Premier League crypto partner Sorare has been accused of unlicensed gambling by the UK’s Gambling Commission.
The commission said today, “Sorare is charged with providing facilities for gambling without holding an operating license,” contrary to the Gambling Act 2005. A court hearing is scheduled for October 4.
However, Sorare, a fantasy league football game that utilizes the Ethereum blockchain to allow players to trade football cards, disputes this allegation and says that the law has been wrongly applied. It told the Guardian, “The commission has misunderstood our business and wrongly determined that gambling laws apply to Sorare.”
“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,” it added.
The commission began its investigation into the $4.3 billion firm back in 2021.
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Champions League football teams Atlético de Madrid, Sturm Graz, and AC Milan are all sponsored by Sorare and are just three of the 23 teams in the competition that are sponsored by a crypto firm.
The Guardian reports that the gambling commission has only used its powers once before to charge a man who was drugging dogs to fix greyhound races, reflecting the rarity of today’s charge. In this case, the prosecution was successful and the man was jailed.
