Although reputation is very important but gamblers nowadays are aware how important a license is. I like to ask you a question? Do you know a casino that is popular in the forum ( so we can check) that has a good reputation but doesn't owned a license? If you can tell me one, then I might change my perception about license + reputation which IMO are both important.
To be honest, I don't really focus on the licensing aspect of a crypto gambling site when signing up. Instead, I focus on more important factors such as reputation, withdrawal fees, cryptocurrencies supported etc.
All these licenses are from some random islands anyway which is why they aren't extremely credible or anything.
Not everyone focuses on reputation alone; of course, that is the most important, but I believe those gamblers who are risking a decent amount of money will make sure they can go after a casino once they go dark. And you know, without a license, you can never do that since you don't know the people behind the business. Reputation nowadays is just pretty basic; when you say a casino has a good reputation, that already includes them having fast deposits, withdrawals, and addressing concerns of the gamblers. I think that also includes having a license.