Comoros seeks UK help and weighs legal action over disputed Anjouan gambling licences

The government of Comoros has asked British authorities to help investigate an offshore gambling licensing network that it says operates without authorisation under the Anjouan name. Anjouan is one of the three main islands of the country. According to The Guardian, Comoros is also working with international police and financial intelligence agencies as it prepares possible legal action against those involved.

The dispute could affect close to 1,500 businesses listed on Anjouan's public gambling licence register. The licences are issued by Anjouan Licensing Services, which began granting them in May 2023, at a time when rules were tightening in established offshore jurisdictions such as Curaçao and the Philippines.

The licensing system claims its legal basis in the Computer Gaming Licensing Act of 2005, but the Comoros government disputes the legitimacy of the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority, the body said to oversee the regime. Last December the Comoros central bank denounced that authority and Anjouan Corporate Services as "fictitious entities" issuing unauthorised financial licences, a warning that mainly concerned banking. Former attorney-general Azad Mzé later told Australia's ABC that Anjouan Licensing Services was also an "illegal entity." A September 2025 study by researchers Steve Menary and Marko Begović found that the public version of the 2005 law carried no official signature or stamp and appeared on the licensing organisation's own website.

Anjouan Gaming, which presents itself as the island's official regulator, says its licences are valid and cites an independent legal opinion. It has not named the law firm behind that opinion or published the document.

The case also has British links. ABC investigations connected Anjouan Corporate Services to British businessmen, including members of London's Sorsky family. The Guardian reported that ACS Global Custodian, a company linked to the family, saw its cash holdings rise from GBP 13,130 to GBP 614,826 during 2025, with the source of the funds not established. Harold Sorsky denied that ACS had sold or issued gambling licences since the family acquired it in 2023, saying other providers were responsible.

The investigation further found that some Anjouan-licensed casinos were promoted as alternatives to the UK's GamStop self-exclusion scheme. One operator, SlotsCharm, reportedly sent a journalist more than 100 gambling incentives after the reporter stopped betting. The central question is whether the licensing businesses hold proper authorisation from the relevant island authorities and whether their activities are lawful under Comoros' national framework.