- BC.GAME’s parent companies declared bankrupt by a Curacao court last week
- The operator reportedly owed five gamblers a sum of around £1.5million
- Its parent company is meeting with the Curacao Gaming Control Board to appeal
Leicester City‘s shirt sponsor has reportedly had its licence revoked by a court just days after the Premier League club opted not to switch sponsor despite the company’s declaration of bankruptcy.
Online sports betting, casino and crypto trading platform BC.GAME signed a two-year deal with the Foxes in July worth £30million after the side got promoted to the Premier League.
In the wake of the lucrative agreement, Leicester expressed their happiness at working with a ‘community-based, online cryptocurrency gaming platform’.
But things started going slightly pear-shaped last week when Blockdance BV and Small House BV, the platform’s parent companies, were declared bankrupt by a court in Curacao, the Caribbean territory where the company is registered.
It emerged that the operator had failed to pay back £1.5m owed to a group of five gamblers.
Now BC.GAME have had their gaming licence taken away from them by the Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB), gambling trade publication NEXT.io reports.
Leicester City’s shirt sponsor BC.Game has had its licence revoked after declaring bankruptcy
The company had reportedly failed to pay back five gamblers a sum of around £1.5million
Although the body has previously gained a reputation for being lenient, its new system – known as National Ordinance for Games of Chance – has taken on a stricter attitude and previously stripped an operator called Rabidi N.V. of its licence after going bankrupt.
The GCB’s managing director Cedric Pietersz will meet with Small House BV’s newly-appointed trustee Barbara Nagelmackers to discuss the ruling in a hearing.
The identity of BC.GAME’s owners is unknown although Josimar believe they are based in the Far East, perhaps Taiwan or Singapore.
The company is unlicensed throughout continental Europe and the United Kingdom and is ‘black-listed’ in a number of countries, including Greece, Bulgaria and Lithuania.
The decision comes after Leicester decided to stick with their £30m partner despite the bankruptcy declaration coming to light last week.
Bankruptcy is deemed an exceptional event under Premier League rules meaning the Foxes had a right to look for a new shirt sponsor but declined to do so.
The club were confident in BC.Game’s claims that they had no liquidity issues and were good for their £30m, half of which they insist has already been paid.
Leicester were not planning to review the situation until the end of the season in May, when the first year of the contract had elapsed, but where this will change in light of the court’s latest decision remains to be seen.
Leicester stuck with the sponsor despite them being declared bankrupt last week
More than half of the Premier League, including Aston Villa, have gambling sponsors on the front of their shirts
Last year, Premier League clubs agreed to ban gambling companies from front-of-shirt sponsorship deals from the 2026-27 season.
But more than half – 11 – of the sides in the top-flight continue to cash in on such partnerships, including Champions League outfit Aston Villa.
In March this year, Leicester were charged by the Premier League for breaching spending rules for the three-year period ending in June 2023, which could have resulted in them being docked points at some point during the current campaign.
But the club successfully argued that because they were no longer a top-flight club on the date they were charged, the Premier League did not have the authority to punish them.
