Comoros Calls Anjouan Gambling Licences Illegal and Asks Britain for Help, the Guardian Reports

The Comoros government says the licences sold in Anjouan's name have no legal basis, that British citizens have been identified, and that it has asked the UK for help. The Guardian links the licensing service to a London company, which denies selling gaming licences.

• The Comoros government has asked the UK and its law enforcement bodies for help over an unauthorised licensing regime run in Anjouan's name, and says "British citizens have been identified", the Guardian reported on 19 October
• A Central Bank of the Comoros spokesperson told the newspaper the regime amounts to "illegal activities" by people "abusively using the name of the Comoros Islands", and that the government is preparing judicial action locally
• The newspaper says ACS Global Custodian Ltd, a London company owned by members of the Sorsky family, is behind the Anjouan Corporate Services website; Harold Sorsky said ACS has not provided gaming licences since 2023
• The central bank named the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority and Anjouan Corporate Services as "fictitious structures" in a June 2022 communiqué on banking licences, republished in December 2025
• Anjouan Gaming's register now lists nearly 1,500 licence holders, the Guardian says, as offshore casinos leave Curaçao, whose regulator's files leaked last month

The Comoros Says the Licences Use Its Name Without Authority

The name of Anjouan, known locally as Nzwani and one of the islands of the Union of Comoros, has been co-opted by a small group of mostly British businessmen selling unofficial "licences" for banking, cryptocurrency trading and, it appears, gambling, from a London suburb, the Guardian's Rob Davies reported on 19 October.

The Comoros government told the Guardian that "British citizens have been identified" in relation to an unauthorised licensing regime, and that "international cooperation efforts are under way, both in terms of financial intelligence and police collaboration", including a direct request to the UK government and its law enforcement bodies. A spokesperson for the Central Bank of the Comoros said the regime constituted "illegal activities" by those "abusively using the name of the Comoros Islands to give themselves apparent legitimacy", a "serious concern" for its anti-money laundering efforts, and said the government is preparing judicial action locally. The Treasury declined to comment.

The central bank's position is not new. In a communiqué signed by Governor Younoussa Imani on 15 June 2022, the Banque Centrale des Comores warned the public about "fictitious structures" claiming to license banks and financial institutions in the Comoros, naming the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority and Anjouan Corporate Services among them. It said such licensing is its exclusive remit and that it had referred them to prosecutors in Moroni, Mutsamudu and Mohéli. The finance ministry republished it on 10 December 2025. That communiqué concerns banking and financial licences. A second one, signed by the governor on 8 December 2025, goes further: it names the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority and Anjouan Corporate Services again, says they have no legal authority to issue licences in the Comoros, and states that no licence has been issued for online gambling and sports betting, listing "Online Betting, Gaming, Gambling Licenses" by name. Any claim to operate under a Comorian approval not issued by the central bank is fraudulent, it says.

A London Company, and Its Denial

Anjouan Gaming, which licenses online casinos, says on its website that its governing authority is the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority, whose own website says it issues banking, gaming, brokerage, crypto and insurance licences on behalf of the Anjouan government. According to the Guardian, the authority says casinos "must submit" their applications to Anjouan Corporate Services, which offers "expert guidance" for £19,000 and names no one behind it.

The Guardian reports that ACS Global Custodian Ltd, the UK company behind the Anjouan Corporate Services website, is based in the London headquarters of Sherm Group, a Finchley family property business, and that four members of the Sorsky family have owned stakes in it. Companies House records show it was incorporated in 2017 as Global Custodian Ltd and renamed in November 2025. Its accounts to 31 October 2025 show cash at bank of £614,827, up from £13,130, and net assets of £590,618; no profit and loss account was filed, so the source of the money is not disclosed. The Guardian says the rise coincided with a rush of casinos seeking Anjouan licences.

Harold Sorsky told the Guardian it was "advancing a narrative that is entirely untrue and unsupported by the facts". "ACS Global Custodian Ltd does not sell, issue, or otherwise provide gaming licences and has not done so since we took over the company in 2023," he said, adding that references to ACS supporting gaming applications predated the delegation of that function to another provider. Apart from having the same directors, he said, Sherm Group has no affiliation with ACS.

What the Licensees Look Like

Nearly 1,500 licence holders sit on Anjouan Gaming's public register, the Guardian says, up from more than 1,300 counted by SBC News in June, and the register names only companies, often in Panama, Belize and Costa Rica. The best known is BC.Game, which has sponsored Leicester City's shirts and featured in the Guardian's Casino Secrets reporting last month. Several licensees are promoted as "not on GamStop", and the newspaper says it signed up with one, SlotsCharm, from Britain and placed bets, after which the casino contacted it more than 100 times offering incentives to play again. A SlotsCharm spokesperson said the site was regulated by "our internal rules".

Anjouan Gaming said in a LinkedIn statement on 10 June that its licence "is not, and has never been presented as, a universal authorisation to operate in every country in the world", according to SBC News, and that licensees remain responsible for lawful conduct in their chosen markets. Alun Bowden of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming told the Guardian a licence offers "a degree of reassurance" that makes banks and payment providers more comfortable. An industry source at iGB Live was blunter: why spend £80,000 on a Curaçao licence when an Anjouan one costs £20,000?

The Comoros Is Disowning the Licence, Not Only the Licensees

Anjouan Gaming's defence, that operators are responsible for local law, answers a narrower question. The Comoros government and its central bank are saying the authority behind the licence has no standing under Comoros law at all. The central bank put that in writing for gaming licences in December 2025, and it did not stop the gaming register growing to nearly 1,500 names. If the government follows through with judicial action, payment providers and game suppliers that accept an Anjouan licence as evidence of supervision will have a sovereign statement on file that it is not one.

The Pressure Point Is in London, but the Lever Is Unclear

The Comoros asking the UK for help says where it believes the business is run, and a UK company with public accounts is easier to examine than licensees in Panama or Belize. But ACS denies any current role in gaming licences, and the Treasury has said nothing. Which UK body would act, and under what power, is not obvious: on the face of it, the Gambling Commission licenses those who offer gambling to British consumers, not those who advise on a foreign certificate. The request for police and financial intelligence cooperation suggests the Comoros sees this as a financial crime question rather than a gambling one.

Curaçao's Leak Made Opacity a Selling Point

Curaçao's tightening has pushed operators towards a licensor whose register names only companies and whose fees are a quarter of Curaçao's, by the industry source's account, while the leak and the disruption at Curaçao's regulator exposed those who stayed. That is the market regulators such as the Netherlands' KSA say they cannot reach, with operators based in the Comoros and beyond the reach of fines. A licence the Comoros itself calls illegal gives payment and advertising platforms the clearest case yet to stop treating it as a credential.

The Comoros has now said in its own name what critics of Anjouan's licences have argued for years. Whether that changes anything depends on what Britain does with the request.

Correction, 19 October 2026: An earlier version of this article said the central bank's communiqués concerned banking licences and did not mention gaming. Its communiqué of 8 December 2025 states that no online betting or gaming licence has been issued in the Comoros.