Official Premier League partner Sorare today pleaded not guilty in court to providing unlicensed gambling facilities to consumers in the United Kingdom.
The French firm entered three not-guilty pleas at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning.
Sorare has been charged by the Gambling Commission with three counts of providing unlicensed gambling facilities remotely for consumers in the UK.
Each charge relates to a different time period between February 2022 and April 2024. No-one from the company was in court but it entered pleas via solicitor Kwaku Awuku-Asabre.
District judge David Murray adjourned the case for trial at the same court on June 16 next year with a pre-trial hearing to take place on March 10.
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In January 2023, the Premier League announced a four-year license with Sorare “to release digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs as part of its free-to-play online fantasy football game”. Sorare features on the Premier League’s official website as a partner.
Sorare is a game in which players buy in cryptocurrency, win and manage a virtual team of digital player cards (NFTs, or non-fungible tokens). Its website says users can “compete for more than $15,000,000 in total cash prizes, VIP tickets, signed jerseys and more”.
“Sorare’s digital cards and innovative online game represent a new way for them to feel closer to the Premier League whether they are watching in the stadium or from around the world,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters commented when the Sorare deal was announced.
The Gambling Commission said in 2021 that it was investigating whether Sorare provided a gambling service and if it therefore needed a license to do so. The Premier League did not comment following the news that Sorare had been charged.
Premier League side Liverpool previously partnered with Sorare. The club posted about the partnership as recently as April, but they no longer have a relationship with the French company following the expiration of their deal in May.
According to its website, Sorare also has partnerships with MLS, the Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga, as well as the NBA and MLB.
Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe is also partnered with the firm, per its website, and has posted advertisements for it on his social media platforms.
Sorare was founded in Paris in 2018 and claims to have three million users across 180 countries. It also lists former footballers Rio Ferdinand and Gerard Pique among its investors and partners.
Additional reporting: Luke Bosher, Caoimhe O’Neil
(Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)