A Fake Tesco Casino Is Still Live and Ranking First on Google

The Ads Are Down but the Site Remains

A high-profile example of company impersonation in the iGaming space reached mainstream media as the Guardian found out about Tesco Slots, the “official Tesco casino” per its fraudulent Meta advertising. The site holds no Gambling Commission license and the supermarket chain is not actually associated with the product.

The company has referred the operation to the National Cyber Security Centre and to Report Fraud, the service run by City of London Police, the Guardian reported on Sunday. Police confirmed receiving the complaint but said it had not been passed to a force for investigation “at this time.” Tesco declined to comment.

Per the Guardian, the site claims its slot machine games are “laid out as clearly as the aisles at a Tesco Extra” and “built on the trust of Tesco, a FTSE 100 company with 107 years of UK trading history since 1919”. It invites customers to deposit with their Tesco debit card – something that does not exist anymore. Barclays completed a £600 million acquisition of Tesco Personal Finance’s retail banking business on Nov. 1, 2024, taking over credit cards, unsecured personal loans, deposits and the operating infrastructure under a ten-year exclusive partnership that kept the Tesco Bank brand: the retail chain retained only insurance and money services.

Barclays itself is also being impersonated in the same wave. One Facebook advertisement for “Barclays Slots,” since removed, featured what appeared to be an AI-generated woman having her trousers pulled down before turning to reveal a Barclays casino game on her phone. Barclays said it “does not endorse or have any involvement” with the material. Monzo, also impersonated, called it “an AI-enabled scam where criminals take advantage of our much-loved brand to trick people.”

The Gambling Commission can act against unlicensed sites targeting UK consumers and expects further powers this autumn under the crime and policing bill, but unauthorized use of intellectual property falls outside its remit. It called using a trusted brand to funnel people toward unlicensed casino products, “a particularly cynical version” of gambling-linked crime. Entain’s UK and Ireland managing director Bejay Patel, whose Coral and Gala Bingo brands have also been impersonated, said platforms “continue to profit from hosting their adverts” and called for Ofcom to “take a harder line.” Meta’s position, as the Guardian understands it, is that advertisers rather than platforms are responsible for complying with local regulation.

Unlicensed operators already account for roughly 42% of UK gambling advertising spend and are projected to overtake licensed operators by 2028, according to WARC data. Several impersonation sites claim Curaçao licences, from a jurisdiction now imposing wallet screening and mixer bans on its own operators by 2027. An overseas licence confers no permission to serve British customers.

As of writing this article, it was still serving that page, offering £1,500 and 250 free spins, advertising more than 3,000 slots and live dealer tables, and displaying a one-minute countdown on a “reserved offer.” It names Pragmatic Play and Evolution, two licensed suppliers, among its content providers, and references Clubcard points.

The fake Tesco casino’s name puts it at the top of search results for its keyword in multiple different countries we’ve checked. “Tesco slots” seems to be how UK shoppers look up grocery delivery availability, and Google’s AI overview and most of the page return exactly that – with the unlicensed iGaming platform sitting right above them.