Operator File · Costa Rica

Betpanda

Licence status, what the record shows and the routes open to players anywhere, with sources. A listing is a record, not an allegation of wrongdoing.

Written by Jake Thomas, Co-founder and Director. Clinton & Co Advisors is not a law firm. Last checked 3 September 2026.

Entity: Star Bright Media S.R.L.
Registration number: Not published
Licence number: None stated
Regulator: None recorded
Status: Listed
Date checked: 6 September 2026
Register: Curaçao Gaming Authority register (edition of 16 September 2026)

Licence status: could not be validated against the Curaçao Gaming Authority register on 6 September 2026

Star Bright Media S.R.L. (Costa Rica company reg. 3-102-880000); also operates Cryptorino and CasinoPunkz

Licence status: could not be validated against the register on 6 September 2026.

Our free licence checker covers this and every other operator we hold a file on.

Background and platform

Betpanda (betpanda.io, which redirects to betpandacasino.io) is a crypto-focused online casino and sportsbook that launched in 2023. It markets itself on anonymous, no-KYC play and fast cryptocurrency withdrawals, accepting deposits in Bitcoin and other tokens rather than conventional bank cards. The brand sits within a small stable of similar crypto casinos run by the same operator, alongside Cryptorino and CasinoPunkz, which share a common Costa Rica registration and a near-identical anonymous-account model. The anonymous, crypto-only design is central to how the site operates: players are told they can register and withdraw without standard identity verification in most cases, but the terms reserve the right to investigate transactions the operator deems suspicious. As the review site BTCGOSU notes, KYC is requested only in rare situations, yet suspicious transactions get subjected to investigation and may be reported to a financial intelligence unit, with accounts blocked, suspended or closed and funds withheld. It is precisely that broad discretion that sits behind many of the disputes players later report.

Ownership and corporate structure

Betpanda is operated by Star Bright Media S.R.L., a company registered in Costa Rica under corporate identifier 3-102-880000, with a registered address given as the Ofident Building, Barrio Dent, San Pedro, San Jose, Costa Rica. The same company is named across affiliate and review databases as the operator of the sister brands Cryptorino and CasinoPunkz, which is why Clinton & Co groups these casinos together under the Star Bright Media banner. Public ownership detail beyond the registered company is thin: the databases list no named managing director, and the company discloses little about the people behind it. For a UK player trying to establish who is actually responsible for their funds, this matters. The only verifiable counterparty is a Costa Rican private company with a limited public footprint, rather than a named licensee whose licence Clinton & Co has been able to confirm on a recognised gambling register.

Licence position and what it means for UK players

Clinton & Co could not validate a licence for Betpanda against the Curaçao Gaming Authority register on 6 September 2026. Betpanda's owning company, Star Bright Media S.R.L., is registered in Costa Rica, and that registration is a company record rather than a gambling licence. BTCGOSU reports that Betpanda operates from Costa Rica and holds a data-processing registration there rather than a gambling licence of the kind a UK, Malta or Gibraltar player would recognise; Betpanda's own pages name no gambling regulator. Some affiliate and directory pages instead claim an Anjouan Gaming Authority licence (number ALSI-202408063-FB) for Star Bright Media, but this is not consistently evidenced, the number is reported not to appear in the official Anjouan register, and Clinton & Co does not treat it as confirmed. Anjouan is a low-oversight jurisdiction and would not give UK players UK-style protection even if that claim were confirmed. Critically, Betpanda is not licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. AskGamblers shows the betpanda.io site as restricted for visitors in the UK, while a separate UK-targeted mirror has been seen marketing the brand to UK players, so access in practice is inconsistent. Because the brand's licence could not be validated against the Curaçao register and it is not licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, it is not covered by GamStop, and a UK self-exclusion would not block access here. Anyone who deposited despite a self-exclusion, or without affordability or identity checks, should keep their account history and transaction records.

If you have lost money at Betpanda

Because Betpanda is not licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and falls outside GamStop, UK players have no UK regulator to escalate a Betpanda dispute to directly. That does not mean nothing can be done. The first step is usually to raise a formal complaint through the operator's own complaints process and to keep every record: account statements, deposit and withdrawal history, crypto transaction hashes, any KYC or source-of-funds requests, and all correspondence about the closure or confiscation. Where a complaint stalls, the independent mediation services run by review sites such as casino.guru and AskGamblers can sometimes move a case forward, and patterns of confiscation across the Star Bright Media brands are worth documenting. Clinton & Co Advisors is a UK claims consultancy, not a law firm, and helps UK players who lost money to offshore casinos, especially where self-exclusion was ignored or where there were no affordability or identity checks, by reviewing the circumstances and, where appropriate, working with regulated legal partners. We do not promise a particular outcome, and every case is assessed on its own facts.

Is Betpanda withholding a withdrawal?

The playbook for a stalled Betpanda payout is in what to do when a casino withholds your winnings. Where the sum is substantial, a voided win, a confiscated balance or a withdrawal Betpanda will not release, our withheld winnings service sets out the evidence that matters and when a specialist assessment of a Betpanda case is proportionate.

What the record shows

Reported allegationPlayer complaints aggregated by casino.guru and AskGamblers (review publishers, not regulators)· 2025

Players report on casino.guru and AskGamblers that accounts were closed and balances confiscated under unevidenced arbitrage, value-betting or syndicate-betting accusations. One widely cited case (raised on casino.guru and logged on AskGamblers, where it is marked resolved) describes a balance grown to about 2,944 USDT being seized under a syndicate-betting accusation the player says was unevidenced; other AskGamblers complaints, several still marked unresolved, cite confiscations and blocked withdrawals of about 3,300 USD, 1,005 USD and a 1,050 USD withdrawal denied with the account closed, alongside larger disputed sums. These are player allegations, not regulatory findings.

Source

Is Betpanda legit?

"Legit" needs unpacking. Betpanda claims a Costa Rica licence that could not be validated against the register. Our file records 1 documented item about Betpanda, set out above with its source. No UK Gambling Commission licence is recorded for it, so GamStop and the UK dispute framework do not apply, which matters more than any review score if something goes wrong. A licence is not a promise that players are treated fairly.

Complaints about Betpanda

Player feedback for Betpanda is mixed-to-poor. casino.guru gives the brand a below-average Safety Index of around 5.4, and AskGamblers records an editor rating of roughly 4.2 out of 10. The most serious recurring theme, which players raise repeatedly on casino.guru and AskGamblers, is account closure with balance confiscation. Complainants report that after building up winnings they were accused of arbitrage, value betting or syndicate betting and had funds seized, often with limited explanation. One widely cited case, raised on casino.guru and logged on AskGamblers, describes a balance grown to about 2,944 USDT being confiscated under a syndicate-betting accusation the player says was unevidenced; that particular case is marked resolved on AskGamblers. Other AskGamblers complaints, several still marked unresolved, cite confiscations and blocked withdrawals in the region of 3,300 USD, 1,005 USD and a 1,050 USD withdrawal denied as the account was closed, alongside larger disputed sums. These accounts are unresolved or contested player allegations rather than proven findings, and casino.guru and AskGamblers are review publishers, not regulators. They are presented here as reported patterns. Even so, the consistency of the confiscation and withdrawal-block complaints is a clear warning sign, particularly given the licence question that Clinton & Co could not resolve against the Curaçao register.

A complaint about Betpanda should go to Betpanda itself first, in writing, through the complaints channel it publishes or its support address where it publishes none, with every reply kept. If Betpanda does not resolve it, there is no regulator to escalate to, and in practice the pressure comes from the evidence your own records support. The sequence is set out in how to escalate a casino complaint.

What the licence requires

Betpanda's licence position could not be validated against the register, and no UK Gambling Commission licence is recorded for it, so GamStop and the UK dispute-resolution framework do not apply. Read more on why Costa Rica issues no gaming licence.

If you are trying to recover money

Because no licence this file could confirm now stands behind Betpanda, there is no adjudicator anywhere that can order a refund, so recovery runs as a claim built on the Betpanda terms as they stood when you played and on the evidence your own records support, taken forward with a regulated legal partner where they support it. Preserve your account evidence first, then see how gambling-loss recovery works, the evidence you need to recover losses, and how to escalate a casino complaint.

Check whether Betpanda appears on the Curaçao enforcement register before you write.

Betpanda sits outside the UK framework. For the wider picture, read getting money back from an offshore casino. If you self-excluded before Betpanda took your deposits, read getting money back after gambling on GamStop. For the escalation order that applies to Betpanda, licensed in Costa Rica, use the free complaint route finder.

If the amount is large

A five or six figure balance at Betpanda is handled differently from a small one, and the Curaçao rules explain why. Under the Gaming Authority’s anti-money-laundering regulations of January 2025, Betpanda must carry out customer due diligence once your financial transactions reach NAf 4,000, roughly £1,700 / $2,200, counted cumulatively across every deposit and withdrawal since you opened the Betpanda account rather than transaction by transaction. Where that threshold is crossed because you asked to withdraw, the regulations require Betpanda to freeze the account completely until your documents reach Betpanda. They also set a limit the other way: if Betpanda has not received the information within 30 days of the threshold being reached, it must end the Betpanda relationship, and where no presumption of money laundering exists the funds are to be transferred to you. Higher-risk Betpanda accounts attract enhanced due diligence, which is where the Betpanda requests for source of funds and source of wealth come from, covering savings, employment income, property sales, dividends, inheritances and earlier gambling winnings. The Betpanda commercial treatment usually shifts alongside the compliance one: the Betpanda host who answered within minutes goes quiet, and Betpanda withdrawal limits that never mattered on a £500 / $650 payout start to govern a £50,000 / $65,000 one. Where the Betpanda account is frozen, the escalation route is set out under Where you are playing from.

Where you are playing from

Four steps, in order, and they are the same wherever in the world you were playing from, because they attach to the Betpanda Curaçao licence. Complain in writing to Betpanda within six months of the incident (LOK Article 5.3: free, acknowledged within a week, answered by Betpanda within four weeks, extendable once by four weeks). Escalate to alternative dispute resolution, which the LOK requires a licensee to offer at its own expense and which the Authority requires to be run by a provider holding its certification, and which the Authority expects to run no longer than 90 days from the referral; a licensee that has engaged no certified provider is in breach of that requirement rather than exempt from it. Send a copy of the complaint to complaints@cga.cw, knowing the Curaçao Gaming Authority cannot mediate or order compensation but does use complaints to supervise licensees such as Betpanda. Then the Curaçao courts, which Article 5.5 requires a licensee to nominate in its gaming agreement and where a player’s claim against a licensee such as Betpanda is enforceable.

The Betpanda licence could not be validated against the None. Costa Rica issues no gaming licence register, so treat the licence route as conditional on that licence existing; the domestic angles below stand either way.

If you are in the United States

No state regulator can take up a Betpanda dispute, because Betpanda holds no state licence and online gambling in the United States is regulated state by state, which leaves the Betpanda account outside every state system. The August 2025 letter from 50 state attorneys general asked the Department of Justice to pursue injunctions, seize domains and work with payment processors against offshore sites such as Betpanda; useful pressure, but not a refund route for a Betpanda player. Log the Betpanda dispute with your state attorney general or consumer protection office, then pursue the Curaçao route above against Betpanda.

If you are in the EU

Austria and Germany are the two EU markets where courts have recognised a refund claim against an operator like Betpanda with no domestic licence. The Austrian Supreme Court settled it in 1 Ob 229/20p: no Austrian concession, no effective contract, stake repayable, which is what an Austrian Betpanda player relies on. In Germany the Court of Justice of the EU (Case C-440/23, 16 April 2026) confirmed that such restitution claims are compatible with EU law, which is the ground an EU Betpanda player stands on, on facts involving Malta-licensed operators rather than Betpanda; the Federal Court of Justice’s lead decision, I ZR 216/25, is pending after a hearing on 17 September 2026, so a German Betpanda claim is not yet settled law. The Netherlands is different: since the Hoge Raad’s ruling of 3 July 2026 an unlicensed operator’s contracts, those of Betpanda included, are not automatically void, so a Dutch Betpanda player has no automatic refund and only a case-by-case claim against Betpanda. Outside those three countries we have found no sourced domestic route against Betpanda, and against Betpanda the Curaçao route above applies.

If you are in Canada or Australia

Neither country offers a refund route against Betpanda. Canada: Ontario is the only province with a regulated private market, and its regulator and conduct body, the AGCO and iGaming Ontario, both say they cannot refund wagers or award compensation and deal only with Ontario-registered sites, not with Betpanda; the other provinces run monopolies and we have found no domestic route against Betpanda. Australia: the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes online casinos illegal to offer, ACMA takes complaints about breaches, and ACMA itself says Australian regulators cannot help if the provider withholds your Betpanda winnings and points you to the licensing authority abroad. Against Betpanda that is the Curaçao route above.

If you are in the UK

Being in the UK adds no route against Betpanda, because Betpanda holds no Gambling Commission licence and the Commission’s protections travel with the licence, not the player. GAMSTOP covers only operators licensed in Great Britain, so it did not block Betpanda. The ADR duty binds Commission licensees only, which Betpanda is not, and IBAS adjudicates only disputes with operators registered with it, a registration this file does not record for Betpanda. The Commission has no powers to resolve individual gambling complaints or help consumers get their money back from Betpanda, and instead asks for unlicensed sites to be reported to intelligencereports@gamblingcommission.gov.uk. The route open to you against Betpanda is the Curaçao route above, the one attached to the Betpanda licence.

Sources

askgamblers.com: Operated by Star Bright Media S.R.L., Costa Rica, established 2023, listed licence shown as Costa Rica Gambling, site restricted in the visitor's country for UK visitors, editor rating 4.2/10
gamingcontrol.spin-cdn.com: Curaçao Gaming Authority register, v2 dataset, edition 3 September 2026, checked 6 September 2026 against the local file cga_register_2026-09-03_v2.csv: searched for "Betpanda", "Star Bright Media S.R.L." and the Anjouan-format number ALSI-202408063-FB reported by third parties (not a Curaçao-format licence number) - no matching row found in the Curaçao register
askgamblers.com: Player complaints listing account closures and confiscated balances (e.g. 3,300 USD, 1,005 USD, 1,050 USD denied withdrawal, 5,095 USD, 19,000 USD; a 2,944 USDT case marked resolved), most others marked unresolved (previously recorded before 3 September 2026; read date not logged; not re-read on 6 September 2026)
sistersites.bet: Star Bright Media S.R.L. company registration 3-102-880000, Ofident Building, Barrio Dent, San Jose Costa Rica address; operates Betpanda, Cryptorino and CasinoPunkz; claims an Anjouan Gaming Authority licence ALSI-202408063-FB (not independently confirmed in the official Anjouan register) (previously recorded before 3 September 2026; read date not logged; not re-read on 6 September 2026)
btcgosu.com: Betpanda established 2023, operated by Star Bright Media S.R.L. from Costa Rica; btcgosu.com describes the registration as a data-processing registration rather than an online gambling licence; anonymous, KYC only in rare situations; suspicious transactions investigated and may be reported, with accounts blocked or closed and funds withheld
casino.guru: casino.guru below-average Safety Index of about 5.4; player reports of confiscated winnings under syndicate/value/arbitrage-betting accusations, including a balance grown to about 2,944 USDT seized (corroborated via casino.guru search summaries; page returns 403 to direct fetch) (previously recorded before 3 September 2026; read date not logged; not re-read on 6 September 2026)

How we verified this: the Betpanda file draws on public licence registers and attributed player reports, checked as our editorial standards describe.

FAQ

Common questions about Betpanda

Can I get my money back from Betpanda?

Possibly. No licence this file could confirm now stands behind Betpanda, so there is no regulator or adjudicator anywhere that can order a refund. Recovery instead works through the Betpanda terms as they stood when you played, the evidence your payment history supports, and where appropriate a regulated legal partner. The right route depends on your evidence, and our initial assessment is free and confidential.

Is Betpanda legit?

Who operates Betpanda, and is it licensed?

Betpanda is operated by Star Bright Media S.R.L. Betpanda's licence position could not be validated against the register check recorded on this file. It is recorded as listed on this file. The brand has operated since 2023. This licence sits outside GamStop, so a GamStop self-exclusion does not block accounts held under it.

Does Betpanda accept UK players?

Betpanda is not open to UK players on the record on this file. Not UKGC-licensed and outside GamStop. AskGamblers shows the betpanda.io site as restricted for visitors in the UK, though a separate UK-targeted mirror has been seen marketing the brand to UK players, so access in practice is inconsistent. The licence in force when you played is what shapes the routes open to you.

Is there anything documented on file about Betpanda?

Our research records 1 reported allegation for Betpanda, with its issuing body and a source you can check. A listing is a record, not proof of wrongdoing, and every case turns on its own evidence.

What should I do if Betpanda will not pay out or has frozen my account?

Preserve the evidence first: screenshot your balance, the stuck withdrawal, chat transcripts and emails, and save the terms as they read today. Then make one formal written complaint and escalate to the right authority or a regulated legal partner. Avoid closing the account or accepting a partial settlement before you have taken advice.

Will Betpanda know I contacted Clinton & Co?

No. Nothing is sent to any operator without your written consent. The first an operator hears of your case is a formal complaint you have approved.

Is Betpanda holding your money?

The sooner the evidence is preserved, the stronger the file. Our initial assessment is free and strictly confidential.

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