Stake retreats from British gambling market amid probe into advertising
The Gambling Commission placed Stake UK under supervision due to its controversial social media advertising.
UK.- The UK subsidiary of Stake is to close amid an investigation by the Gambling Commission. TGP Europe, the white-label partner that holds Stake’s British gambling licence, has announced that Stake.uk.com will be shut down by March 11. The Gambling Commission has confirmed that the site’s gambling licence will be cancelled.
The British regulator had placed the licence of Stake under supervision due to a promotional stunt featuring a porn star outside Nottingham Trent University. It was concerned that the operator was using sex to promote gambling after a video showed an actress saying that she planned to have sex with 180 students. Stake did not post the video, but its logo appeared on the screen.
The regulator has now ordered TGP Europe to immediately stop accepting new registrations on the Stake.uk.com platform and to remove redirection links from the main Stake website.
Stake said: “Stake has made a strategic decision in mutual agreement with TGP Europe to exit white-label agreements and focus on securing local licenses through our in-house platform and operations, building upon our growth in key regulated markets such as our recent expansions into Italy and Brazil.”
TGP Europe is registered in the Isle of Man and manages 19 white-label partnerships via British licences. In 2023, the Gambling Commission fined TGP Europe £320,000 for breaches of AML and social responsibility rules.
Stake UK launched in 2021 and gained a high profile with its sponsorship of Premier League football club Everton. Although a subsidiary of crypto gaming-focused Easygo, it doesn’t offer cryptocurrency transactions in order to comply with Gambling Commission rules.
Sponsorships and white-label partnerships called into question
The Gambling Commission may be tiring of football clubs with white-label sponsors. It says it will be writing to Everton along with Nottingham Forest, which is sponsored by Kaiyun, and Leicester City, which is sponsored by BC.Game “warning of the risks of promoting unlawful gambling websites.” It said it would seek assurance from the clubs that they have “carried out due diligence on their white-label partners and that consumers in Great Britain cannot transact with the unlicensed sites”.
The UK gambling minister, Baroness Twycross, has already mentioned plans to review the status of white-label gambling licences. She aims to collect evidence on the practice and may propose changes to the current rules.
Currently, clubs sponsored by unlicensed operators must ensure geo-blocking of gambling sites and must conduct due diligence to ensure transactions cannot be made from Britain, otherwise, they could be found to be promoting unlicensed gambling.
