Fake ‘Tesco Casino’ Still Accessible in UK Despite Police Report

A fake Tesco-branded online casino remains freely accessible to UK players, despite the supermarket reporting the operation to police.

Tesco alerted City of London Police after its branding was used to promote an unlicensed gambling site on Facebook. The casino, TescoSlots.com, claims to be the ‘official Tesco casino’ and heavily targets British players.

TheLines UK tested the website today, 13 September, and was able to access it from within the UK without use of a VPN. The site operates only under a Curaçao licence, meaning it is not legally able to offer gambling services to customers within the UK.

Tesco Slots Claims to Be the ‘Official Tesco Casino’

Making no attempt to disguise who they are impersonating, Tesco Slots Casino describes itself as the ‘official Tesco casino’ claiming it’s ‘bringing the UK’s most trusted supermarket brand to online casino’. It also mentions Tesco debit cards, clubcard points, and even offers a tiered loyalty system with tiers including ‘Everyday, Extra, Finest, and Clubcard Elite’.

While all of this is worrying for Tesco, it’s worrying for players too. Claiming that players can deposit using a ‘Tesco debit card’ despite Tesco Bank having closed its personal current accounts in 2021, can only hint at how poor payment services are at this site.

The strong UK targeting is another red flag, with payments displayed in pounds sterling and regular references to ‘UK favourites’ and even directions towards GamCare.

Tesco Reports Fake Casino to Police

After finding the website through Facebook advertising, Tesco referred the website to City of London Police. Specifically, to both the National Cyber Security Centre and Report Fraud. While City of London Police confirmed it had received the report, it had not yet passed the matter to a police force for investigation.

Tesco is far from the only major British brand to have been impersonated in this way. Barclays and Monzo have also had their branding used to promote casinos. In a similar way, the identities of several sports stars including Lewis Hamilton, Tyson Fury, Jude Bellingham and Bruno Fernandes have been used without permission.

The Gambling Commission and Advertising Standards Authority are both aware of the wider problem.

Why Is an Illegal Casino Still Accessible in Britain?

The continuing availability of Tesco Slots demonstrates one of the biggest difficulties regulators face when tackling the illegal gambling market.

Between April and June 2026 alone, the Gambling Commission referred 366 illegal gambling websites to search engines and issued 217 cease-and-desist notices to illegal operators. It also made 103 referrals to website registrars or hosting providers.

However, during the same period, just 27 websites were recorded as having introduced geo-blocking following regulatory action. A further 14 were removed or suspended by their registrar or hosting provider.

Removing an illegal gambling website from Google or social media can make it considerably harder to find. Yet, it does not necessarily prevent someone who already knows the address from visiting it directly.

That distinction is sadly particularly visible in the Tesco case.

Meta promptly removed the Facebook advertising associated with the fake casino. Yet, at the time of writing, a British player can still type TescoSlots.com into their browser and reach a website claiming to be the official casino of one of the UK's biggest supermarkets.