Regulation

Entain’s Court Bid to Shut Bonus-Hunting Sites Hits a Snag

Vitne M �� Published 16 September 2026 �� Updated 16 September 2026

The High Court has dealt a partial setback to Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, in its legal fight against two of the UK’s best-known matched-betting websites. In a ruling handed down this month in the case Entain Operations Limited & Ors v Liquidity Trading Limited & Ors, Mr Justice Cawson struck out Entain’s copyright claims against Outplayed.com and OddsMonkey, though the operator’s separate trademark claims survive and could still go to trial.

What’s actually changed

Entain launched High Court proceedings against Liquidity Trading Limited, the company behind Outplayed and OddsMonkey, accusing the matched-betting operator of unauthorised use of its brands
, having first raised the issue through formal letters.
Entain accused the businesses of infringing copyrights connected to its betting websites and logos, as well as 18 trademarks associated with brands including Ladbrokes, Coral, bwin, Sportingbet, Gala, and Foxy.

The judge’s ruling went against Entain on the copyright side.
He found that Entain’s pleaded case failed to properly identify who owned the copyright in its sports betting brands’ logos, or what was original about the current versions of the decades-old designs.

The judge agreed the pleading was “fundamentally deficient” on the question of title to sue, noting that several logos appeared to have been designed by third-party agencies rather than Entain’s own staff.

He was also unimpressed by Entain’s admission, made 11 months into proceedings, that it was still in the process of obtaining the necessary copyright assignments.

Entain isn’t out of the fight yet.
Entain cannot proceed with its copyright claims unless it urgently amends the pleadings to reflect the origins of its brands
, giving it a short window to try again. Crucially,
the trademark claim central to the case remains fully intact, with the defendants themselves accepting they were sufficiently pleaded and raised issues with a real prospect of success.

What it means for you

If you’ve ever used a matched-betting service to turn a bookmaker’s free bet or deposit offer into a guaranteed return, this case is worth watching.
Matched betting is a technique used to turn bookmakers’ free bets and promotional offers into cash while minimising exposure to gambling losses, with sites displaying sportsbook logos and offers before directing customers to the sportsbook to exploit those promotions.
Entain’s position is that this model devalues its promotions rather than genuinely engaging new customers, and it has repeatedly described the sector as “parasitic”.

For now, nothing changes for players using these sites – they remain operational and the case is unresolved. But if Entain eventually succeeds with its narrower trademark claim, the practical effect could be on how matched-betting sites present bookmaker branding, screenshots and links, which is central to how they explain and advertise offers to users.

The bigger picture

This dispute sits at an unusual junction of consumer protection and commercial rivalry.
It is one of the first major operator-led legal challenges aimed squarely at the matched-betting sector, and for operators, affiliates and regulators it signals a willingness to use trademark and safer-gambling arguments to limit how matched-betting services advertise and operate, with increased scrutiny of affiliate marketing and promotional integrity likely to follow.

The stakes are significant for the wider affiliate and bonus-comparison ecosystem that many UK players rely on.
Despite this setback, the High Court did not strike down Entain’s trademark claims, meaning the case may proceed to trial, and if the gambling giant ultimately wins, it could deal a significant blow to the UK matched betting sector, potentially even affecting the broader gambling market.
As with other recent friction between operators and third-party sites that help players extract value from promotions, this case is likely to feed into the wider debate about how bonus terms, brand use and affiliate marketing should be policed in the UK market.

Sources

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