Curacao Regulator Granted Tether.Bet Licence Based on Documents Tied to a London Property Sale the Owner Was Not Part Of

Democracy for Sale says Curacao’s regulator approved a licence for Montenegro-based operator Tether.Bet using paperwork from a property transaction that the company owner was not involved in. For high-risk PSPs, the point is simple: licensing files can look tidy on paper while the underlying source-of-funds story does not hold up.

1. According to the investigation, Tether.Bet is linked to George Cottrell, an associate of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and a donor to the party. Cottrell denies any management role at the company and says he was only a customer.
2. The investigation says that, in the Curacao licence application, the owner of the company — a friend of Cottrell — submitted documents to support the source of funds, including papers relating to the sale of London property for £3.75 million. But land registry records reportedly show that he was not the seller, and the named sellers and buyer said they do not know him. The regulator, according to the documents cited, approved the licence anyway.
3. Sunday Times previously found that the company was accepting payments from British players without holding a licence in the country. In August, Bridget Phillipson, chair of the Labour Party, asked the Gambling Commission to investigate. At the start of 2026, the site stopped accepting new customers.
4. Cottrell’s lawyers said he was never a shareholder, director, or employee of Tether.Bet and was connected to it only as a customer and as a friend of the owner. The owner did not respond to requests for comment.

For PSPs and acquirers, this is the kind of case that matters beyond the headline: it mixes offshore licensing, source-of-funds checks, UK player acceptance, and later scrutiny by the UK Gambling Commission. That combination tends to be a useful warning sign when assessing whether a merchant’s licence file is doing real work or just filing cabinet work.