  The effect of anomalous couplings in $\gamma \gamma \to W^+ W^-$ is studied
for different energies of the $\gamma \gamma$ mode of the next linear collider.
The analysis based on the maximum likelihood method exploits the variables in
the four-fermion semi-leptonic final state. Polarised differential cross
sections based on the complete set of diagrams for these channels with the
inclusion of anomalous couplings are used and compared to an approximation
based on $\gamma \gamma \to W^+ W^-$ with full spin correlations. To critically
compare these results with those obtained in $e^+ e^-$ we perform an analysis
based on the complete calculation of the four-fermion semi-leptonic final
state. The anomalous couplings that we consider are derived from the
next-to-leading order operators in the non-linear realisation of symmetry
breaking.
