Tether.bet Payment Trail Brings IFX and Fispay Into Focus
Labour has asked the Gambling Commission to examine whether Tether.bet and Fispay were involved in offering or supporting gambling services to British customers without the required license. The request follows an investigation by The Sunday Times into the companies and their links to people close to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Tether.bet, which was based in Montenegro, closed on August 12. The Gambling Commission has not announced a formal investigation at this stage.
UK Licensing Rules Come Into Focus
Remote gambling operators serving consumers in Great Britain need a Gambling Commission license even when the business itself is based overseas. The Sunday Times reported that Tether.bet worked with high-value British customers through a private client operation. The service promoted unusually large betting limits and sent tailored offers through encrypted messaging rather than relying only on its public website. Some customers could place bets before transferring funds, with balances settled later.
That setup made the payment route especially important. Some British customers were given Fispay bank details when they needed to clear balances or receive funds.
Fispay Payments Ran Through IFX
Fispay did not use a conventional bank account for those transactions, according to the report. It instead made and received payments through IFX, a cross-border payments business owned by Christopher Harborne.
Harborne bought IFX in 2021 for £112 million. Journalist Gabriel Pogrund later reported that Andrew Reid, a longtime friend and lawyer of Farage, received £1 million from Harborne after referring him to the company. Harborne later asked whether IFX could take Farage on as a client.
The Sunday Times reported that IFX could not provide the requested banking facilities because it lacked the relevant license. George Cottrell, another Farage associate named in the investigation, has also used IFX for business payments.
Key Figures Dispute the Allegations
The companies and individuals involved dispute key parts of the reporting. Representatives for Harborne and IFX said Harborne has never been involved in IFX’s operations and that the company follows applicable regulations.
Cottrell’s lawyers said his relationship with Tether.bet was limited to being a customer and friend of its owner. They denied that he operated a betting company or solicited customers. Fispay owner Mowbray Jackson has also denied that his company provided gambling facilities.
What a UKGC Review Would Examine
The political links have drawn much of the attention, but the regulatory issue is simpler. The UKGC would have to determine whether Tether.bet knowingly accepted customers in Britain without a license. It may also examine how Fispay and IFX were used to settle payments and what the companies knew about the underlying transactions. Payment records could therefore become an important part of any further action.