UK Gambling Commission asked to investigate alleged unlicensed betting links to Reform UK donors

The British Gambling Commission has been asked to look into allegations that Tether.bet and Fispay were operating in the UK gambling market without the required licence. For PSPs and operators, the point is straightforward: if the allegation is right, this is a Gambling Act 2005 issue, not just a political scandal.

1. Labour chair Bridget Phillipson wrote to the regulator urging it to examine whether Tether.bet, a Montenegro-based gambling platform, and Fispay, a UK company owned by Reform’s data protection officer Mowbray Jackson, provided or advertised remote gambling facilities to consumers in the UK without a licence.
2. The letter follows a Sunday Times investigation that alleged both companies had been active in the UK gaming market without authorisation. Under the Gambling Act 2005, providing gambling services in Britain without a Gambling Commission licence would be a breach of the law.
3. Phillipson also asked the Commission to investigate “whether Fispay Ltd, or any other UK company, provided or supported gambling facilities or services to consumers in the UK without the required licence.” Her intervention comes as crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne’s £5m donation to Nigel Farage is already under review by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.
4. The Sunday Times linked George Cottrell, described as a convicted fraudster and long-time ally of Farage, to Tether.bet. The platform posted a closure notice on its website on August 12.
5. Jackson told the Sunday Times that his firm “exclusively” arranged private jet travel and had never offered gambling products. Cottrell said he was a customer of Tether.bet and had “never solicited clients for any betting company.”

The payments angle is the one high-risk operators will notice. The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell was a prominent customer of Tether.bet and that Harborne owned IFX, a payments company that processed transactions for another operator handling deposits and winnings. If a PSP, merchant, or intermediary is supporting gambling activity in the UK, the licence question is not optional.