Premier League crypto partner Sorare has been accused of unlicensed gambling by the UK’s Gambling Commission. 

The commission said today, “Sorare is charged with providing facilities for gambling without holding an operating license,” contrary to the Gambling Act 2005. A court hearing is scheduled for October 4.

However, Sorare, a fantasy league football game that utilizes the Ethereum blockchain to allow players to trade football cards, disputes this allegation and says that the law has been wrongly applied. It told the Guardian, “The commission has misunderstood our business and wrongly determined that gambling laws apply to Sorare.” 

“We are aware of the claims made by the Gambling Commission and have instructed our UK counsel to challenge them. We firmly deny any claims that Sorare is a gambling product under UK laws,” it added.

The commission began its investigation into the $4.3 billion firm back in 2021.

Read more: New Chelsea FC sponsor BingX accused of holding 215K USDT ‘hostage’

Champions League football teams Atlético de Madrid, Sturm Graz, and AC Milan are all sponsored by Sorare and are just three of the 23 teams in the competition that are sponsored by a crypto firm. 

The Guardian reports that the gambling commission has only used its powers once before to charge a man who was drugging dogs to fix greyhound races, reflecting the rarity of today’s charge. In this case, the prosecution was successful and the man was jailed. 

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The English Premier League’s plan to shill crypto tokens to fans moved a step closer after it announced its intention to ink a £30 million-a-year deal with a new provider.

Sky News reports that the league was planning to launch the scheme alongside New York-based software giant ConsenSys but will now sit down with its 20 clubs to talk over the proposed new partnership with French start-up Sorare.

ConsenSys reportedly attempted to change the terms of the almost-agreed deal after NFT prices took a dive but now Sorare has apparently swooped in with a more lucrative offer.

If this new partnership were to be confirmed, Sorare, which is backed by French footballer Kylian Mbappe and Japanese tech investor, SoftBank, would work with the Premier League to produce NFTs based on still images.

Earlier this year, The Athletic reported that the Premier League was planning to split its NFTs into two separate categories — still images and videos. While ConsenSys was initially brought on board to handle the stills — a role that will now be taken by Sorare — NBA Top Shot creator Dapper Labs was potentially earmarked for video duties.

Read more: These six-figure NFTs are down 99%

When the deal between ConsenSys and the Premier League was first floated back in March, potential figures ranged anywhere up to £400 million over four years.

However, the deal was scaled back significantly after the NFT market hit the skids back in June.

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