The decision was taken after Sorare, which is based in Paris, France, raised US$680 million last month in just one round of investments. After the announcement of the British investigation, Sorare released a statement saying it was “very confident” that it does not offer any form of regulated gambling.
“The Gaming Commission is currently investigating the company to determine whether Sorare requires an operating license or whether the services it provides do not constitute gambling. Consumers are being advised to consider this information when deciding whether or not to interact with the site,” the commission said in a statement.
Sorare's business model allows users to buy and sell digital player cards via tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Users can then build rosters with their tokens to enter competitions and earn points based on their players' performance in real life. The model is similar to the game Cartola, created by Globo for the Brazilian Championship.
Prizes are given in the form of ETH cryptocurrency or on rare player cards within the fantasy game itself. More than a hundred football clubs and leagues have partnerships with Sorare, which recently closed with LaLiga and the Bundesliga.
The UK government plans to ban Premier League clubs from selling shirt ads to bookmakers, which would follow a ban imposed by Italy and Spain recently. Now, if cryptocurrency companies are framed as a form of gaming, the veto will extend to them within the UK.
Cryptocurrency companies have grown in the wake of the ban on gambling sponsors in Spain and Italy. At LaLiga, a recent report by consultancy GlobalData showed that clubs have received US$36.8 million in partnerships with cryptocurrency companies this season. In Serie A, Roma, Internazionale and now Lazio now have a cryptocurrency company as their master sponsor.
Source: Máquina do Esporte
