[NEWS] UK Gambling Commission prosecutes Sorare

UK Gambling Commission Charges Sorare, Provider of NFT Sports Games, with Offering Unlicensed Gambling Services.

The UK Gambling Commission has charged Sorare, which creates fantasy football games promoted by the Premier League, with providing unlicensed gambling services.

This is the first time a Web3.0 platform has been prosecuted, and it is expected to set a precedent for how Web3.0 companies will be treated in the future.

Sorare is a Web3.0 project with a market capitalization of $4.3 billion, backed by investors such as SoftBank. In a statement, the Gambling Commission said:

"The football-themed website Sorare.com is scheduled to appear in court next week for providing an unlicensed gambling platform to UK consumers. The hearing, brought by the Gambling Commission, will take place at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on October 4 at 10 a.m. Sorare is charged with violating sections 33(1) and (4) and section 36(3) and (3A) of the Gambling Act 2005 for offering a gambling platform without a license."

Based in France, Sorare was founded in 2018 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort. It describes itself as a fantasy sports video game based on cryptocurrencies, running a fantasy sports game (football, basketball, baseball) where players can trade NFT collector cards.

Players can create their own football clubs using NFT cards and compete for prizes such as cash, VIP tickets, and signed kits.

In October 2021, the Gambling Commission announced it was investigating whether Sorare’s services constituted online gambling and if a license was required.

Since the establishment of the Gambling Commission in 2005, the only previous case where it exercised its prosecutorial power was in a case involving a man who administered drugs to dogs in a match-fixing scandal in greyhound racing. This case marks only the second such instance.

A Sorare spokesperson stated:

"We are aware of the Gambling Commission’s claims and have instructed UK lawyers to contest them. We firmly deny that Sorare offers gambling services under UK law. The Gambling Commission has misunderstood our business, and it is mistaken in its belief that gambling laws apply to Sorare."

Partnerships with Clubs Worldwide

According to Sorare’s website, it is partnered with 317 clubs from major leagues around the world, including all Premier League clubs, as well as top European teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich.

The company promotes its game through advertisements featuring French striker Kylian Mbappé, and in the U.S., it has partnerships with the NBA (National Basketball Association) and Major League Baseball. Additionally, in 2023, the Premier League granted Sorare a four-year license to sell digital sports cards for players from all 20 Premier League clubs.

Sorare’s ambassadors include famous athletes like Serena Williams and Lionel Messi. Its investors include SoftBank, Accel, and Benchmark, and the company employs 160 people in New York and Paris.

There are cases in the Web3.0 domain where current laws make it difficult to judge certain activities, and with the need for urgent action, this case will be a pivotal example of whether UK gambling laws apply to Web3.0 projects like Sorare.

Reference: UK Gambling Commission
Image: Shutterstock

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