Must Read Trustpilot hosting reviews of illegal UK casinos.

[Nate]

Trustpilot hosting reviews of UK-unlicensed casinos, Guardian finds
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Trustpilot has been hosting review pages for online casinos operating without UK Gambling Commission licenses,

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The brands identified included MyStake, Velobet, and Goldenbet, all part of the Santeda International network previously exposed in a separate Guardian and Investigate Europe investigation as targeting players who had self-excluded from licensed gambling through GamStop. Operating gambling services in the UK without a license from the Gambling Commission is a criminal offense under the Gambling Act 2005.

Trustpilot's pages for the unlicensed operators reportedly praised them on grounds including game selection and site speed, presented in the same format as pages for licensed businesses. The platform also hosted review pages for affiliate sites that drove traffic to the unlicensed operators. After the Guardian contacted them, Trustpilot removed the review pages for the affiliate sites. It did not remove the review pages for the unlicensed operators themselves.

In a statement, Trustpilot said it operates as an open platform and that a profile on the site does not imply regulatory approval or licensing. It said illegal businesses are not permitted on Trustpilot, that it monitors the space closely, and that it had taken action against 3,400 profiles linked to unlicensed gambling in the previous week alone.

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson expressed serious concern about the findings, pointing to the illegal gambling taskforce funded by £26m announced in the November 2025 budget.

Labor MP Alex Ballinger, who has campaigned for tougher gambling regulation, told the Guardian there was no justification for promoting sites not permitted to operate in the UK.

The reporting follows a January 2026 inquest into the death of 36-year-old Ollie Long, which ruled that unlicensed operators were part of the "factual matrix" that contributed to his suicide. It is the first inquest finding in the UK to formally implicate the unlicensed gambling market in a gambling-related death.

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Related: Media Reveals Santeda's Dark Casino Empire | The Not-On-GamStop Industry Has a Body Count

 

[SYPlayer95]

Trustpilot isn't fit for purpose anyway.
The amount of fake reviews on there is unreal.

 

[thediro]

This is absolutely nothing to the *standard* they produce now days.

Goto ANY casino

Paddy power / Betmgm etc etc

They are FLOODED with fake 5 star bought reviews and the real problem is, when you question it - they ban you....out right ban you.

No appeals - nothing, flagged, banned.

Its the most disgusting disgraceful untrustworthy website on the planet right now.

Been calling this out for over a year now in hopes something gets highlighted and mentioned about it.

They need shut down asap.

 

[maxd]

AND they do nothing to regulate the content. Someone posted a 1-star review against us saying we didn’t pay them their winnings. We’re not a casino FFS! We don’t offer games … there are no “winnings” at CM. We reported it to TP and all they did was ask the OP if they wanted to change or remove their “review”; OP said “no” so the stupid thing is there to this day.

I was tempted to create an account and post a review against us that said that our hotel accomodations on Mars were appalling and that as a traveller from the 24th century I expected much better, then complain to TP. I was willing to bet myself good money that I’d get a message from TP asking if I wanted to change my "review”.

The point is that you can pretty much post anything you like on TP. They get traffic for it so they don’t care.