Gambling, Gaming & Betting

Adult gaming centres are heavily regulated, and our lawyers work hand in hand with clients to ensure that they have the correct licences to avoid any future litigation. We can assist with the obtaining of operator licences and premises licences. We also work with their counterparts in the manufacturing, supply, installation, adaptation, maintenance and repair industries to ensure that they too are compliant with the gaming machine technical operating licence.

The betting industry must deal with several requirements, and we help our clients navigate these demands to ensure that they have the correct operator licences, whether remote or non-remote, to avoid any future problems. We can assist with the obtaining of operator licences and premises licences. We can also assist with the software requirements and licensing.

Family entertainment centres are one of three types of amusement arcades and for these to run smoothly and efficiently, they must comply with industry regulation and hold the required permits. We work with a number of clients in this industry to ensure that all required legal procedures and documentation are in place.

Our team remain constantly abreast of the regulations imposed on businesses wishing to run certain games, lotteries and competitions by the Gambling Commission. We regularly advise on schemes and proposals as well as on how to obtain the correct licences and establishing which activities actually require a licence.

Our team of experienced lawyers can help you with gambling licences, and work with a range of gambling clients from start-ups to multinational gambling operators, including casinos, betting shops, online gambling platforms and software developers.

Whether you require an entertainment or alcohol licence or are looking to hold a festival or event, we can advise. We can help you to develop the necessary risk assessments and to ensure that they are reasonable and not overly onerous. We are highly experienced in advising on defending health and safety enforcement action for both public-sector and commercial endeavours.

Our highly experienced legal experts frequently advise on defending health and safety enforcement action for both public-sector and commercial endeavours.

If you need to apply for an entertainment or alcohol licence or are looking to extend or amend an existing licence, our lawyers can advise. As well as applications, our specialists also help clients navigate licence reviews and closure orders.

We have acted for high-profile casinos to recover gambling debts including dealing with individuals and assets worldwide. This type of litigation requires careful management to balance commercial interests, player relationships and compliance with regulatory obligations. Our litigation team can also advise gambling businesses about all types of debt collection.

• Advised Triple Dragon Ltd, market leader in specialist gaming development financing solutions, on 60+ specialised tailor-made project finance for selected game development projects, often structured as high-yielding debt.
• Advised licensed online betting/gambling operators on agreements for merchant card acquiring facilities, as well as e-money/payment services covering all other types of payment method.
• Advised licensed online betting/gambling operators on the extent to which they can offer vouchers and stored value accounts to their customers; and whether their stored value can be exchanged for cash or other forms of value (e.g. physical casino chips).
• Provided advice to payment service providers and licensed online gambling operators, on whether they can accept or facilitate the acceptance of funds from customers based in jurisdictions which restrict online gambling.
• Advised an Asia-based e-gaming client, its owners and an escrow agent regarding the formation and operation of an escrow arrangement to fund the operation of the Isle of Man licensed e-gaming group.
• Advised a real-time gaming company in relation to the Isle of Man aspects of its fundraising activities, including issue of convertible debt securities, a Canadian brokered private placement, and a potential European private placement of securities.

• Negotiated a contract with the Belgian Lottery for the supply of online games for a supplier of online instant win games and lotteries on HTML5 mobile and desktop and Flash.
• Acted for two gambling operators on their agreements with online games providers, gaming platform providers and games aggregators.
• Acted for online games suppliers on its agreements with commercial gaming operators and lottery operators for the provision of online scratchcard and instant games; agreements with games aggregators; agreements with providers of remote game server software; and licensing agreements with brands for development of branded online games.
• Acted for an online bingo games supplier on its agreements with commercial gaming operators for the supply of online bingo games.
• Advised a private casino on a broad range of commercial contracts.
• Advised a private casino as their in-house General Counsel.
• Advised on commercial contracts for videogame/app development, platform publishing deals, agency and distribution deals, merchandising, and marketing contracts.
• Advised on commercial contracts and provided private equity investment advice for a games developer, distributor and content aggregation company that offers a platform for third-party games.
• Advised a leading provider of casino table games, online slots and online platform services on commercial contracts relating to commercial relationships with several gaming companies.
• Provided general Isle of Man law advice to a leading sports betting organisation, including the preparation of key commercial agreements to document the rights and obligations of the client’s new business activities.
• Advised a hosting services provider in relation to its entry into a long-term hosting agreement with one of the largest e-gaming organisations in the world.
• Advised an Isle of Man and UK-based e-gaming promotional tool business during its start-up phases.

• Advised the management team of Gameiom Technologies Limited during the sale of its entire issued share capital to PlayAGS, Inc.
• Advised an Isle of Man-based game development group of companies on commercial contracts and private equity investment, including the preparation of: master investment agreement; shareholders’ agreement and related articles of association; software development agreements; software licensing agreement; revenue share agreements; regulatory and licensing agreements; and share option deeds.
• Advised an e-gaming aggregator and content provider during its acquisition by a NYSE-listed, Las Vegas-based gaming company.

• Advised a UK subsidiary to a global gaming and gambling company, who are part of the group that provides the tech for the UK national lottery, on employment law issues.
• Represented an international gambling company in Employment Tribunal litigation.
• Advised an international gambling company on a large-scale restructure together with dealing with disciplinaries, grievances and other HR issues.
• Advised an online betting business on the closure of their entire call centre operation, which involved relocating operations from being home- to office-based. This included collective redundancy in the UK and relocation of call centre staff based in Spain, the Netherlands and Gibraltar.

• Advised prize draw operators on how to operate legally.
• Assisted with the attempted acquisition of a large UK casino operator by an EU operator.
• Applying for premises licences, defending review applications, assisting with corporate transactions and providing legal opinions.
• Advised clients on the application of ASA and CAP code rules in relation to the promotion of betting/prize competitions.
• Advised a yacht company in relation to the structuring of a prize competition to ensure that it implemented a sufficient level of skill, judgment or knowledge to place the competition outside of a licensing requirement.
• Regulatory advice to a nifty fifty blockchain influencer concerning the structuring of NFT prize competitions and compliance with the Gambling Act, including review of terms and conditions of the competition.
• Advised a founder of an online poker/NFT project in relation to compliance with the Gambling Act.
• Advised a client on the design of a cryptocurrency mining game and compliance with both FCA and Gambling Commission requirements.
• Advised a blockchain-based football trading platform as to whether crypto tokens issued by the platform constituted financial securities.
• Provided a client with advice and an international comparative analysis of gaming/gambling rules in relation to a project engaging Panama, BVI, Cayman and the UK. The project potentially involved the operation of a lottery and prize draw.
• Advised an Asia-based e-gaming client and its owners on its successful application for an Isle of Man e-gaming licence and structured the underlying holding and operating companies.
• Advised blockchain/digital asset companies in relation to aspects of regulation within the Isle of Man and provided advice in respect of the regulatory requirements of ICO issuing companies.
• Undertook a sponsor licence audit for a renowned gaming organisation and successfully challenged the Home Office when the licence was withdrawn.
• Advised an Asia-owned e-gaming business and its Asia-based owners on a successful application for an Isle of Man e-gaming licence and structuring the underlying holding and operating companies.
• Acted for a multinational land-based and remote gambling operator in relation to an operating licence review brought by the Gambling Commission which involved betting integrity and self-exclusion failures.
• Advised a listed remote gambling operator on the change of corporate control applications required as a result of its acquisition by a UK PLC.
• Advised a remote casino operator on compliance assessment and licence review relating to anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings.
• Acted for a lottery betting operator on the judicial review of Government legislation making it unlawful to offer bets on the outcome of Euromillions draws.
• Advice to operators of prize competitions, free draws, product promotions and social gaming products, including drafting promotional terms and conditions.
• Written advice to remote casino and betting operators on the civil, criminal and financial risks of operating in grey and black markets.
• Advice on international gambling licensing post-Brexit, including obtaining licences and recognition notices within the EU.
• Retained by a number of gambling operators to advise on TV, radio and print marketing material to ensure compliance with BCAP/CAP Codes, LCCP, industry codes and general consumer law.
• Advised on B2B and B2C issues to Flutter (brands include Skybet, Betfair, Paddy power, Poker Stars), William Hill Group, Entain (Ladbrokes, Coral), Gamesys, BetVictor, bet365, LeoVegas, and numerous other online providers.
• Prepared and submitted betting premises licence applications for a UK leading gambling company.
• Prepared and submitted operating licence applications to the Gambling Commission.
• Advised pubs and bars upon the types of gaming which could take place in their premises without the requirement to obtain a licence.
• Submitted applications for bingo premises licences for a number of operators including holiday parks and also applied for Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centre Permits, Adult Gaming Centre and Family Entertainment Centre premises licences.

• Defended a client facing a serious UK Gambling Commission review citing numerous failings.
• Acted for Forex Capital Markets Limited in defeating a claim for c£3m brought by a private client for damages pertaining to his trading account. FXCM recovered a sizeable chunk of its expended costs as the successful party. It was the first case on application of the FCA Rules under MiFID II.
• Advised Trade Nation, a spread betting firm, on various potentially litigious matters.
• Acted for a spread betting company in defeating a claim for significant damages based upon an allegation that unlawful advice had been provided to a client.
• Acted for a spread betting company in defeating a claim for significant damages based upon an allegation of breach of statutory duty.
• Acted as lead advisor on Dhir v Flutter Entertainment plc, the leading case on third-party claims in the UK gambling industry, and coordination of the defence of claims across the UK, Germany, Austria and Malta.
• Advised on Gambling Commission enforcement actions against online operators including William Hill, Flutter, Skybet, Playtech, Mr Green and many others.
• Advised on enforcement action personal management licences for senior executives at Caesars and Rank.
• Advised Playtech on a dispute following failure of delivery of an EU sports betting platform.
• Acted for several high-end London casinos in multi-million-pound claims including obtaining freezing injunctions in cross-border cases, summary judgment and achieving good commercial settlements.
• Represented a high-end London casino in a £2.5m claim against a Malaysian player including obtaining a worldwide freezing order, a finding of contempt of court and breach of an unless order resulting in full recovery with interest and costs for the club.
• Succeeded in a £1m claim against a Middle Eastern player for a high-end London casino which went to trial.
• Acted for a high-end London casino in litigation over a £500k debt including successfully obtaining judgment after trial and a post-judgment freezing order.
• Obtained an order for alternative service against a non-responsive Middle Eastern player, served proceedings, obtained judgment and a post-judgment freezing order, located assets in the UK and enforced against the assets, enabling recovery of over 80% of the original debt.