An affiliate that mirrors the Bally Bet website and purports to be linked to the licensed operator is promoting illegal platforms in the UK, EGR can reveal.
Available via the BallycasinoUK7.com URL, the platform purports to be an information hub for Bally’s brands in the UK.
The site includes a list of offers, the games available at Bally’s, customer reviews and a section with links to FAQ and ‘About Us’ pages, as well as T&Cs.
The site also includes the address tied to the Bally’s Gambling Commission (GC) licence: Gamesys Operations Limited Suite 2, Floor 4, Waterport Place, Gibraltar.
Bally’s is licensed in the UK to offer casino, bingo and sports betting via Gamesys Operations Limited. It runs multiple brands in the UK, including Jackpotjoy, Bally Casino and Monopoly Casino.
However, various tabs across the mirror site direct users to black market operators.
Clicking ‘Login’, ‘Join Now’ and various slots games from leading suppliers sends users to one of several illegal brands in the UK.
As tested by EGR on Tuesday, May 2, these operators include LegionBet, CasinoPrestige, HarryCasino and HadesBet, none of which hold licences with Britain’s regulator.
They also allow deposits in cryptocurrencies – a form of payment off limits to GC-licensed companies.
LegionBet is owned by Fortaprime. Fortaprime was fined €1.8m by the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) in March for operating without a licence in the Dutch market.
On other occasions, users are pushed towards SpinPin. The unlicensed brand is offering 98%+ RTP on its signup page.
Many operators in the UK have been forced to cut RTPs to around 90% to 92% in light of remote gaming duty almost doubling 40% from 1 April.
MrQ CEO Savvas Fellas recently shared an AI-created ad from an unlicensed firm on LinkedIn.
During the clip, a fictional spokesperson was interviewed by Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett. The issue of RTP rates was ‘discussed’ throughout.
Bally’s is not the only UK-licensed operator to have had its branding cloned to promote illegal sites; Betty, which launched in the UK this week, is also being used to push consumers to the black market.
The Ontario-based firm’s slots-only offering is accessible via the playbetty.co.uk domain – and yet bettycasino.uk appears to be an affiliate promoting the new Betty UK brand.
Similarly in the Bally’s example, upon clicking various tabs, users are ushered to black market sites.
On the false Betty site, the bottom section includes the logos of the GC, GamCare, GAMSTOP and GambleAware
There is no suggestion Bally’s nor Betty are at fault or complicit in the operation of these black-market affiliate sites
EGR has contacted Bally’s and Betty for comment and to report what we found.
Since EGR contacted Bally’s Tuesday, 2 June, the offending mimic site no longer successfully links to illegal sites.
The post Exclusive: UK operators’ brands mimicked to direct traffic to black market sites first appeared on EGR Intel.
Rogue sites pushing users to unlicensed operators have cloned IP and use similar URLs from legal businesses such as Bally’s and Betty without their knowledge or consent
The post Exclusive: UK operators’ brands mimicked to direct traffic to black market sites first appeared on EGR Intel.