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The United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission has received a decision involving a protracted court case brought by some of the nation’s biggest former gambling bosses.
The civil case centred on legal action brought by the former heads of Ladbrokes and Coral, Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman, respectively the former CEO and chair of Entain.
UK Gambling Commission and Entain bosses receive decision
Alexander and Feldman filed (Feldman & Anor v Gambling Commission, EWHC 3117) alleging that the UK Gambling Commission had disclosed confidential and private information in regulated publications at a pivotal time for the company.
Entain had been planning a leadership and takeover bid for 888 Holdings at this time, but following publications by the UKGC, the parties argue that this damaged those talks and the bid collapsed.
“The Claimants seek damages and injunctive relief… for misuse of private information and breach of confidence,” read the original case filing.
Alexander and Feldman’s argument also centred on the UKGC’s decision to investigate the licence, which “gave the clear impression that there had effectively been an adverse finding,” and, as a result, made them unsuitable to take the helm of 888.
The UKGC argued that the information disclosed and the process of any licence review were in the public interest, and that a coordinated criminal case was ongoing into former senior executives at Entain.
Operation Incendiary
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and the UKGC had been part of a longstanding criminal investigation codenamed Operation Incendiary.
As ReadWrite reported, Alexander and Feldman are key persons of interest in the HMRC case and, as such, the UKGC prompted and later closed the review of 888 licence holders in relation to the criminal case.
Alexander is facing charges of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to bribe between 2011 and 2018 relating to the provision of gambling services in Turkey. Feldman is facing charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery.
Mrs Justice Eady, as reported by the UKGC, has dismissed the Entain bosses’ civil claim, stating that Alexander and Feldman’s arguments failed to show a legally actionable breach by the gambling watchdog.
Justice Eady has refused to disclose the details of her decision-making on the basis that there is information not for public disclosure at this time, relating to the ongoing criminal case against Entain. This has been carried out as a Restricting Reporting Order under the Contempt of Court Act.
Both senior leaders have been instructed, as a result of this civil decision, to cover the UKGC’s legal costs.
Featured image: Royal Courts of Justice, London
The post UK Gambling Commission receives judgment in gambling bosses court case appeared first on ReadWrite.

The executive director of the UK-based Gambling Commission has warned of concerns about the illegal market, stating that people who have visited Meta platforms “will more than likely have seen ads appearing in your feed for illegal online casinos.”
Tim Miller goes on to suggest, during his speech at ICE Barcelona, that many of those aimed at users in Great Britain are for the so called ‘not on gamstop’ sites.
He explains how these are “targeted at consumers that have taken the often difficult step to self-exclude from online gambling through the use of GamStop, Britain’s multi-operator self exclusion scheme.”
Again, publicly called out by name, Miller says companies like Meta will say they don’t tolerate the advertising of illegal sites and will remove them if they are notified about them. But, he says that approach suggests they don’t know about those ads unless alerted, which he alleges is to be false.
“Meta has a searchable ad library where you can find all current ads that meet searched key words. You or I can conduct such a search for ‘not on gam stop’ sites and see for ourselves how many are currently paying Meta to advertise on their platforms. It’s effectively a window into criminality. If we can find them then so can Meta: they simply choose not to look.”
‘Whose side are you on?’ Tim Miller of the Gambling Commissions asks
The executive director says they have engaged with the company on this, but have gotten very limited progress aside from a few warm words.
“Their suggestion was that we should deploy AI tools ourselves to monitor and find these ads and then report them.
“I would be very surprised if Meta, as one of the world’s largest tech companies is incapable of proactively using their own keyword facility to prevent the advertising of illegal gambling. It could leave you with the impression they are quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone shouts about it.”
While the speech continued, he asked Meta ‘whose side are you on?’ as he suggests its either the consumer and users on the platforms or the “criminals and con artists who are using your platforms to prey on vulnerable people…”
Featured Image: Canva / Meta
The post UK Gambling Commission suggests Meta could be turning a ‘blind eye’ to illegal gambling ads appeared first on ReadWrite.