The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has suspended the licence of Spribe OÜ, a Poland-headquartered casino games developer.

The company held a software licence with the Commission, but the regulator states it has come across cases of ‘serious non-compliance’ with its hosting requirements.

In short, it appears that Spribe has been carrying out casino game hosting without holding the appropriate licence from the UKGC. The company has held a Gambling Software licence with the Commission since December 2020.

Its flagship game is Aviator, a crash game which is offered by several high-profile licensed UK operators, including Paddy Power, 888casino, Genting Casino, BetVictor and BetMGM. However, according to the UKGC, Spribe’s UK licence did not cover hosting.

This is when a casino games developer hosts casino games on its own platform on behalf of a partner operator via that operator’s backend, in contrast to the more direct route of a supplier selling its games to an operator that subsequently hosts said games themselves.

“We have clearly communicated to the operator that all hosting activity must stop immediately unless and until a suitable hosting licence is obtained,” the Commission’s statement read.

“Under Section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005, it is a criminal offence to provide facilities for gambling in Great Britain without a licence from the Gambling Commission, unless a specific exemption applies.

“The Gambling Commission takes a robust approach to unlicensed gambling activity and always expects the highest standards of compliance and integrity from its licensees.”

As well as its now-suspended UK licence, Spribe is also licensed in Malta, Gibraltar, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ontario, among various other jurisdictions across Europe, Africa and the Americas.

It is important to clarify that Spribe is not accused of running an illegal gambling operation, but rather a licensing infraction by carrying out B2B activity that was not covered under the remit of its licence.

However, the Commission’s decision to suspend Spribe’s licence, citing unlicensed gaming activity, indicates that the regulator’s campaign against unlicensed gaming is becoming far more widespread than just targeting illegal betting platforms.

The regulator has also previously indicated that it intends to monitor the B2B side of gaming just as much as the BC2 side of things, though the vast majority of its enforcement actions continue to target B2C firms.

SBC Media has reached out to Spribe for comment.