Swedish finance authority fines Trustly SEK130m for AML failings

An investigation led by Finansinspektionen found that Trustly had not complied with the authority’s regulations or Sweden’s Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Anti-Money Laundering Act).

Shortcomings were identified in the areas of risk assessment, procedures and guidelines, customer due diligence and monitoring and reporting.

The investigation revealed that Trustly had failed to include a “large portion” of its customers in anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures, violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Trustly had not carried out a risk assessment on these customers, it said, nor had the payment provider considered them in terms of its procedures and guidelines. These customers have also not been monitored in general.

Trustly was also found to have violated Finansinspektionen’s own anti-money laundering regulations when it came to transaction monitoring, while many of the above Anti-Money Laundering Act failings were also classed as violations of Finansinspektionen’ rules.

Finansinspektionen described Trustly as being in an “industry associated with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing”, in which it acted in a position “that can almost be described as a hub” between banks and gambling operators.

Finansinspektionen decided that the violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the authority’s own regulations needed to be dealt with separately.

It ruled that the Anti-Money Laundering Act infringements were not as serious as the infringements of the authority’s own money laundering regulations, and a warning is sufficient for these.

For the violation of its rules, however, it was handed a SEK130m fine, accompanied by a warning.

“Trustly’s role in the payment chain between the gambling industry and a large number of banks makes it possible for the company to see flows that are not available to other market participants,” said Erik Thedéen, director general of Finansinspektionen.

“A company that has chosen fast and simple as its business concept in the gambling industry needs to be very thorough in its work to prevent money laundering. We have identified in our investigation that this has not been the case.”

The fine comes days after Trustly announced that it would lay off 120 employees as part of restructuring efforts. It did not detail how many of these layoffs would affect its gaming division.

Most of the affected employees, however, are based its Stockholm office. Speaking to iGB, a spokesperson stated that Trustly was “reducing structural complexities” in its refocusing of geographical reach and product offerings.

Wild West: gambling advertising at Premier League grounds

How big a business? Sports Betting generated 490 billion US dollars in revenue during 2019, and this is forecast to rise to 770 billion dollars by 2025. However, it is generally held that this amount is eclipsed by the amount of money wagered on the illegal market.

Due to its unregulated nature, estimating the amount of illegal sports bets wagered each year is tricky. However a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Report recently estimated that 1.7 trillion dollars is wagered on illegal sports betting markets each year.

In other words, the value of the illegal sports betting market is over three times that of the regulated market. As the UNODC Report notes, organised crime’s involvement in illegal betting is equivalent in value to its involvement in drug, human, or arms trafficking.

Of course, the FAPL wants nothing to do with the illegal betting market, or its connections to criminality. But as we approach the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, clubs are increasingly desperate for revenue. As such, many could be forgiven for being hypnotised by dollar signs.

Rule J.5 of the FAPL Handbook requires its clubs to notify the league about betting partnerships, but the League doesn’t regulate such partnerships. It also doesn’t regulate which betting companies can advertise at its grounds. This is a concern, as the dividing lines between legal and illegal betting are becoming increasingly blurred.

Jingle Balls

Twenty six sports betting websites appeared at the 20 FAPL stadiums over the Christmas period. Nine of these 23 betting companies advertised at more than one FAPL game, resulting in 63 separate sports betting company adverts on LED perimeter boards during the 20 game period. 

As most LED boards feature a rolling display involving under 15 companies, at some games this involved an almost constant display of gambling advertising during the 90 minutes of on-field play. Some games featured doubly-stacked LED boards equivalent to the height of a player on the TV screen.

At Aston Villa versus Chelsea on Boxing Day, five gambling companies advertised on perimeter LED boards in a near constant parade. In addition, OB Sports received extra coverage as Villa’s Sleeve Sponsor and Parimatch received match day branding due to its partnership with the club.

The level of betting company advertising during FAPL games makes a mockery of a ‘whistle to whistle’ TV ban voluntarily agreed by betting companies in 2019, and hailed as a success by the Betting and Gaming Council. It also calls in to question whether proposed UK Government crackdowns on betting sponsorship in football will be effective, unless they include LED perimeter boards.

Blurred lines

As well as appearing in English, OB Sport’s perimeter advertising at Villa Park also advertised OB.com in Mandarin. The advertised link redirects to www.obao76.com, which is entirely in Mandarin. Online gambling is illegal in China, however it is possible that the site may targeting Mandarin speakers in other countries.

According to a Mandarin disclaimer at the bottom of its homepage, OB.com – or obao76.com – is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). According to the disclaimer, the OB.com brand is owned by Opel Entertainment. 

A search through the MGA and PAGCOR internet sites doesn’t reveal any licences granted to OB.com or Opel Entertainment. None of the OB.com domains are listed on the MGA’s list of licensees. This raises questions as to whether the site is licensed at all.

Information about Opel Entertainment is hard to come by. However a popular Chinese singer, Jeff Chang, was recently forced to defend himself after it was reported that he had agreed a contract to promote a sports betting company. In a 30 December post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Chang clarified that he had terminated the contract in March 2021, which was limited to local use in The Philippines.

The sports betting company concerned with Chang’s faux pas? Opel Entertainment. The company also owns Oub121.com, again in Mandarin, which has exactly the same site layout as obao76.com and proudly displays its sponsorship deal with Aston Villa at the bottom of the page. 

Accessing this website outside of Asia isn’t easy. Once registered using a Chinese mobile phone number, Oub121.com allows users to create a virtual wallet, which can be recharged using crypto currencies, many of which[1] also advertised at FAPL grounds over the Christmas period. Once this is done, a betting window appears which allows users to both watch, and bet on, live sporting events. 

As perviously mentioned, online gambling is illegal in China. It would therefore appear that in this particular case, FAPL perimeter LED boards have been used to advertise an application that allows Chinese residents to illegally place online wagers on sporting events.

Opel Entertainment isn’t the only company advertising sports betting to Asian audiences. W88.com is Crystal Palace’s betting partner, and also appeared on the LED perimeter boards at Crystal Palace vs. Norwich and Leicester City vs. Liverpool on 28 December. 12bet also appeared on the LED perimeter boards during Palace’s game against Watford on 28 December, advertising in both English and Mandarin. 

At Wolves’ foggy 19 December game against Chelsea, MX128.vip was advertised in Mandarin in doubly-stacked LED boards, with static advertising boards promoting gambling companies appearing above this. The MX128.vip site appears to be inaccessible from the UK, where it redirects to ManBetx.uk. 

The reason for advertising the .vip domain in Mandarin is unclear. However in September 2020, the British Gambling Commission warned that it would consider banning ‘VIP customer’ schemes seeking to attract high value customers, as operators were failing to protect them from overspending. 

ManBetx is owned by Vivaro, which operates a number of domains including Lovebet, which advertised at the Leicester City vs. Liverpool game on 28 December. Could ManBetx.uk be seeking VIP Asian customers through advertising at FAPL grounds? The company failed to respond to questions.

The licence roulette wheel

So how are companies such as Opel Entertainment allowed to advertise their sports betting OB.com brand in Great Britain if they aren’t licensed there? For nine of the 23 betting brands advertised over the Christmas period, the answer lies with a company based on the Isle of Man.

OB.com’s UK-facing site, www.oubao.co.uk, mentioned that it is ‘powered by’ TGP Europe, which is regulated by Great Britain’s Gambling Commission. The same is true for Fun88.co.uk; SBOtop.co.uk; SportsBetio.co.uk;  Stake.uk.com; 12Bet.uk; HTHBet.co.uk; LeyuBet.co.uk; and i8Bet.co.uk.

TGP stands for The Gaming Platform (TGP), its internet site reveals. TGP Europe is not a gambling company, but a technology company that builds websites for clients. Its client page doesn’t mention its involvement with HTHBet, LeyuBet, or i8Bet, however its Gambling Commission licence page does.

This lists 31 domains, 14 of which are afforded ‘White Label’ status. This includes the nine betting operators powered by TGP Europe that advertised at Premier League grounds over the Christmas period. ‘White Label’ status allows a company licensed by the Gambling Commission to contract provisions of its licensed activities to third parties.

Under Article 1.1.2 of the Gambling Commission’s Licensing Conditions and Code of Practice, licensees are responsible for ensuring that third parties are ‘bound by the same licence conditions and subject to the same codes of practice as the licensee’. TGP Europe may have done this for the UK-facing domains listed on the Gambling Commission site, however not all sites connected to the nine TGP Europe brands are UK facing.

As previously mentioned there are questions about whether OB Sports’ Mandarin site, which featured on FAPL LED perimeter boards over the Christmas period, is licensed at all. At Everton’s game against Brighton on 2 January, i8Bet advertised in English, Thai, and Mandarin. Its UK site has yet to launch, but it was able to promote the Thai version of its site, which mentions that it is based in Costa Rica.

Online gambling is illegal in Thailand. Yet as the screenshot on the right shows, the Thai language version of its internet site offers odds on FAPL games, including on events such as corners and bookings. A disclaimer on its internet site mentions that it is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that gambling is legal at their location. Of course like OB.com, another brand in the TGP Europe stable, i8Bet may just be advertising to speakers of Mandarin and Thai.

HTHBet.co.uk is another gambling brand powered by TGP Europe. However at Leicester vs. Liverpool on 28 December and at Manchester United vs. Burnley on 30 December, HTH367.com also advertised in Mandarin. The site now redirects to HTHBet.co.uk but at the time of the match, redirected to a Mandarin version of the site that features the same interface as the Mandarin version of OB Sport’s site[Picture HTH2].

The HTH367.com internet site is geoblocked in the UK, however it mentions that HTH is the Global Official Partner of Manchester United; the Official Partner of Leicester City; the Official Regional Partner of AC Milan; the Official Regional Partner of Wolfsburg; and the Official Asian Sponsor of Lille. An ‘About Us’ section of the website mentions that the site is owned by a company called China Experience Technology (华体会). Its corporate website lists its address as RCBC Plaza, Tower 2, Manila, Philippines. The building confirmed that it doesn’t have China Experience Technology, 华体会, or HTH registered as holding offices in any of its buildings.

Like obao76.com, HTH367.com mentions that it is licensed by the MGA, PAGCOR, and the BVI Financial Services Commission. Like obao76.com, a search through the MGA and PAGCOR internet sites doesn’t reveal any licences granted to China Experience Technology or HGH. None of the HTH domains are listed on the MGA’s list of licensees.

Fun88 is another gambling brand powered by TGP Europe. At Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace on Boxing Day it advertised Fun369.com, which redirects to J9.com, the international basketball federation’s (FIBA) new betting partner. As previously reported, there are serious questions about whether this site is licensed at all.

However at Chelsea’s victory over Tottenham in the Carabao EFL Cup semi-final on 12 January, the Mandarin advertised Fun88 domain had changed to Fun279.com. This links to a Mandarin sports betting application listing Fun88’s shirt sponsorship with Newcastle United and an Asian betting partnership with Tottenham. 

In November, Tottenham renewed its partnership with Fun88. We asked the club if it was aware that adverts at its Stadium were used to promote J9.com.

Ghost chasing

TGP Europe’s registered address is a small office above a betting shop on the Isle of Man. Google maps reveals that this is an address for a bookmaker.

From such a small base, can TGP Europe be expected to have effective oversight of all the gambling brands promoted by its partners at FAPL grounds? It doesn’t even appear to have effective oversight of its partners. 

Yabo Sports, a TGP Europe client, boasts Manchester United; Hertha Berlin, AS Monaco, Leicester City and Bayern Munich amongst its partners, which also include the Argentina national team; Italy’s Serie A; and the Copa América. It appears that its site has now been rebranded as Betvision.com, another site ‘powered by’ TGP Europe, after questions were raised about the identity of executives that appeared at sponsorship launches.

There appears to be no mention of Yabo Sports on Manchester United’s internet site or on Serie A’s list of partners. However, Hertha Berlin lists YaYu.com on its partner list, which is geoblocked from UK access. A media statement mentions that YaYu is a ‘leading provider of online sports entertainment services’. however the site can be accessed through Google Translate which shows that it is a gambling site that has connections to OB Sports, which appears to offer sports betting opportunities.

Another new arrival on the scene is Midnight Gaming, whose W88 brand is Crystal Palace’s sleeve sponsor. As mentioned, it appeared on LED perimeter boards at the London club’s 28 December game against Norwich City; and at Leicester City’s game against Liverpool on the same day.

The Gambling Commission lists an address in Poole, Dorset, as the company’s head office. This is also the address of another company licensed by the Gambling Commission to supply remote gambling software, AliQuantam Gaming Limited. The same Poole address is also listed as an office by gambling payment platform Hexopay.

A search on Google Maps reveals that AliQuantam Gaming is the only company registered at this address. AliQuantam’s internet site reveals that it is a gaming platform provider, similar to TGP Europe. However, the UK government’s Companies House lists AliQuantam Gaming as dissolved in 2010.

Companies House lists Midnight Gaming as owned by AliQuantam and a previous company name, Sporting Black Limited. It also shows that Midnight Gaming transferred its address from London to Poole in September 2020. It also confirms that the main company Director is Alan Hilliard Ehrlich.

Analysis of Companies House documents reveals that Ehrlich resides in Israel and in 2013, was Head of Poker Networks at PartyGaming. In 2011, PartyGaming merged with Bwin, and is now operated by Entain. 

A ‘Hilly Ehrlich’ was mentioned as the Business Development Manager of W88.com by Wolverhampton Wanderers, when it announced its partnership with the betting brand in 2018. This interview confirms that ‘Hilly Ehrlich’ was also Head of Poker Networks at PartyGaming.

In addition, AliQuantam Gaming appears to be behind an old website linked to both W88 and BR88. Again, the Poole address of AliQuantam Gaming is listed. BR88 was confirmed as Villa’s sleeve sponsor in 2019. Hilly Ehrlich was also mentioned when the club agreed a separate deal with W88 in June 2019.

AliQuantam’s internet site mentions that it is licensed in Malta. However a search of the MGA’s internet site for either AliQuantam, Midnight Gaming, or BR88 again yields no results. An internet search suggests that W88 may be owned by Marquee Holdings, whose shareholders are listed in the Panama Papers. 

W88 isn’t the only company connected to FAPL advertising mentioned in the Panama Papers. Vivaro, which operates ManBetX and LoveBet, is also listed. Of course, being listed in the Panama Papers only shows that companies hold offshore bank accounts and doesn’t suggest any criminal activity. 

The analysis above is designed to show the difficulty that FAPL clubs have in establishing who is behind the betting brands that advertise on their shirts and at their grounds. And if top FAPL clubs have difficulty, it can be assumed that the problem is likely to be worse further down the football pyramid. So what do the FAPL and the Gambling Commission have to say about the situation?

Not my job

The FAPL only regulates the visual aspects of LED perimeter boards, and advised The Sports Integrity Initiative that it is up to clubs to ensure that they remain within the law. There are no restrictions on use of double LED boards, as utilised for Wolves vs. Chelsea through the home club’s partnership with ADI. The FAPL said it doesn’t permit use of virtual technology to replace advertising featured on LED boards with other brands in non-UK TV markets, although this appears to be contradicted by observers.

LED boards are not sold centrally, but some FAPL clubs use third party agencies[2] to sell aggregated minutes via multi-club packages. This perhaps explains why LED perimeter advertising at some stadiums appears to be very similar. 

‘Online gambling operators are required to hold a Gambling Commission licence to transact with British based consumers’, read a reply from a Gambling Commission spokesperson to a series of questions. ‘If we find an unlicensed operator acting illegally we will take action. A sports body engaging in sponsorship arrangements with an unlicensed remote operator may be liable for the offence of advertising unlawful gambling if the remote gambling activity isn’t blocked to consumers in Great Britain and that this is clear to consumers. 

We’re of the view that the best way for sports bodies to protect themselves against this risk is to ensure that they only promote gambling operators licensed by us. It is for the owner of the advertising space to satisfy themselves that they are not committing the offence of advertising unlawful gambling.’

Most of the betting brands that featured at FAPL stadiums over the Christmas period have a UK-facing site, often licensed through a White Label agreement with a third party. However as shown above, many of these also have overseas facing websites and mobile applications.

Who is responsible for ensuring that all of these overseas facing websites, often advertised in languages other than English, are legitimate? According to the FAPL, the Gambling Commission is responsible. According to the Gambling Commission, the FAPL clubs are responsible. 

The opaque situation that surrounds White Label domains perhaps explains why the UK Government is reviewing their status as part of its Gambling Review. Concerned about gambling’s relationship with sport and football in particular, UK Gambling Minister Chris Philp will meet with sporting bodies next week. England’s Football Association has already prohibited betting companies from streaming FA Cup games after Bet365.com’s current deal expires at the end of the 2024/5 season.

Of course, it’s perfectly legitimate for FAPL clubs to have legal, regulated Asian betting partners. However this article demonstrates the difficulty that clubs face in assessing who is behind such companies, and in ensuring that such partners are not advertising illegal services in foreign languages. And until the FAPL and British Gambling Commission reassert control over this area, draconian restrictions are a real possibility.

1. AstroPay, which advertises in a video on its gaming page that it is an expert in ‘hard to reach’ markets such as Brazil and India, advertises on FAPL LED boards. BitCi also advertises on FAPL LED boards, as did Socios.com at Crystal Palace’s 28 December game against Norwich, despite a 22 December Advertising Standards Authority ruling that an Arsenal advert for the company breached its Social Responsibility Code. Kyber Network, Alchemy Markets, CorPay and other cryptocurrency products also featured on FAPL LED perimeter boards.

2. We could only find one third party agency used to sell LED perimeter boards at FAPL grounds – Project11.

The Asian Connection

A new name appeared on the LED boards which run across all four stands of Goodison Park on the occasion of the last Merseyside derby: i8.BET.

A few hours earlier, on the very same day, Wednesday 1 December, Everton FC announced on its website that it had “further expanded its international partnership portfolio by signing up i8.BET as a new commercial partner”.

The statement read: “The deal will see i8.BET become the Club’s exclusive Official Betting Partner in Asia, as the gaming brand continues to expand its trusted and innovative platform in the online betting market across Asia and beyond”.

The news was barely shared outside of the specialist betting media, which satisfied themselves with publishing quotes from the original statement without adding detail or comment. No British newspaper or website of note thought it worthy of a mention.

This was understandable. This type of partnership is commonplace in the Premier League, where drawing money from opaque e-Gambling operators has long been accepted as a fait accompli, regardless of the inconvenient questions which could be raised about the problematic nature of these businesses. English football chose to look the other way, as legislators have done until now. When Josimar contacted eleven Premier League clubs about their existing, lucrative relationships with various online foreign bookmakers, only two, Wolves and Manchester United, replied to our enquiries, both of them telling us in substance: “no comment”.

That some of these operators, whose beneficial owners are unknown to all, the clubs they do deals with included, are probably complicit in money-laundering, labour-trafficking and other criminal activities is not speculation, but taken as fact by national and international law enforcement agencies (see Josimar’s 18-month long investigation into the matter, The trillion-dollar gambling game). Yet, despite recent talk of reforming the UK gambling laws, the links between elite English football and mysterious e-Gambling platforms is as strong as it’s ever been, and fresh deals are still being brokered, as was shown by Everton’s acquisition of a new ‘Official Asian Betting Partner’ (*).

Everton FC could be expected to be extra careful when choosing new betting partners.  SportPesa, a Kenyan bookmaker founded by exiled Bulgarian casino owner Guerassim Nikolov, had become their main sponsor in June 2017. The five-year deal, the biggest in the club’s history, worth an estimated 62.5 million US dollars, was supposed to run until June 2022, but the club had to cut its partnership short in February 2020. An investigation by The Guardian’s David Conn revealed that the company did not pay tax on the huge profits it made in the African country and beyond, and had its activities suspended by the Kenyan government in 2019. Nikolov was also suspected of credit card fraud on a massive scale, racketeering, and even, in a surreal twist, the hijacking of 14 trucks in Serbia. Interestingly, SportPesa had acquired its UK gambling licence through the services of TGP Europe Ltd, a company based in the Isle of Man which specialises in providing so-called ‘white label’ licences to foreign operators. It is a name we’ll come across again.

«Promotions in key brand territories»

So, what of i8.BET, the ‘trusted and innovative platform’ which is referred to in Everton’s statement?

A certain ‘Darren Wang’, Chief Marketing Officer of the club’s new Asian partner, is quoted in the same statement as saying: “In line with our global tagline of ‘Choose The Best’, we are excited to exclusively partner with such an iconic Premier League team as Everton Football Club; a partnership that will see us working with the club on a number of exciting and innovative initiatives and promotions in key brand territories in support of our ongoing brand expansion and trust building efforts.”

Josimar set out to find out what exactly this ‘ongoing brand expansion’ consisted of. The truth is that i8.BET has a long way to go before establishing its presence and ‘building trust’ on markets where – it bears repeating – gambling on sports is illegal. Why? Because, strictly speaking, i8.BET is not a bookmaker.

As is commonplace with other Asian e-Gambling platforms which have acquired ‘white label’ licences in Great Britain, visiting i8.BET’s UK website leads to a dead-end. It is not operational.

A question of time? Perhaps. But it should be remembered that, for Asian operators, the one real purpose of acquiring a UK licence is to use their virtual presence in Britain as a springboard for the genuine markets where they will make their money. Linking up with prestigious partners such as Everton FC and, by extension, the world’s most popular football league, the Premier League, is the most efficient way to promote the gambling brands at “home” – in China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia – where advertising sportsbooks is just as illegal as placing bets on what they offer.

The story is quite different when avoiding geo-restriction and accessing i8.BET from Indonesia, Thailand, China and Malaysia, as Josimar has done.

These are just a few examples of the imagery used by all of i8.BET’s Asian websites, complete with the usual ‘suggestive’, borderline pornographic pictures of very young women, plus a photograph of male supermodel David Gandy lifted from an advertisement for Johnny Walker whisky for good measure. One thing is sure: i8.BET is not holding back on using Everton FC’s name and crest, or likenesses of its players.

The real problem, however, does not lie with these images, repulsive as they may be for many.

Josimar could find no mention whatsoever of i8.BET, its tagline ‘Choose the best’ or of its ‘Chief Marketing Officer’ Darren Wang anywhere on the web prior to the announcement of the bookmaker’s deal with Everton on 1 December, even when using search engines from countries where the brand is supposed to be present. It was as if i8.BET had been created ex nihilo.

The domain name itself is the property of a Chinese national named Lin Yunfei, domiciled in Zhengzhou, who has registered hundreds of other names, but about whom no other details can be found. As to the brand itself, which claims to hold a Filipino licence on its Malaysian website, no company of that name can be found on the official Filipino registry of licensed gambling operators, which suggests that either i8.BET is the avatar of another company, or was only registered very recently, if one sets aside the possibility that it does not even exist.

Josimar tried to register as a client and place an actual bet on the Malaysian, Thai and Chinese versions of the i8.BET website. What happened then was highly unusual – and suspect: we were not taken to a dedicated, unique sportsbook as expected, but redirected to other e-Gambling websites, namely those of M8BET, MAXBET, NOVA88 and SBOBET.

Due diligence?

In other words, it was impossible to place a bet on i8.BET itself, which appears to be nothing but an agent for other bookmakers; yet, to place that bet with SBOBET or any of the other promoted brands, the customer first had to register with i8.BET, which raised the question: could this be a way to harvest personal data from customers? Does i8.BET actually exist? Is there even really someone called ‘Darren Wang’? And is Everton FC aware of all this?

What is more, none of the bookmakers which i8.BET is a portal to is licensed in the UK. This means that the UK Gambling Commission, by granting the i8.BET brand a licence, has enabled unregulated operators to benefit, at least indirectly, from its stamp of approval.

Josimar approached Everton FC with a list of detailed questions, and asked the club to provide contact details for their new partners, since, apart from a ‘chat’ function for customers, none of these details appear anywhere on any of the various Asian versions of the i8.BET website. No response was forthcoming.

Josimar also contacted the UK Gambling Commission, which replied: “We do not talk about individual operators or cases”, referred us to its online registry of licensed companies, and told us, that “Where an operator contracts with a third party, we expect the operators that we licence to carry out all necessary due diligence to satisfy themselves that the proposed relationship will not in any way compromise the operator’s own compliance.”

The operator in question is TGP Europe Ltd – the very same Isle of Man company which acquired a UK licence for Everton FC’s previous – and disgraced – betting partner SportPesa, and has done the same for a number of e-Gambling sponsors of English football clubs, including FUN88 (Newcastle), SBOTOP (Leeds United, which has direct links with SBOBET, one of the websites i8.BET redirects to), Yabo (formerly associated with Manchester United) and a number of others.

Josimar contacted TGP Europe Ltd and put a number of questions to the Douglas-based company, namely:

Would you be able to provide Josimar with a point of contact with i8.bet and, in particular, Mr Darren Wang, its Chief Marketing Officer, who is quoted in Everton FC’s press release?

When do you expect i8.bet to start operating in the UK?

is i8.bet a genuine e-Gambling platform, or does it act as an agent for other Asian bookmakers?

As regards TGP Europe Ltd and its parent company TGP Holdings Ltd, is it correct, as has been mentioned in numerous media reports, that it was originally founded and is ultimately owned by the Macau-based group SunCity?

The last of these questions was of particular interest, as the billionaire owner of the SunCity group, Alvin Chau (pictured below), was arrested along with ten other individuals by Chinese authorities in late November, under suspicion of being part of a criminal gang and of “establishing gambling platforms overseas and soliciting residents in mainland China to engage in illicit gambling activities online”, to quote Chong Kam Leong, a spokesman for Macau’s Judiciary Police (*). According to media reports, the individuals who were arrested admitted “establishing overseas gambling platforms and conducting illegal virtual betting activities” in China.

TGP Europe did not respond to our questions.

And on this Monday night, as Everton welcomes Arsenal in its grand old stadium for the 15th round of the Premier League campaign, the name and the promotional messages of i8.BET will be shown to hundreds of millions of spectators across the globe. Who they are, what they actually do, who might be hiding behind them, no-one knows, aside from a handful of individuals who are neither seen nor heard, nor scrutinised. What kind of due diligence process, if any, was conducted before TGP, the UK Gambling Commission and Everton welcomed the newcomer is anyone’s guess.

In 21st century football, it’s business as unusual.

(*) Everton FC already had two ‘official betting partners’: Cyprus-based Parimatch, also a partner of Juventus and Leicester City, which signed a two-year deal with the club in September 2020, and operates primarily in Eastern Europe; and Rushbet.co, a partner since December 2020, which is active in Colombia.

(*) SunCity shares plunged by 10% when the arrests were announced.

Genting HK In Liquidation Activity Amidst Crippling Debts

The Hong Kong-based, cruise ship arm of Genting, one of the biggest players in the gaming industry, has moved to appoint liquidators to wind up its operations. Genting HK’s move comes in the wake of its exclusively-owned subsidiary, MV Wertfen, registering for insolvency last week.

MV Wertfen, whose German manufacturing bases produce ships for its parent company, were subject to crippling debts of around HK$2.77billion ($355.6million). The collapse was catalysed by their failure to acquire a substantial sum in order to construct the planned ‘Global One Cruise Liner’.

GHK desperately attempted to salvage its ailing subsidiary business, even seeking credit support from the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the north-east German state who plays host to the company’s main construction sites. However, this request was rejected on Monday, spelling the end of the road for MV Wertfen.

Yesterday, Genting Hong Kong filed a winding-up order at the Court of Bermuda, and submitted a proposal for liquidators to take control. The firm are keen for those conducting liquidation activity to explore whether enough income can be generated to remain in existence. However, the court will decide if that’s a viable option at a hearing scheduled for later today.

The development saw a raft of non-executive director resignations, with Alan Smith, Lam Wai Hon Ambrose, and Justin Tan Wah Joo all stepping down. Genting have announced that these exits have been positioned in preparation for liquidators to freely conduct business operations in the short to medium term.

Since Tuesday, a hold on Genting HK shares has been in place. The company’s fortunes remain in the balance.

Swedish government set to re-introduce stricter gaming regulations

he Swedish government have announced a return to some of the of tighter gaming regulations implemented as a consequence of the first wave of the COVID pandemic. A move that native regulator, Spelinspektionen, has readily endorsed.

Rising Omicron infections continue to present challenges to the global gambling industry. A combination of stringent travel stipulations and government sensitivity towards increased betting activity, have both conspired to become tricky obstacles to navigate in recent months.

When the pandemic initially arrived on Scandinavian shores, Sweden moved to increase limits on play time, and curtail the volume of bonuses offered by operators. Furthermore, maximum deposit levels were held at 5,000 Krona (U.S $496) per week, a component that will be further tightened to 4,000 Krona (U.S $444) in the latest round of restrictions. However, the play time and bonus approach will be simply re-installed as opposed to being subjected to further control.

The new rules, which are set to commence from 7th February and continue to at least 30th June, have been sponsored heavily by the Minister for Health & Social Affairs, ArdalanShekarbi. Although Shekarbi believes increased regulation is required, there is currently no clear mandate to support this decision. The review into Sweden’s public gaming activity, initiated on the minister’s orders, is yet to be concluded. Moreover, it’s likely findings will not even be ready prior to the February re-launch.

This is a development that the Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) have actively challenged in recent days. Apart from the apparent lack of evidence for increased regulation, BOS suggest that these sorts of measures often drive punters to offshore offerings. GustaffHoffstedt, the General Secretary of BOS, has also stated that the number of gaming operators used per player, on average, significantly increased when deposit limits were initially introduced.

For the time being at least, Sweden looks set to revert back to tighter regulation in the wake of recent COVID upsurges.

888 Reports Impressive Numbers For Q4 End Of Year

888’s sterling performance continues as it announces another record trading year. Gross gaming revenue saw a staggering 14% uplift, fuelled by its expansion in the regulated market space. Indeed, 74% of the company’s turnover was generated through taxable markets, substantially contributing to their impressive return.

The gaming giant, who operates in various territories throughout Europe, overlooked particularly favourable performance in the UK, Italy, Romania and Portugal. Although its numbers in Germany were slightly disappointing, this shortfall was more than made up by those making up the rest of its European sphere of influence.

The firm also experienced exponential growth in its BTC endeavours, with results up 15 points and revenue sitting at a colossal $934m. Within this, casino performance registered at a 24% uplift on last year, with sports growth slightly behind the curve at +4%.

888.com closed out the year with a -16% Q4 return on 2020’s revenue, but, given current market conditions, this sat broadly in line with the firm’s projections. Chief Executive Itai Pazner heralded ‘a year of outstanding strategic progress,’ a notion evidenced by the group’s tactical sale of its BTC and BTB bingo platform for upwards of $50m. This is further underlined by the firm’s pursuit of William Hill’s non-US assets, which, despite its protracted progress, looks set to complete in the next financial quarter.

Pazner will undoubtedly be pleased to see the business delivering these sorts of numbers, with performance only set to strengthen in 2022 as it chases down its ambitious roadmap.

LVS To Make Offer For Playtech?

Is Las Vegas Sands About to join the battle for Playtech? According to sources close to the business it is rumoured that the company that was controlled by Sheldon Adelson until his death at the beginning of this year may make an offer for the online gambling technology supplier.

Indeed in reporting the companies first results since the death of their founder in January CEO Robert Goldstein was quoted that Las Vegas Sands were interested in getting into the sector by saying, “I have very strong thoughts about this, “we just want to keep working toward our goals. It’s a very interesting business. The question is can we bring something to the table that can make a lot of money.”

It was later mentioned that should they venture into the sector they would look at a B2B service provider to acquire possibly so the casino operator can develop their own software. That would allow them to gain a foothold in the ever expanding US sports betting market.

The current valuation of Playtech is at £2.7 billion even if that was to rise towards £3 billion it would not cause any problems for the operator that has casinos in the US, Macau and Singapore.

With Playtech management already accepting an offer from Aristocrat Leisure but now there are more players with former F-1 team owner Eddie Jordan and Keith O’Loughlin, a former senior executive from Scientific Games have along with major investors have asked also for due diligence on Playtech. Under the name JKO Play Limited Jordan and O’Loughlin are seeking institutional investment for a potential offer.

Playtech are certainly still in play and there is still time for Las Vegas Sands to enter the fray, if the rumours are true expect the US based casino giant to make a move before the end of the year.

Almost £225,000 in wages and freebies taken from gambling industry by 28 MPs

On 7 July, the Conservative MP for Blackpool South, Scott Benton, took his seat at Wembley to watch England take on Denmark in the semi-final of Euro 2020, courtesy of the Ladbrokes Coral owner, Entain – a freebie worth £3,457.

Less than four hours earlier, Benton had warned parliament that a review of betting laws, widely expected to result in tougher regulation, must not be driven by anti-gambling “ideology”.

He called for casinos to be allowed more slot machines, adding that many people would be “concerned” about the Gambling Commission’s plans for affordability checks on people betting online and in person, a measure intended to prevent ruinous losses.

Days earlier he had enjoyed another day out, at Ascot, courtesy of the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) trade body. In total, he accepted hospitality worth £7,495 during a gambling-funded summer of sport.

All in all 28s MPs – 19 Conservative and the rest Labour – have taken almost £225,000 in wages and freebies from the gambling industry since August 2020.

During the same debate at which Benton spoke – one of his two speeches favourable to the gambling industry that month – Labour’s John Spellar interceded. He referred to the urgent need to “improve and continue Britain’s attractiveness” as a casino destination.

He had recently been a guest of the Paddy Power owner, Flutter, at England’s match against Germany, and was due to attend the cricket at Lord’s the following month, at a cost of £874.80 to the BGC, whose members include major casino companies.

For the gambling industry, it was a busy month for both hospitality and political fulmination about the future of regulation.

On 13 July, the Conservative MP Mark Jenkinson expressed “grave concerns” about the prospect of the government imposing betting limits, in an article, sponsored by the BGC, for the Conservative Home website. The article appeared six days after he watched England play Denmark, courtesy of Entain, and less than a month after the BGC took him to Ascot, visits worth a combined £4,857.

There is no suggestion that any of the trio broke parliamentary rules. But their actions have raised concerns about the gambling industry’s apparent attempts to curry favour with politicians and the system that allows it.

The gambling sector’s charm offensive comes in the run-up to the publication of a white paper on gambling reform, expected early next year, that could significantly curb the profitability of bookmakers and online casinos.

One peer described the industry’s charm offensive as a “pretty obvious” attempt to influence the outcome of the reforms.

By far the biggest beneficiary of the gambling industry’s largesse over the past year was Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley. The Guardian revealed last year that he had accepted almost £50,000 to advise the Ladbrokes owner, Entain, on safer gambling and customer service.

Davies has previously said that his work outside parliament is “a matter for me”, although in 2010 he did not extend the same forbearance towards firefighters with second jobs, who were resisting changes to their shift pattern. The firefighters, he said, “ought to start to live in the real world at a time when many people are grateful to hang on to their one job”.

On top of his work for Entain, which employed two of his former political aides in senior roles at the time he took the job, Davies accepted hospitality worth a combined £8,695 from the company, fellow betting firms Flutter and Gamesys, and the Betting & Gaming Council.

In addition to what it paid Davies, Entain spent almost £41,000 on hospitality for 13 MPs over the summer.

The BGC spent half that sum, £20,405, escorting lawmakers to events including three England matches at Euro 2020, horse racing at Ascot, cricket at Lord’s and the Ivor Novello awards.

Of the 13 MPs who enjoyed the trade body’s hospitality, three spoke out in support of the industry within days of being entertained, two of them – Benton and Spellar – in the House of Commons.

During that same debate, Laurence Robertson – a longtime advocate for the gambling industry – warned of the “great danger” of tighter regulation, backing the BGC’s view that it would drive people towards the black market.

As he has pointed out, he correctly declared his interest, a £24,000-a-year role with the BGC, advising on sport and safer gambling. He also took £9,307 worth of tickets and hospitality at Ascot, York and Sandown racecourses, Lord’s and England’s match against Denmark. The gifts came from the BGC, SkyBet, Entain and Coral.

In total, 28 MPs are either paid by the gambling industry or have accepted hospitality from the industry, with a total value of £224,281 since August 2020. All of the hospitality and salaries were declared to the register of members’ interests, in line with parliamentary rules.

Beneficiaries include the Conservative MPs Caroline Dinenage, who is a minister within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which is overseeing the gambling review, and Aaron Bell, who used to work for Bet365.

The BGC is led by Michael Dugher, a former Labour MP.

Lord Foster of Bath, the chair of Peers for Gambling Reform, said it was “pretty obvious why the industry is giving largesse to parliamentarians”, calling the flurry of consultancy roles and hospitality freebies an attempt to “try and influence the outcome to the advantage of gambling companies. With millions of people impacted by problem gambling and more than one gambling-related suicide every day, I suspect [they] will find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion.”

Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former aide to Jeremy Corbyn and director Clean Up Gambling, said: “Far too many MPs have had their snouts in the gambling trough. This is a sector that derives most of its profits from the harm it causes their constituents. The government has an opportunity in its gambling review to demonstrate our democracy is not for sale.”

An Entain spokesperson said: “Any political engagement we conduct is always in line with the registers of members’ interest. As a sports betting and interactive entertainment company, we are proud of the role we play in supporting grassroots and elite sports both in the UK and internationally.”

A BGC spokesperson said: “Any hospitality is consistent with the parliamentary rules and is fully declared and transparent.”

Aaron Bell said: “I have declared all hospitality promptly and transparently in the register of member’s interests, and have always abided by the parliamentary code of conduct.”

Playtech in talks with shareholder Gopher on potential takeover; Aristocrat's bid faces competition

Weeks after agreeing to a buyout from Aristocrat Leisure, Playtech is now in talks with Hong Kong-based Gopher Investments over a possible takeover offer. The British online gambling software firm’s shares have seen a 3% increase on Monday.

Gopher is Playtech’s second-biggest shareholder, counting with a nearly 5% stake in the firm through an affiliate TT Bond Partners. A preliminary approach was made on October 21, seeking access to some due diligence information to weigh a possible offer, Playtech confirmed in a statement Monday.

Conversations with Gopher were described as in an early stage, and terms of the potential bid have not been disclosed yet. However, it is believed the takeover offer is worth about £3 billion, according to Sky News, which first reported on the subject. 

A series of undertakings from Playtech shareholders to accept Aristocrat’s offer, worth about £2.1 billion, would lapse should a rival suitor offer a price at least 10% higher than that bid. In consequence, Gopher’s offer would have to be at least 748p-a-share to secure board recommendation.

Gopher, a prominent Playtech shareholder, is allegedly working with bankers at Rothschild in the offer, which would trump Aristocrat’s bid, first announced last month. Sources familiar with the matter have told the previously cited new source that Gopher’s deliberations were not guaranteed to lead to a formal offer, but that the company was looking “seriously” at doing so.

In September, Gopher managed a deal to buy Playtech’s financial trading unit, Finalto, following a months-long battle with the British company and an Israeli consortium led by Barinboim Group. The deal, for an enterprise value of $250 million in cash, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.

Regulators must now decide on a deadline by which the Hong Kong-based investment firm must either present a firm intention to bid for all of Playtech or walk away. It still remains unclear how Gopher would structure an offer for the entirety of Playtech, given the Finalto transaction has yet to reach its conclusion.

Aristocrat has acknowledged Gopher’s possible offer for Playtech in a new statement, defending its bid. “Aristocrat's long-term engagement with regulators across key gaming jurisdictions, together with strong financial fundamentals, deep customer relationships and established presence in global gaming markets, positions Aristocrat to complete the transaction as planned in the second quarter of calendar year 2022,” the Australian company said.

Moreover, the gambling machine manufacturer said the completion of its offer would provide “certain value to Playtech shareholders,” while the combined group would also provide “greater opportunities” to Playtech’s employees. Aristocrat says it will “continue to work” to progress the recommended acquisition and urges shareholders to vote in favor of its bid.

Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder 'interrogated' as witnesses in drug case investigation

Former Netherlands international footballers Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder have been 'interrogated' by Dutch police as witnesses in a drug case investigation, according to reports from their home country.

The pair are reportedly among a number of footballers quizzed in relation to a gambling site, which authorities claim may have ties to an alleged 'godfather' known as Piet S.

Kuyt and Sneijder were both part of the Dutch team which reached the World Cup final in 2010, with the former also playing more than 200 times in the Premier League for Liverpool.

And reports from outlets in the Netherlands make reference to interviews which reportedly took place earlier in 2021, with the ex-players alleged to have spoken to police in a witness capacity.

According to Nos.nl, citing reports from De Telegraaf and AD, the investigation relates to an alleged illegal gambling site which the Public Prosecution Service says was set up by the son of Piet S.

The two footballers reportedly gambled on the site in question, and the reports from the Netherlands mention conversations with authorities in relation to this.

Sneijder spoke to police to give his witness statement in January this year, with Kuyt meeting with authorities the following month.

The gambling site in question, Edobet, was reportedly licensed in Curacao and offered casino games as well as sports betting.

According to De Telegraaf, "Several (former) professional football players" have been interviewed in relation to the case, which comes more than a year after the arrest of Piet S. as what Nos.nl describes as part of "an investigation into international drug trafficking at home and abroad".

"S. has never been convicted of large-scale drug trafficking or liquidations, with which he has also been associated," the publication notes.

Reports into the case cite a hack of messaging service Encrochat, through which conversations involving the alleged betting activity of Kuyt and Sneijder have been made public.

Sneijder denies having played on the gambling site in question, according to reports, but according to AD's report, the player was approached by people "who said he was in debt and that he would guarantee Wout van K," an individual who has been identified by the ex-player as "my father's cousin, seen once".

Sneijder's agent Guido Albers confirmed the investigation was "about gambling" but said "Wesley is not involved".