Entain calls for action over illegal World Cup gambling promotions on UK social media

Underage social media users are being bombarded with a deluge of World Cup-related content by unregulated gambling platforms according to Entain, one of the largest companies in the licensed UK market.

The Ladbrokes Coral owner and FTSE 100 constituent has published findings from open source research into unregulated operators’ promotional activity, coming on the day of England’s opening World Cup match and just two days after PM Keir Starmer’s government announced plans to ban under-16s from social media platforms.

Entain’s research has identified what it calls an extensive ‘network’ in which unlicensed online gambling companies continue to target UK consumers via social media, tipsters, brand ambassadors and AI-generated personas.

Bejay Patel, Managing Director, UK and Ireland at Entain, said: “As the men’s World Cup is underway, this research is a wake-up call to government, regulators and law enforcement agencies that illegal gambling promotion is not operating at the fringes but is now operating at scale in the UK with coordinated networks primed to target millions of UK fans during the tournament.”

Entain’s social media storm

According to Entain’s research, there are more than 72 instances of UK-facing promotions across 30 different online gambling sites, with promotions spanning five of the world’s largest social media platforms.

The research has identified three companies as being particularly active:

1. Stake. The Australian-Curaçaon platform was once active in the UK via a white label agreement with TGP Europe, but gave it up in February 2024 after a marketing controversy – coincidentally, around its logo appearing on certain social media posts. The company continues to hold licences in other markets like Denmark, Italy, and Mexico, but Entain’s research accuses the firm’s social media partners of promoting ways to circumvent its lack of a licence, while its brand ambassador network contains names with large UK followings.
2. Rainbet. Identified as the second most frequently appearing site in Entain’s research. The research states that the company is affiliated heavily with ‘the manosphere’ and influencers fitting into the now widely followed ‘masculine success’ category on platforms like Instagram and Kick.
3. Duelbits. Also based in Curaçao, Entain’s research noted that the site explicitly states that it does not only serve UK or US users but that it also employs a network of sports affiliates and tipster accounts which promote referral links without disclosing any sponsorship relationship.

Additionally operators cited include Roobet, Shuffle, Winna, Gambana, Shock Casino, Gamdom, Thrill, and BetStrike, BetBolt, MetaWin, Menace.com, Yeet.com, Bluff.com, Chicken.GG, and CrownCoins.

As mentioned above, the British government has pledged to ban under-16s from accessing social media, citing a need to protect younger demographics from potentially harmful content posted on these platforms.

The ban is supported by a majority of British adults, and particularly those with children according to YouGov polling. However, it will take some time, with the Department of Science, Industry and Technology (DSIT) expecting the first set of regulations to come into effect by spring 2027.

Entain’s research focused on unregulated gambling activity on five platforms: 

• Instagram, used by some 38 million UK users. The Meta-owned platform is the “highest reach amplification layer” according to Entain’s research, which cites the popular short-form reels and referral links embedded in profile bios as common tools.
• X, used by 21 million UK users, is identified as the top platform for football tipster and fan account platforms. Platforms centring on a number of popular football teams have been identified as embedding links and referral codes to unregulated gambling platforms.
• TikTok, used by over 30 million monthly UK users. The platform is heavily associated with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and this has been cited by Entain, which noted that around 20% of its users are under-18. Similar to Instagram, the platform’s short-form content and masculine influencer scenes have been cited.
• Facebook, identified as playing a ‘supporting role’ as a secondary channel for influencers. Only one major campaign was identified, when a Kick-based streamer called ThelronREAPER promoted Rainbet to UK and EU customers.

The report has also cited concerns about the three platforms which straddle the boundary between social media and streaming/video production:

• YouTube, which has 35.9 million UK accounts. Similar to Instagram and TIkTok, its short-form YouTube Shorts are identified as the main area for unregulated activity, with research finding AI-generated personas promoting such platforms.
• Twitch, which has over 13 million UK users. Influencers on this platform have chiefly been associated with Shock Casino and Shuffle. The platform’s leadership has made efforts to clamp down on unregulated gambling activity in the past, having cracked down on gambling streaming in general in 2022.
• Kick. It’s unclear how many users Kick has in the UK, but it has some 100 million worldwide at least. The platform is also unique in the discussion around gambling in that it is owned by EasyGo, the same company that owns Stake. It has been identified only as a ‘supplementary promotional’ channel in Entain’s research, however, linked to from Instagram bios, linktree pages, and YouTube descriptions.

Football crazy

This brings us back to the big event bringing all of this together – the World Cup, and football more generally. As stated above, Entain states that there has been a deluge of World Cup related activity across the social media accounts promoting unargued brands.

Aforementioned football fan accounts and tipster accounts on X are called a “particularly effective form of embedded promotion”. Football is also described as “dominating the sporting landscape” the research examined.

A number of accounts associated with Duelbits were cited in particular:

• FootyNostalgia
• UTDKobi
• Gittensfan
• FCB_ACEE
• SelecaoTalk
• TheEuropeanLad
• wealth/united
• FabrizoFauno
• FootbalTimeX

Of biggest concern to Entain the most high profile partnerships, however, have been unregulated gambling platforms and major football personalities.

The group has cited brand ambassador deals like Stake’s arrangements with former Argentina and Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero, former Chelsea and Belgium midfielder Eden Hazard, and former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Football is not the only sport covered by the research, however. It also examines sports like MMA and horse racing, with UK horse racing legend Frankie Dettori working with Stake while UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje works with Duelbits.

Unlicensed gambling platforms have a complicated legal standing in the UK. 

Firms like Stake and 8xbet, which do not have Gambling Commission licences, cannot actively compete in the UK, but are able to use Premier League clubs for marketing partnerships – in the case of these two, Everton and Chelsea – due to the league’s global presence.

Entain has been lobbying for this to change. The firm has written to the Premier League, which from the 2026/27 season will ban all participating clubs from maintaining front-of-shirt sponsorship deals, but continues to allow clubs to work with unlicensed firms – as long as those firms do not accept UK customers.

The firm has also contacted the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) on this issue, and recently contacted the Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) regarding unlicensed gambling firms registering UK trade marks.

While Entain and other UK betting stakeholders may get their wish if the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and its Illegal Gambling Taskforce ultimately decides to ban all unlicensed firms from sponsoring in UK sport, social media is a trickier issue.

Social media is a global phenomenon, and influencers and tipsters promoting platforms unlicensed in the UK could simply argue that they are promoting them to audiences where these firms are licensed. 

The battle for Entain and other UK stakeholders will be in proving that these accounts are actively prompting to British audiences. The industry does also have an ally in the Gambling Commission on this, with Tiim Miller, Executive Policy Director, expressing a lot of frustration with big tech firms like Meta’s inaction on the matter.

Entain’s Patel remarked that the social media conversation “raises serious questions about whether regulators and enforcement agencies have the powers and resources needed to tackle the highly coordinated illegal gambling promotion effectively, particularly across global social media platforms”.