Unlicensed gambling in the UK: Sorare to face court hearing
The Gambling Commission is prosecuting the Premier League partner.
UK.- The Gambling Commission has filed charges against Sorare, accusing it of providing unlicensed gambling to British consumers. A court hearing has been set for October 4 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.
Sorare, which is based in France, has been charged with providing facilities for gambling via Sorare.com without holding a British operating licence from the Gambling Commission. Sorare claims that the British regulator has “misunderstood” its business.
The Gambling Commission opened an inquiry into Sorare back in October 2021 after the company launched a blockchain-based fantasy football game without obtaining a UK licence. At the time, the regulator issued a statement warning that “any activity completed on the site is outside the gambling regulations that a licensed operator should comply with. Consumers are being advised to consider this information when deciding whether or not to interact with the site.”
However, the English Premier League entered into a four-year licence agreement with Sorare in January 2023, allowing the company to release digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs as part of its fantasy football game. At the time, the Premier League described Sorare was one of the world’s most popular online sports games with more than three million users worldwide.
Sorare has featured figures including Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Rio Ferdinand, Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Pique and Blake Griffin among its ambassadors and advisors.
A spokesman for the company said: “We are aware of the claims made by the Gambling Commission and have instructed our UK counsel to challenge them. We firmly deny any claims that Sorare is a gambling product under UK laws. The commission has misunderstood our business and wrongly determined that gambling laws apply to Sorare. We cannot comment further whilst legal proceedings are underway.”
The Gambling Commission also said it could not comment further until the case is heard.
Social casinos in UK: ASA bans ads from five brands
Earlier this week, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned adverts for five social casino brands for giving the impression that players could win and withdraw real-world money. The ads all ran on the social media platform TikTok.
The ASA said that the adverts investigated were misleading since they made no clarification that they were social casino games, potentially leading customers to believe they could win real-world money. The brands involved were SpinX Games, Dataverse Co, Huuuge Global Limited, Mobee Co and Zeroo Gravity Games LLC.
The advertising watchdog noted that an advert for Zeroo Gravity Games’ Cash Tornado app showed images and sounds of slots gameplay. It also noted the use of phrases like “hitting the jackpot”, which it said was associated with gambling and could be misinterpreted.
