Three UK bookmakers that have repeatedly warned of the dangers of the illicit market have also benefited from a lucrative deal with one of the world’s largest offshore casinos, the Guardian can reveal.
Details of the arrangement emerged as a result of last week’s Casino Secrets leak, which saw the release of thousands of confidential files held by the gambling regulator on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, a haven for offshore betting sites.
Deal with Santeda network
One leaked file concerns the Santeda online casino network, which has been accused of illegally targeting vulnerable gamblers in the UK and has been fined in Spain for operating without a licence.
The file shows that Santeda signed a deal in 2022 with Sports Information Services (SIS) – a UK-based gambling content provider part-owned by Ladbrokes, William Hill and Fred Done, the billionaire owner of Betfred.
The three bookmakers have repeatedly warned the government that excessive regulation or taxation could drive their customers into the arms of rogue offshore casinos with no licence to operate in Britain.
Dividends and stakes
According to the leak, all three have also benefited from a share of tens of millions of pounds in dividends paid out by SIS after it signed the contract with Santeda. The companies are understood to have been unaware of the deal at the time it was signed. Matt Zarb-Cousin, a prominent gambling reform campaigner, advised them to get their “house in order”.
The bookmakers collectively own more than 50% of SIS, which supplies gambling sites with live horse racing, greyhound and esports content, as well as data used to settle bets with customers. The use of such data is critical to online betting companies, helping them serve customers and process their bets.
The leaked contract shows that SIS also agreed to provide Santeda websites with these services for two years, under a contract that auto-renewed unless either side opted to terminate it. Under the terms of the deal, SIS received a percentage of revenues from losing bets placed via Santeda’s brands.
Reactions and impact
It is not clear whether the contract is still active, or how much SIS earned from it. SIS declined to say whether the deal had been terminated. Industry sources said that Ladbrokes, William Hill and Fred Done could not have known about the deal with Santeda, owing to controls designed to prevent them accessing commercially-sensitive information about industry rivals. One source said the companies were “furious” with SIS for doing business with Santeda, at a time when licensed operators were stepping up their warnings about the illicit market.
Entain said it was “not a party to the commercial or customer arrangements SIS decides to strike. Now that this relationship has come to light, we take it very seriously and have raised our concerns to SIS”.
The contract with Santeda does not permit the use of SIS data in the UK. But it appears to show that SIS supplied information to multiple Santeda websites that a previous Guardian investigation found was illegally targeting UK customers, including via promotional material apparently aimed at people trying to quit. Santeda’s Curaçao licence does not permit it to operate in most leading jurisdictions that regulate gambling, such as the UK and US.
Companies House filings suggest that SIS’s shareholders – including Ladbrokes, William Hill and Done – have received at least £37m in dividends since the deal with Santeda was signed, including £30m in 2023. Ladbrokes owns 23% of SIS, suggesting it has received £8.5m in payouts over the period.
Stella David, the chief executive of the Ladbrokes owner Entain, has criticised Premier League football clubs for “complicity” in fuelling illicit operators and warned that such firms could be boosted by any rise in taxes on licensed operators such as Ladbrokes.
William Hill appears to have received more than £7m from its near-20% stake in SIS. Earlier this year, the bookmaker’s owner, Evoke, blamed the illicit market for weak online revenues.
Fred Done, who is also a director of SIS, holds an 8% stake, indicating his share of shareholder payouts was nearly £3m. Done warned the chancellor this month that higher taxes on slot machines – under consideration as part of the upcoming budget – would drive punters to illicit market sites that don’t pay tax, contribute to horse racing or exercise regulatory controls.
Zarb-Cousin, the director of the gambling-blocking company Gamban and a longtime campaigner for tougher laws, said: “While the UK’s biggest gambling firms have been warning about the risks of growing the illicit market if the government increases tax and regulation, the very same firms are profiting from it. If the gambling industry is concerned about the black market, it needs to get its own house in order by cutting all ties with it.”
A spokesperson for SIS said all of its customers agreed to “only offer SIS products where it is legal to do so and where they have the necessary regulatory licences”. They added: “Customers commit that they will comply with all such laws and licences at all times. Where SIS becomes aware that these terms are not being adhered to it takes corrective action to enforce the position, up to and including suspension or termination of contracts.” The Guardian approached Evoke and Fred Done for comment.
