three licensed companies in the bet365 group that used the domain bet365.com before October 2019. Hillside (New Media) Limited surrendered its licences in 2015. Hillside (Gibraltar) Limited and Hillside (UK Sports) LP surrendered theirs in 2020 [19].

The reply says a surrendered licence is shown as surrendered on the register and removed after three years [19]. So an older article that names a company may name one the register no longer shows. Check the date of anything that names a licensee.

The same name in another territory

Names from the table above as other regulators list them
Territory and nameWhat the list shows
Ontario: BetwayiGaming Ontario's directory, accurate as of 1 September 2026, lists the site Play Betway under Cadway Limited. It lists Play Jackpot City and Play Spin Casino under a different operator, Cadtree Limited. In Great Britain those two names and betway sit on one record, Betway Limited [20] [18]
Ontario: bet365The directory lists Play Bet365 under Hillside (International Sports) ENC, a different company from the three that carry the name on the Commission's register [20] [2]
Gibraltar: bet365The Gambling Division's list of licence holders names Hillside (Gibraltar) Limited, with Bet365 Group in brackets, among its B2C remote gambling operators [21]
Gibraltar: William HillThe same list names WHG (International) Limited, the name on Commission account 39225 [21] [17]

Read on 9 October 2026. Group labels on the Gibraltar list are the Gibraltar Division's.

Betway shows the split most clearly. In Great Britain the register puts betway, jackpot city and spin casino on one company. Ontario's directory puts them under two operators. We do not say how Cadway Limited, Cadtree Limited and Betway Limited are related, because the pages we read do not.

A shared company name across two registers suggests a link. It is not one licence. Each regulator licenses for its own territory, so read each entry on its own.

Registers present names differently

What five regulators' registers list, as we read them
RegisterWhat an entry gives
Gambling CommissionA business with its licences, trading names, domain names, premises and regulatory actions. Search by business name, trading name, domain name or account number [1]
iGaming OntarioOperators contracted by iGaming Ontario, each with its gaming sites and whether they offer casino or sports betting. 49 operators and 84 sites at 1 September 2026 [20]
Gibraltar Gambling DivisionLicence holders by company, some with a group in brackets, each with licence types. We found no date on the page [21]
Isle of Man Gambling Supervision CommissionCompany profiles with licence status, valid-from and valid-to dates, licence type and, where the holder is offering services to the public, its website domain. Last updated 2 October 2026 [22]
Malta Gaming AuthorityThe Authority says you can search by licensee name, authorisation status, URL or gaming service [23]. The register's contents did not load as text for us, so we say nothing about what an entry shows

Read on 9 October 2026.

From the name on the site to the company

  1. Find the company the site names. Look in the terms and the page footer for a company name and a licence or account number. Write down exactly what it says, and which regulator it names.
  2. Search that regulator's register twice. Search by the company name and by the domain you are on. The Commission's guidance, last updated 23 August 2021, says to check that the business holds one of its licences, whether you can see its address, website domain names, trading names and current licence status, and whether the licence details, including activities and domains, match the public register [24].
  3. Open the entry and compare. Check the activities, the status, and that the brand and the domain you are using appear on that entry.
  4. If the brand sits on a different company's entry, you have found two companies. Ask the site in writing which one holds the licence for the service you use, and keep the reply.
  5. Do it for each territory. A company on one register tells you nothing about another. Our guide to jurisdiction and availability explains why.
  6. Note the register's date. Check when it was last updated, and remember that a surrendered licence can drop off the Commission's register after three years [19].

Sources

The numbers in the text point to these pages. Each was opened on the date shown.

  1. Gambling Commission, Register of gambling businesses. Read 9 October 2026.
  2. Gambling Commission, Public register: Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, account 55148. Read 9 October 2026.
  3. Gambling Commission, Public register: Hillside (UK Gaming) ENC, account 55149. Read 9 October 2026.
  4. Gambling Commission, Public register: Hillside (Technology) Limited, account 38721. Read 9 October 2026.
  5. Gambling Commission, Public register: TSE Malta LP, account 39561. Read 9 October 2026.
  6. Gambling Commission, Public register: PPB Counterparty Services Limited, account 39439. Read 9 October 2026.
  7. Gambling Commission, Public register: PPB Entertainment Limited, account 39426. Read 9 October 2026.
  8. Gambling Commission, Public register: PPB Games Limited, account 39411. Read 9 October 2026.
  9. Gambling Commission, Public register: Betfair Casino Limited, account 39435. Read 9 October 2026.
  10. Gambling Commission, Public register: Betfair Limited, account 2062. Read 9 October 2026.
  11. Gambling Commission, Public register: Power Leisure Bookmakers Limited, account 1034. Read 9 October 2026.
  12. Gambling Commission, Public register: PPB GE Limited, account 52819. Read 9 October 2026.
  13. Gambling Commission, Public register: Paddy Power Holdings Limited, account 38939. Read 9 October 2026.
  14. Gambling Commission, Public register: LC International Limited, account 54743. Read 9 October 2026.
  15. Gambling Commission, Public register: Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited, account 1611. Read 9 October 2026.
  16. Gambling Commission, Public register: William Hill Organization Limited, account 2752. Read 9 October 2026.
  17. Gambling Commission, Public register: WHG (International) Limited, account 39225. Read 9 October 2026.
  18. Gambling Commission, Public register: Betway Limited, account 39372. Read 9 October 2026.
  19. Gambling Commission, Freedom of information: licensed entity for bet365. Read 9 October 2026.
  20. iGaming Ontario, What sites are regulated: operator directory. Read 9 October 2026.
  21. Gibraltar Gambling Division, Register of licence holders. Read 9 October 2026.
  22. Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission, Online gambling licensee register. Read 9 October 2026.
  23. Malta Gaming Authority, Licensee hub: Licensee Register. Read 9 October 2026.
  24. Gambling Commission, What to look at before you gamble. Read 9 October 2026.

About this guide

Published by Avenmark Media. A separate pass re-opened every source above and checked each claim against it, on . A second, independent check compared a sample of the claims with the same sources. How we research and correct our pages.

Found a mistake? Email [email protected]. We correct the page, change its updated date and say what changed.

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