Callum Hargreaves

I'm Callum Hargreaves, and I write about gambling licensing the way I used to assess it: by reading the source documents and ignoring the marketing copy on top. Between 2014 and 2019 I worked as a licensing analyst at the UK Gambling Commission, going through operator applications, key person declarations, and the policies that sit behind them. I left to do the same job in public, for readers rather than a regulator.

On OffshoreDesk I cover sites that hold non-GB licences — mainly Curaçao, Anjouan, and the Isle of Man — because that's where most of the questions from GB players actually land. These operators aren't licensed by the UKGC and don't offer its consumer protections, so the detail matters more, not less.

Five years inside UKGC licensing, and what it taught me

Sitting on the regulator side of the desk changes how you read an operator. You learn which corporate structures are designed for transparency and which are designed for distance. You see how often a clean-looking brand sits on top of a holding company with a very different history. I bring that pattern recognition to every site I look at, even when the licence in question isn't a British one.

I also hold the ICA Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering and sit in the IMGL associate network, which keeps me in touch with lawyers and compliance officers working across the markets I cover.

Why offshore licensing is the beat I chose

GB players use offshore sites for a lot of reasons — deposit limits, GamStop, crypto, game range, or simply because an affiliate pointed them there. My job isn't to talk anyone into or out of that. It's to make the regulatory picture honest:

• Which regulator actually issued the licence, and is the number live on that regulator's own register
• Whether the licensed entity matches the company named in the site's terms
• What the AML, KYC and complaints process looks like in writing, not in the FAQ
• Whether bonus terms, withdrawal caps and dormancy clauses line up with what the operator advertises

How I verify a Curaçao, Anjouan or Isle of Man licence

For every review I open the relevant regulator register directly — not a screenshot, not a seal on the footer — and check the licence holder, status and scope. I cross-read the site's terms and conditions against that entity, flag mismatches, and note when a licence covers some products but not others.

I then read the full T&Cs and responsible gambling pages end to end. I look for the clauses players tend to get caught by: maximum win from bonus funds, inactivity fees, identity verification triggers, and the precise wording around closing accounts and self-exclusion.

What I won't do in a review

I don't accept payment to upgrade a rating. I don't quote player numbers or payout percentages I can't source. If a claim on an operator's site can't be matched to a register, a licence document, or the operator's own published terms, I say so plainly rather than soften it. Readers can decide what to do with that — but they deserve to start from facts.