Every day, millions of players visit online casino websites, open accounts, deposit funds, and begin playing. Before they register to a site some pause to consider an important question: "How can I tell if the games on an online casino are real?"
Gamecheck was created to help answer that question. What began as a simple tool to help players check online casino games has grown into a global initiative promoting fair play across the online casino gambling industry.
Just over a year ago, the Gamecheck blog launched with an exclusive interview with founder James Elliott, exploring the need to strengthen integrity and trust in the industry. Since then, the blog has become an educational resource for players worldwide, covering topics from fake games to exposing fake casinos. As the blog marks its first anniversary, it raises a broader question: What is the purpose of Gamecheck?
The online casino gambling industry is expanding rapidly. Millions of players now access online casino games through websites and mobile devices every day. For players, the experience often feels simple: open a website, choose a game, and start playing.
Behind the scenes, however, the structure of online casino gambling is far more complex. Games are created by specialised game providers, and hosted by operators who make them available to players. When this chain functions correctly, everything works as intended. But when fake versions of games appear online, that system breaks down.
Fake games imitate the appearance of legitimate titles while operating outside the original software environment. To players, these copies can look convincing. The graphics may appear identical and the interface familiar. But the underlying software may not behave as the original game provider intended.
For many years, players had little way of checking this for themselves. Gamecheck was created to change that. Its purpose is not to regulate the industry or judge operators. Instead, Gamecheck provides research and tools that help players determine whether the games on a particular online casino are real games at the time they are checked. This information helps players make more informed decisions about where to play.
Every journey begins with a single step. What started as a simple search tool to help players check online casino games has evolved into a broader set of services designed to make game checking easier for players, and grown into a global effort to promote transparency in online casino gambling.
When Gamecheck first launched, its core feature allowed players to paste an online casino URL into the Gamecheck database and see whether the site had already been researched. If it had not yet been checked, players could submit a request for investigation. This created something the industry had not previously offered: a way for players themselves to check online casinos.
As the platform developed, the goal remained the same - make it easier for players to access information about the sites they encounter online. Today, Gamecheck provides a range of tools and services that help players check online casinos, understand whether the games they encounter are real games, and stay informed about new findings.
One of the most widely used additions has been the Gamecheck Chrome Extension. Instead of leaving the site they are visiting, players can activate the extension directly in their browser and instantly retrieve information about the platform they are viewing.
The extension reads the website address and connects to the Gamecheck database in real time, displaying available information about the site. In practical terms, this reduces the process of checking a site from minutes to seconds.
In 2025, Gamecheck introduced another step forward with the launch of its mobile application. The Gamecheck app allows players to check casino platforms, monitor research updates, and scan the Gamecheck SEAL displayed on participating websites.
Since launch, the app has been downloaded more than 16,000 times, with over 8,600 monthly active users in markets including the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Brazil. These numbers reveal something encouraging: players are increasingly interested in tools that help them better understand the platforms they interact with online.
Alongside these technical tools, Gamecheck has also been developing new ways to communicate directly with players and for players to share knowledge amongst themselves. The Gamecheck Telegram App helps players stay informed about investigations, share knowledge, and connect with others who support fair play.
Members can raise concerns about suspicious behaviour or fake games to help protect one another. Promotion, marketing, affiliate activity, or sharing links to gaming platforms is strictly prohibited. Communities like this reflect a broader shift across the industry. Awareness itself is becoming one of the strongest defences against fake games.
The Gamecheck SEAL is a visible verification signal that operators can display on their websites once their games have been checked through the Gamecheck process. Each SEAL is linked to a specific domain and can be scanned using the Gamecheck app, which connects directly to the Gamecheck database.
Operators displaying the Gamecheck SEAL are continuously monitored. If fake games are identified at any point, the Gamecheck SEAL is removed immediately.
Today, more than sixty operators across Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, and LATAM, display the Gamecheck SEAL. For operators offering real games, the Gamecheck SEAL provides a clear way to demonstrate their commitment to transparency and fair play.
Gamecheck’s work relies on collaboration across the industry.
When Gamecheck investigates an online casino, games are tested to gather evidence. Findings are then checked with the relevant game providers, who determine whether the games are real versions of their software. This process benefits several groups at once.
In this sense, Gamecheck’s work extends beyond player tools. It helps strengthen accountability across the online casino industry.
The scale of Gamecheck’s work has grown quickly.
Recent figures from the platform include:
One figure stands out in particular. 345 online casinos switched to real games after fake games were identified on their platforms. This demonstrates that transparency does more than expose fake games - it can also encourage operators to move toward fair play.
Alongside its tools and investigations, Gamecheck has spent the past year building relationships across the industry to promote transparency and fair play.
Gamecheck works with operators, game providers, online casino promoters, and research platforms that share a commitment to reducing fake games. Collaborations with online casino review platforms such as Casino Guru have helped increase awareness among players searching for reliable information about online casinos and their games.
Over the past year, Gamecheck has participated in several major industry events:
These events provide opportunities to meet operators and industry stakeholders who are working to reduce the presence of fake games online. Discussions across the industry suggest that awareness of the issue continues to grow.
By identifying fake games and increasing transparency, Gamecheck supports operators who prioritise real games and encourages stronger best practices across the industry.
The platform aims to become the place players turn to when they want to check whether the games they encounter online appear to be real or fake at the time they are inspected.
In the words of Gamecheck's Founder James Elliott:
“Our goal is to expand our services globally, introduce new ways of highlighting fake games, and set the industry benchmark for authenticity confirmation.”
Gamecheck’s core values remain consistent: transparency, and game authenticity. Through research, collaboration with game providers, and ongoing monitoring, Gamecheck helps players better understand the casino games they encounter online, while supporting the integrity of the wider industry.
While Gamecheck began with a strong focus on European markets, its reach is expanding internationally. The platform already monitors sites across Europe, Turkey, the Western Balkans, Russia, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia.
New expansion areas now include India, Malaysia and the Philippines, where online casino gambling continues to grow rapidly. As the industry becomes more global, monitoring systems must evolve alongside it. Gamecheck’s long-term vision is to build an international database that allows players to check online casinos wherever they may be.
The Gamecheck blog has played an important role in this journey. Over the past year it has published investigations into fake casinos, educational guides explaining how casino software works, interviews with industry leaders, and insights into emerging trends across the online casino gambling industry.
The goal has remained simple: make complex topics easier to understand. By sharing our research and findings openly the blog helps bring transparency to an industry that often operates behind the scenes. Reaching more than 17.6 million people worldwide in its first year, suggests that players are eager for this type of information.
Fair play sits at the heart of everything Gamecheck does. Gamecheck helps players determine whether the games they encounter online appear to be real games. It does this through research, collaboration with game providers, and tools that make this information easier to access. But the broader purpose is about something bigger.
Integrity. Trust. Transparency.
The result is greater transparency across the industry, for players and operators alike.
In a digital world where fake news and fake casinos are becoming increasingly common, authenticity matters more than ever. Gamecheck focuses on supporting real games and working with operators who place integrity at the centre of their platforms. Because fair play should not be difficult to find. Sometimes it starts with a simple step:
Gamecheck before you play.
