UK gambling giants called out over SIS content deal
The Casino Secrets leak revealed a contract between SIS and a Curaçao-based gambling operator.
UK.- Three of the biggest licensed British gambling operators are facing media scrutiny over suggestions that they indirectly profited from a commercial arrangement with a major offshore casino network. The controversy revolves around reports of a 2022 agreement between Sports Information Services (SIS) and Santeda.
As reported by The Guardian, documents made public in the so-called Casino Secrets leak from Curaçao, show that SIS entered into a deal to provide services to Santeda websites for an initial two-year period, with automatic renewal unless either side chose to terminate. Under the terms, SIS received a share of revenue derived from losing bets. Santeda has been accused of targeting vulnerable UK gamblers and has been fined in Spain for operating without a licence.
SIS is partly owned by Ladbrokes (Entain), William Hill (Evoke) and Betfred founder Fred Done. While the operators were reportedly unaware of the Santeda deal, they benefited from £30m in dividends paid to shareholders in 2023. Campaigners claim that represents a conflict with the operators’ calls for tougher action against unlicensed operators, and their arguments that further gambling tax hikes must be avoided so as not to benefit the black market.
Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes, which holds a 23 per cent stake in SIS, said it was “not a party to the commercial or customer arrangements SIS decides to strike. Now that this relationship has come to light, we take it very seriously and have raised our concerns to SIS”.
Entain chief executive Stella David has recently been pushing for Premier League clubs to drop sponsorship deals for non-UK licensed gambling operators, accusing them of “complicity” in promoting black market gambling.
Matt Zarb-Cousin, the co-founder and Director of External Affairs at Gamban, said the operators should get their “house in order”.
“While the UK’s biggest gambling firms have been warning about the risks of growing the illicit market if the government increases tax and regulation, the very same firms are profiting from it. If the gambling industry is concerned about the black market, it needs to get its own house in order by cutting all ties with it.”
William Hill reportedly owns just under 20 per cent of SIS, while Fred Done owns an 8 per cent stake in SIS and serves as a director of the company.
SIS said in a statement that all customers agree to “only offer SIS products where it is legal to do so and where they have the necessary regulatory licences”. It added: “Customers commit that they will comply with all such laws and licences at all times. Where SIS becomes aware that these terms are not being adhered to it takes corrective action to enforce the position, up to and including suspension or termination of contracts.”
