An inactive domain, and what it means that the register still lists it
807 of 2,243 declared domains — 36 per cent — are marked Inactive. The domain was declared to the regulator and is no longer in use for licensed activity, and the record stays on the register rather than being deleted.
Retaining the record is what makes the register a history rather than a snapshot. A domain that once operated under a licence and no longer does is exactly the fact somebody investigating an old brand needs, and deleting it would erase the only public trace.
Inactive does not mean the operator lost anything. Brands are retired constantly and the tidy ending is exactly this.
Which is where it goes wrong. The dangerous reading is the reverse one — assuming that because a domain appears on the register at all, it is currently permitted. A third of the domain file is not.
What to do with it. Read the status column, not the presence of the row. The row means 'this was declared', and only the status says whether it still counts.
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More Licences
- The public register, and what it is evidence of
- Checking whether a betting site is licensed, without taking anybody's word
- What a register cannot tell you, and what people read into it anyway
- Active: what it does and does not guarantee
- Surrendered: the operator handed the licence back
- Revoked, and revoked for non-payment: two different endings