Michael Owen broke UK law by promoting unlicensed crypto casino

It's not been a good week for Owen

After being on the wrong end of several jokes about his daughter entering the Love Island villa, Michael Owen's week has gone from bad to worse after it emerged that he broke UK laws by promoting an unlicensed cryptocurrency casino. As reported by The Athletic, Owen published two tweets on May 16 about "Punt Casino", which is registered in the Caribbean island of Curacao, but has no UK licence. The report adds that after they made an enquiry into the incident, the tweets had been deleted while the website had been "geo-blocked" for all UK users.

Punt Casino say they are a 'fully licensed operation'

A spokesperson for the company said that they are a "fully licensed operation" and that they abide by the rules and regulations. They said: "Punt Casino is a fully licensed Curacao casino operating under the rules and regulations associated with that license. "We do not target or promote our casino to customers of any countries and/or jurisdictions not allowed by such license." Under the UK laws, only betting firms which have been licensed by the UK Gambling Commission can be legally advertised in the country. It also comes after Owen was warned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to delete promotional posts about his non-fungible token (NFTs) scheme for breaching rules about advertising cryptocurrency products. The former striker-turned-pundit landed himself in hot water in May after he claimed that his new NFT range were "the first-ever (NFTs) that can’t lose their initial value." A spokesperson on behalf of the pundit confirmed that the tweet had been deleted as a result and that the case investigating the tweets is now closed. Related links:

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• Michael Owen trolled on Channel 4 over teenage daughter’s debut on Love Island
• Michael Owen ‘trusts’ daughter Gemma not have sex in Love Island villa