Football-themed website pleads not guilty to gambling law offences

Football-themed website and Premier League partner Sorare.com has pleaded not guilty to three charges of providing unlicensed gambling activities to British consumers.

The France-based firm entered formal not guilty pleas via its barrister at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday and will now face trial next year at the same court.

The short hearing was told the company maintains that it does not require a licence to operate in Britain because it does not provide facilities to gamble to UK users.

A statement issued by the Gambling Commission last week confirmed that Sorare is facing three charges of providing facilities for gambling without holding an operating licence under the 2005 Gambling Act.

Charges read out before District Judge David Murray alleged that Sorare provided facilities for gambling other than under an exception by offering “a remote facility for gambling to consumers within Great Britain, without holding a licence” over three separate periods of time spanning February 7 2022 to April 5 2024.

Sorare, of Avenue du General de Gaulle, Saint-Mande, near Paris, will face a seven-day trial scheduled to start at the same court on June 16 next year.

In a statement issued last week, a Sorare spokesman 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 under way.”

The Premier League announced a four-year licence with Sorare in January last year, allowing the global sports entertainment company to release digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs as part of its online fantasy football game.

Sorare has counted athletes Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Rio Ferdinand, Antoine Griezmann, Gerard Pique, Blake Griffin and Rudy Gobert among its investors, ambassadors and advisers.