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, directing users to a site called TescoSlots that described itself as an official Tesco casino. The site 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 directly on 16 September.

GamRight has deliberately not linked to the site. It is not licensed by the Gambling Commission to offer gambling in Great Britain, and linking to it would make an unlicensed operator easier to reach.

The use of Tesco branding ran through much of the site. It borrowed the supermarket's history, Clubcard branding, banking products and mobile service, while also quoting genuine British gambling rules and naming familiar casino suppliers and safer gambling organisations. However, the material GamRight examined did not identify the company supposedly operating the casino, provide Gambling Commission licence details or require verification before a customer could begin gambling.

It presents itself as a Tesco casino

When GamRight checked the site, it described itself as an official Tesco casino and claimed to offer more than 3,000 casino games and live tables, alongside a welcome offer of £1,500 and 250 free spins.

The Tesco references continued through the loyalty and payment sections. Loyalty tiers were called Everyday, Extra, Finest and Clubcard Elite, and the site compared browsing casino games with walking through the aisles of a Tesco Extra. Payment information claimed customers could use a Tesco debit card and also referred to Tesco Mobile. 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. That claim is out of date.

Tesco Bank closed all of its personal current accounts on 30 November 2021. Clubcard Pay+, which later offered customers a payment card linked to a Tesco account, closed on 26 April 2026 and 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

Several claims on the site 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, reflecting the ban that came into force in April 2020. It also says its promotions follow the UK's maximum 10x wagering requirement. 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.

Accurate references like these can make a site look more credible, particularly when they appear alongside familiar British branding. They do not establish that the operator itself is licensed in Great Britain.

“No verification is needed to start playing”

The site's registration information was much harder to reconcile with British licensing requirements. When GamRight checked it, prospective customers were told:

“No verification is needed to start playing.”

The site said customers could register, deposit from £10 and begin gambling immediately. Gambling Commission licensed remote operators must verify a customer's age before allowing them to deposit or gamble. They must also establish and verify the customer's identity, including name, address and date of birth, before permitting them to gamble.

The site therefore quoted 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, but the material GamRight examined did not identify the company supposedly holding that licence. 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.

That leaves a basic contractual question unanswered for anyone considering a deposit: which legal company would actually hold the gambling balance and decide whether a withdrawal is paid? References to Tesco's history and reputation do not answer that question.

An overseas licence is not permission to operate in Great Britain

A gambling business can hold licences in more than one jurisdiction, but an overseas licence does not replace the Gambling Commission licence required for gambling offered to customers in England, Scotland or Wales.

The Guardian reported that the Tesco-branded casino did not hold a Gambling Commission licence when it examined the operation. Consumers can search the Gambling Commission's public register by business name, trading name, domain or account number and check the current status of a licence.

Tesco is not the only familiar name being used

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.

Other campaigns have used fake news stories, AI-generated material and gambling products presented as though they were connected with the person whose identity was being used. A familiar company or celebrity can give an unknown casino an appearance of credibility that comes from the borrowed name rather than the gambling business itself.

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, and its reported position placed responsibility on advertisers to comply with relevant local laws and regulations.

The scale of enforcement work shows why appearing on a major advertising platform should not be treated as a licensing check. 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 online advertising for illegal gambling among its main areas of work.

An advert appearing on Facebook, Instagram or another large platform does not show that the gambling business behind it has been checked or licensed.

The warning signs were already there

Several features of the Tesco-branded site could be checked before depositing 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 advertising gambling without the age and identity verification required of Gambling Commission licensees
• it used Tesco's reputation to support claims about its own trustworthiness

None of these checks requires specialist gambling knowledge, although someone following a social media advert may not stop to investigate the corporate and regulatory details before clicking through.

Check the domain, not just the name

A copied Gambling Commission logo or licence number is not enough to establish that a website is licensed. A fraudulent or unlicensed site can copy the name of a legitimate gambling business or reproduce licence information belonging to somebody else.

The Gambling Commission register can be searched by domain as well as business or trading name. The important check is whether the website actually open in your browser is connected to the licensed business shown in the register.

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 can look convincing because some of the information on it is accurate. It quotes genuine British gambling rules, names real casino suppliers, refers to recognised safer gambling organisations and uses familiar British payment terminology and branding.

Those details do not resolve the more important problems. Tesco has no involvement with the casino, the Tesco debit card it advertises is no longer available, its operator is not clearly identified and it does not hold the Gambling Commission licence required for the gambling it offers in Great Britain.

Before handing over money or identity documents, the practical question is who is operating the site, under which legal entity and licence, and whether the domain in the browser matches the Gambling Commission record.