Tesco has reported to City of London police that its brand was hijacked by unlicensed online casinos operating without legal authorization in Britain. The supermarket discovered a fraudulent “Tesco casino” advertised on Facebook with its own platform page, which falsely claimed to be the official casino of the FTSE 100 company and referenced Tesco’s 107-year trading history since 1919.
The incident is part of a broader pattern affecting multiple major corporations and professional athletes. Banks including Barclays and Monzo, as well as legitimate gambling operators Coral and Gala Bingo, have had their names and imagery appropriated without consent. Sports personalities including Lewis Hamilton, Tyson Fury, Jude Bellingham, Bruno Fernandes, and Erling Haaland have also had their likenesses used in advertisements for rogue casinos, in some cases with AI-generated content or lookalike performers.
The fake casino websites and advertisements were promoted through Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The fraudulent sites typically claim licensing from offshore jurisdictions such as Curacao or the Indian Ocean island of Anjouan, but lack the required licenses to operate legally in Great Britain. Meta removed several advertisements after inquiries, though the company reportedly maintains that advertisers are responsible for regulatory compliance rather than the platforms themselves.
Both the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority have acknowledged awareness of the issue but report limited success in preventing proliferation. The Gambling Commission stated it would gain additional enforcement powers in autumn and committed to taking down unlicensed websites targeting British consumers. Industry leaders, including representatives from Entain which owns Coral and Gala Bingo, have called for stricter oversight of technology platforms facilitating such activity. Tyson Fury publicly disavowed involvement with a casino bearing his name through social media, stating he had rejected millions in previous gambling promotion offers.
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