Inside the Fake Casino Ads Using Tesco and Celebrity Names

Tesco has reported the unauthorised use of its name in online casino advertising after adverts using the supermarket's branding appeared on Facebook and Instagram.

The adverts gave the impression that Tesco had launched an online casino. The site they promoted, TescoSlots, described itself as an official Tesco casino and was accessible from Great Britain despite not holding a Gambling Commission licence.

Tesco referred the matter to the National Cyber Security Centre and Report Fraud, the service operated by City of London Police.

GamRight checked the Tesco-branded casino site directly on 16 September.

As the site mentioned in this article is not licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission, linking to it would be counterproductive and contrary to GamRight's editorial principles.

What we found went beyond the use of a Tesco logo.

The site borrowed Tesco's history, Clubcard branding, banking products and mobile service. It quoted genuine British gambling rules and named familiar casino suppliers and safer gambling organisations.

At the same time, it did not identify the company supposedly operating the casino, provided no Gambling Commission licence details and told customers they could start gambling without verification.

It presents itself as a Tesco casino

When GamRight checked the site, it described itself as an official Tesco casino.

It claimed to offer more than 3,000 casino games and live tables, with a welcome offer of £1,500 and 250 free spins.

The Tesco references continued throughout the site.

Its loyalty scheme used tiers called Everyday, Extra, Finest and Clubcard Elite. The site compared browsing casino games with walking through the aisles of a Tesco Extra and repeatedly drew on Tesco's history and reputation.

Payment information claimed customers could use a Tesco debit card and referred to Tesco Mobile among the payment options.

Tesco has said it has no involvement with the operation.

The Tesco debit card no longer exists

The casino site repeatedly referred to a Tesco debit card, including describing it as the same card a customer would use in a Tesco store.

Tesco Bank closed all of its personal current accounts on 30 November 2021.

Clubcard Pay+, which subsequently offered customers a payment card linked to a Tesco account, closed on 26 April 2026. Tesco Bank states that the card can no longer be used.

The casino site was still advertising Tesco debit card deposits when GamRight checked it on 16 September.

Some of the British gambling rules are real

Other claims on the site are more convincing because they refer to rules that genuinely apply to licensed gambling businesses in Great Britain.

It tells visitors that credit cards cannot be used for gambling in Britain. The ban on credit card gambling came into force in April 2020.

It also says its promotions follow the UK's maximum 10x wagering requirement.

That rule is real too. Since 19 January 2026, Gambling Commission licensees have been limited to a maximum wagering requirement of ten times the bonus amount on relevant promotional offers.

A customer unfamiliar with the detail could therefore encounter genuine British gambling rules alongside Tesco branding and assume they were looking at a British-regulated casino.

The licensing information tells a different story.

“No verification is needed to start playing”

One of the clearest differences appears in the site's own registration information.

When GamRight checked it, the site told prospective customers:

“No verification is needed to start playing.”

It said customers could register, deposit from £10 and begin gambling immediately.

Gambling Commission licensed online operators cannot offer that process.

Licensed remote gambling businesses must verify a customer's age before allowing them to deposit or gamble. They must also establish and verify the customer's identity, including their name, address and date of birth, before permitting them to gamble.

The same website was therefore quoting genuine British rules on credit cards and bonus wagering while advertising a sign-up process that does not meet the requirements applying to Gambling Commission licensees.

Who is taking the money?

The site repeatedly claimed to operate under a Curaçao licence.

It did not identify the company supposedly holding that licence in the material GamRight examined.

There was no named operating company alongside the licensing claim and no licence number. Instead, the site referred generally to an unnamed “operating company” being responsible for it.

If a customer deposits money, who have they actually entered into a contract with?

The site used Tesco's trading history when discussing trust and described its platform as benefiting from the reputation of the supermarket.

Tesco's history does not identify the company holding a customer's gambling balance or deciding whether a withdrawal is paid.

An overseas licence is not permission to operate in Great Britain

A gambling business can hold licences in more than one jurisdiction.

What matters to a customer in England, Scotland or Wales is whether the business holds the appropriate Gambling Commission licence for the gambling it offers in Great Britain.

An overseas gambling licence does not replace that requirement.

The Guardian reported that the Tesco-branded casino did not hold a Gambling Commission licence when it examined the operation.

The Gambling Commission's public register allows consumers to search by business name, trading name, domain or account number and check the current status of a licence.

Our guide to checking whether a gambling site is licensed in Great Britain explains how to check the operator and the actual website domain before depositing.

Our guide to gambling sites outside the British licensing system covers the protections that can be lost when an operator is not licensed by the Gambling Commission.

Tesco is not the only familiar name being used

The Tesco campaign is part of a broader pattern.

The Guardian documented gambling promotions using Barclays and Monzo branding as well as the names or images of Lewis Hamilton, Tyson Fury, Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes.

Barclays said it had no involvement with material using its brand. Monzo described the activity as an AI-enabled scam, while Tyson Fury publicly denied any involvement with a casino using his name.

Some campaigns have gone beyond putting a celebrity photograph beside a gambling offer. Previous examples have included fake news stories, AI-generated material and gambling products presented as though they were connected with the person whose identity was being used.

For an unknown casino, a familiar name can make an advert look far more credible than the gambling business behind it deserves.

Facebook advertising is not evidence of a gambling licence

The Tesco casino was promoted through Facebook and had its own page on the platform.

Meta removed adverts after the Guardian contacted the company. Meta's position was reported as placing responsibility on advertisers to comply with relevant local laws and regulations.

The wider scale of illegal gambling activity is substantial.

Between April and June 2026, the Gambling Commission referred 147,721 URLs to search engines as part of its work against unlicensed gambling. It also issued 217 cease-and-desist notices to illegal operators and another 73 to advertisers or affiliates.

The Government's Illegal Gambling Taskforce lists tackling online advertising for illegal gambling as one of its main areas of work.

An advert appearing on Facebook, Instagram or another large platform should not be treated as evidence that the gambling business behind it has been checked or licensed.

The warning signs were already there

The Tesco-branded site had several features worth checking before anyone deposited money.

It used the identity of a major company that does not operate the casino.

It advertised a Tesco debit card that no longer exists.

It relied on an overseas licensing claim without clearly identifying the licensed company or providing a licence number.

It quoted real British gambling rules while telling customers they could begin gambling without the age and identity verification required of Gambling Commission licensees.

It also used Tesco's reputation to support claims about its own trustworthiness.

None of those checks requires specialist gambling knowledge. The problem is that most people seeing a casino advert on social media are unlikely to investigate the corporate and regulatory details before clicking it.

Check the domain, not just the name

A copied Gambling Commission logo or licence number would not prove much on its own either.

The Gambling Commission register can be searched using a domain name as well as the business or trading name.

A fraudulent or unlicensed site can copy the name of a legitimate gambling business or reproduce licence information belonging to somebody else.

The useful check is whether the website actually open in your browser connects to the licensed business shown in the register.

Our gambling licence checking guide walks through that process and explains what to look for when the company name, trading name or domain does not match.

For a British customer, four questions will catch a large proportion of obvious problems:

• Who is the legal company operating the site?
• Does it hold an active Gambling Commission licence for the gambling being offered?
• Does the Gambling Commission record connect that licence to the website being used?
• Can the site's own claims about licensing and payments be independently verified?

If those questions cannot be answered before money or identity documents are handed over, there is no good reason to proceed.

Familiar branding proves very little

The Tesco site is convincing in places because not everything on it is obviously false.

It quotes genuine British gambling rules. It names real casino suppliers. It refers to recognised safer gambling organisations and uses familiar British payment methods, terminology and branding.

Those details sit alongside claims that fail relatively simple checks.

Tesco has no involvement with the casino. The Tesco debit card it advertises is no longer available. Its operator is not clearly identified. It does not hold the Gambling Commission licence required for the gambling it offers in Great Britain.

The useful question is not whether a casino website looks convincing.

It is who is actually taking the money.