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What is Winners Cup?
Enforcement publicity may lack context, and some settlements may involve errors rather than systemic recklessness. But the sector cannot control how its opponents use these cases. It can only reduce the supply.
At a moment when the industry needs to persuade politicians that regulated gambling is capable of managing risk responsibly, repeated failures in long-established areas such as AML and safer gambling amount to political self-harm.
The Commission may sometimes load the gun, but operators keep providing the ammunition.
What is Winners Cup?
Entain highlighted data from H2 Gambling Capital that warned black market stakes in the UK are expected to nearly double from £17 billion ($22.7 billion) in 2025 to over £33 billion by 2028.
Entain emphasised offshore operators do not employ the same player protection measures and anti-money laundering standards that licensed companies must.
The company also highlighted its own research that suggests over 80% of consumers cannot “confidently distinguish” licensed operators from unlicensed ones.
How to play Winners Cup
Black Cube, an intelligence firm hired by Playtech in 2020 to look into alleged illegal behaviour at its rival Evolution, released a divisive report into Evolution’s actions. Evolution denied and refuted much of its findings.
Evolution then commissioned Spectrum Gaming Group to produce a report on its actions and the validity of the Black Cube report. Produced in 2022, the report has long been subject to confidentiality despite Evolution claiming the report exonerated the company.
Playtech on Wednesday published a statement highlighting what it claimed were compliance failures at Evolution, written into the Spectrum report.
