The ease with which British citizens can purchase pre-verified accounts on crypto casinos—a kind of unregulated online gambling site—has been shown by “astonishing” research.
Crypto casinos are unregulated online gambling establishments that operate illegally in the United Kingdom.
Influencers who have a stake in gambling, such musician Drake, have helped them become more well-known.
The restrictions put in place to prevent British citizens from gambling on these risky websites may be easily circumvented, as Sky News discovered. The accounts are pre-configured, so all that a customer needs to do is log in and begin betting without having to fill out any paperwork or enter personal information.
“Astounding” is how Carolyn Harris MP, the head of a parliamentary committee that examines the negative effects of gaming, described the results.
Anti-gambling organizations caution that adolescents and people with gambling disorders are especially drawn to cryptocurrency casinos. One campaigner told Sky News that the addictiveness of cryptocurrency casinos is “turbocharged” when compared to traditional gambling.
RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION
Sky News has conducted interviews with buyers and sellers and examined hundreds of advertisements from various social media platforms during the past three months.
The advertisements were placed on TikTok, Telegram, Reddit, and X (previously Twitter), but they largely surfaced on Facebook and Discord, a discussion board that is popular among gamers.
The most frequently promoted and desired accounts by buyers were those belonging to Stake.com, one of the biggest cryptocurrency casinos, according to an analysis of these advertisements.
Since the beginning of October, advertisements for over 200 Stake.com accounts have been placed on Facebook, and at least 100 have been promoted on a single Discord channel.
There was no proof that Stake.com or any other cryptocurrency casino was aware of or approved of these advertisements. Unauthorized usage of their branding is occurring on social media, such as in this 18,000-member group.
