TGP Surrenders UK Licenses Facing £3.3M UKGC Fine

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has revealed on its website one of the latest effects of its strict enforcement of gaming regulations. Online gambling operator TGP Europe, facing significant penalties from the UKGC, has opted to abandon its U.K. license and exit the market rather than continuing to serve its British customers. This news was relayed on the UKGC's website in a statement dated May 16, 2025.

About TGP Europe

TGP Europe is a company headquartered on the Isle of Man that has been in business since 2014. It provides white label sports betting, casino, payment solutions, and other related services to online gaming firms.

As of December 27, 2004, TGP managed 13 domain names that were covered by its U.K. license according to information indexed at archive.org:

• BetVision.com
• 12bet.uk
• 96uk.com
• bj-88.co.uk
• de-bet.co.uk
• duelbits.co.uk
• fun88.co.uk
• nova88bet.co.uk
• sbotop.co.uk
• sportsbetio.uk
• stake.uk.com
• tlcbet.co.uk
• uk-wl.co.uk

Of these URLs, only BetVision.com was owned directly by TGP Europe. The others were operated as white labels for independent firms that had contracted for TGP's services and were using its licenses to access the U.K. market.

Stake.uk.com had already been forced to shut down following controversy involving a Stake-branded video featuring an adult actress. Of the other sites, a few appear to be inactive while the remainder display messages like the following:

Message Shown to UK Users Who Access the SBOTOP Website

The UKGC page for TGP Europe Limited meanwhile shows that all its licenses are “Surrendered” with an end date of May 15, 2025.

License Summary for TGP Europe Limited

Why Is TGP Taking This Step?

The UKGC levied a £3.3 million penalty on TGP and directed it to make “significant improvements” if it wished to continue to serve the British market. The reasons for the fine were violation of anti-money laundering regulations and failure to sufficiently check out business partners.

These breaches of the rules seem to involve TGP's business model of allowing its clients to operate using its own gaming licenses. It appears that TGP was not, in the eyes of the UKGC, monitoring its customers' activities closely enough to ensure that they were comporting themselves appropriately.

This isn't the first time TGP has drawn the ire of the UKGC. In April 2023, TGP was fined £316,250 for AML and social responsibility failures. In addition to the fine, TGP had additional conditions attached to its license and received a formal warning.

It's very likely that the management of TGP Europe considered the fine it had already paid and the tenfold larger fine just levied against it and decided that remaining in the U.K. market just was not worth the trouble and expense.

UKGC Explains the Consequences

The Gambling Commission commented on the recent departure of TGP Europe from the United Kingdom. The UKGC's Head of Enforcement John Pierce said:

This case involves a gambling company that was unwilling or unable to meet the regulatory standards we expect from our licensees. It is right that they have now exited the British market.

Following TGP’s exit, several online gambling operators can no longer lawfully offer gambling facilities to consumers located in Great Britain. These sites, previously operating under TGP’s licence, may not provide adequate protection against criminal activity or gambling-related harm and should not be available to GB consumers with immediate effect.

TGP Not Alone

TGP is by no means unique in having received negative attention from the UKGC. Some of the most popular and prominent gaming companies have also run afoul of the rules.

For example, Caesars Entertainment was fined over £13 million in April 2020 for alleged AML and social responsibility failings. Nearly three years later, William Hill was penalized to the tune of £19.2 million for similar misdeeds.

Caesars and William Hill are large enough to be able to absorb these losses without too much disruption to their business. However, smaller entities are often scared of the possibility of having to pay such exorbitant fines and overwhelmed by the burden of complying with the strict gambling rules in the United Kingdom.

This has caused many of them to throw in the towel and stop offering their services in the country. Betsafe, for instance, stopped serving Great Britain in 2020. Mansion Bet followed in 2022 and STS in 2023. In each case, they cited the tough regulatory climate as a reason for their departure.

Premier League Clubs Affected

Unlike most enforcement actions in the gaming industry, the crackdown against TGP Europe has direct implications on other important entities in the British economy. This is because some of the brands associated with the gaming provider are sponsors of Premier League teams.

SBOBET, for instance, is a sponsor of Fulham F.C. while DEBET is the principal and front of shirt partner of the Wolverhampton Wanderers. A.F.C. Bournemouth meanwhile has a contract with BJ88. Sportsbet.io and Fun88 are associated with Newcastle United, and 96.com has a similar arrangement with Burnley F.C.

Fulham F.C. Shirt With SBOBET Logo Clearly Visible

Sports Organizations Tasked With Internet Blocking?

The UKGC has already contacted the clubs in question to warn them about the possible consequences of promoting unlicensed gambling operators. More ominously, the press release from the Commission states:

The Commission is seeking assurance from the clubs that they have carried out due diligence on their white label partners and that consumers in Great Britain cannot transact with the unlicensed sites.

Clubs will be asked to demonstrate that they have assurance that any steps to geo-block the sites are effective, recognising that some blocking can be easily by-passed by use of tools such as a Virtual Private Network.

Clubs will be expected to carry out sufficient due diligence to assure the Commission that consumers cannot transact with the sites from Great Britain by any means. The Commission will also be taking steps to independently verify effective measures are in place.

It seems that the duty of the affected clubs goes well beyond removing branding and links from their websites. The UKGC seems to think that the sports teams are responsible for geo-blocking and for thwarting the use of VPNs to get around such blocking! This would be a serious challenge even for a dedicated IT firm; how the UKGC expects football clubs to easily achieve it escapes our understanding.

Offshore-Regulated Gaming Available

With a dwindling roster of officially licensed online gaming sites available and a harsh operating environment for those that remain, many Britons are exploring the possibilities presented by internet betting firms that are regulated elsewhere. These offshore brands, while opposed by the UKGC, are legal for individuals to play at and are often able to offer products and promotions that their UK-licensed counterparts cannot.

One of the best of these operators is TigerGaming, which has a casino, sportsbook, racebook, and poker room. When you sign up for TigerGaming, you can claim a 100% up to $1,000 poker bonus and up to $250 free to bet on sports. Press the button below to continue to Tiger Gaming:

To learn more about this online gaming destination first, feel free to read this honest Tiger Gaming review.

May 21, 2025 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief