The Gambling Committee in the U.k. has opened an research into Sorare, a pop nonfungible token (NFT) fantasy soccer game that raised $680M in a funding round last month

"The Gambling Commission is currently carrying out enquiries into the company to plant whether Sorare.com requires an operating license or whether the services information technology provides practice not constitute gambling."

However, Sorare — which closed a $680 meg funding round for its NFT trading card platform in September — denied information technology was involved in anything approaching "regulated gambling".

"Nosotros are very confident Sorare does not offer any forms of regulated gambling. This has been confirmed by expert legal opinions at every stage since the company was founded, including during a number of fundraising rounds," according to the visitor blog.

According to a "consumer information observe" from the Committee released earlier this week, Sorare is non currently licensed and consumers should take care when interacting with the site.

Sorare added: "Nosotros will always engage and take an open dialogue with authorities who reach out to us to larn more about our game."

According to Sorare'due south website, "Sorare is a Fantasy Football game based upon blockchain, where y'all can win rewards for picking the best lineups."

Developed in 2022 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, players buy, sell, trade and manage a virtual team with digital player cards. The Ethereum-based based platform has partnered with 100 soccer clubs, including household names like Real Madrid and Liverpool.

In an stance piece on Gambling Insider, Richard Williams, a gambling and regulation partner at Keystone Police, argued that Sorare may fall into the category of a pool betting or gaming regulated activity under the Gambling Act 2005:

"The Commission will no doubt deport out a thorough review of the product, but there is certainly a legal question mark over this. It is possible that the product could fall into the betting (puddle betting) or gaming regulated activity under the Gambling Human action 2005, depending on how information technology is structured."