Design Works Gaming licensed in Connecticut, its fourth US state in four months

Design Works Gaming holds an Online Gaming Service Provider licence from Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection, its fourth US state in four months after New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania. For a studio of its size that is a genuinely fast run.

What was announced

The Scottsdale studio said on 27 January 2022 that Connecticut had licensed it to supply regulated online casinos in the state. Chief executive Troy Zurawski said securing it “in record time and being one of the first independent game developers to do so is just another feat for us”. The announcement referenced Golden Nugget Online Gaming and Resorts Casino as operators from its New Jersey launch. No licence number was published.

Why four states is four applications

There is no federal iGaming licence in the United States. Each state that permits online casino runs its own regime, with its own regulator, its own supplier category and its own application. A studio live in New Jersey has no standing in Michigan until it applies there separately.

What makes this expensive is not the licence fee. It is that most states require disclosure from the company and from individuals with significant control — background checks, financial history, source of funds — and the process runs at the regulator's pace, not the applicant's. Four states in four months means four sets of that running in parallel, which for a small studio is a real organisational load.

Connecticut is also a narrow market by design: it permits online casino through two operators tied to the state's tribal nations, so a supplier licence there gives access to a short list rather than an open field.

What our records show

We hold six licences for Design Works Gaming. Two UK Gambling Commission entries (055836-R-331623-002 and 054622-R-331622-006) are confirmed on the regulator's own register. Four more — Michigan's MGCB, New Jersey's DGE, Pennsylvania's PGCB and the Malta Gaming Authority — sit at our published-source tier without numbers.

We record it live in four markets: the United Kingdom, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Connecticut is not among them. The studio was founded in 2005 and makes real-money slots, the LuckyTap tap-to-play line, and land-based content.

If you are buying

Ask which states, never “are you licensed in the US”. A studio live in three states cannot supply you in a fourth, and the lead time to add one is measured in months. If your roadmap includes a state a supplier does not yet hold, that timeline is your timeline too.