GVC Holdings is trying to calm down its investors in regard to the press speculation associated with the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation into the gambling giant’s former Turkish-facing business. Now, the company is trying to reassure its stakeholders that rumours that emerged in some media about a probe into alleged links of the former Turkish unit of the operator to online gambling payment processor Wirecard is all fake news.
The share price of GVC Holdings suffered a decline of almost 9% in early trading on the London Stock Exchange on July 30th. The decline seems to have been triggered by a speculative op-ed article by Alistair Osborne that was published in the Times. The article in question cited a theory regarding a possible connection between the recent announcement that the HMRC expanded its investigation’s scope into the former Turkish business of GVC Holdings and the alleged Wirecard links to money-laundering carried out by some online gambling operators.
Now, the gambling giant has explained that the investigation held by HMRC only relates to a former third-party payment service processor as far as it was linked to the provision of such services to the Turkish-facing business the company disposed of in 2017. The gambling giant further shared that GVC Holdings’ Board can confirm there has not been evidence of any of the links mentioned in the newspaper report.
The gambling operator once again confirmed that it was fully compliant with the investigation of the competent authorities.
Wirecard Online Payment Processor Known for Connections with Controversial Sectors
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, the online payment processor Wirecard has been known for its connections with some controversial sectors, including gambling. In July 2020, the company fell under the HMRC’s investigation scope, after management found the operator to have manipulated its financial reports to prove it had $2 billion in reserves that had not actually existed.
Back in 2015, GVC Holdings purchased its market competitor bwin.party, which included the payment processing unit Kalixa. In the following year, GVC unloaded Kalixa but the division continued to process payments for the brands owned by the gambling giant. As reported by the Times, GVC Holdings refused to provide further details on whether Kalixa, now operating as PXP Financial, is still processing the company’s online gambling payments.
According to the speculations included in the op-ed article published in the Times, the Singapore-based company that acquired Kalixa at the time GVC Holdings disposed of the firm is currently subject to investigation for participating as a third-party acquiring partner of Wirecard. According to the article’s author, it is exactly the third-party arrangements that provided the online payment processor with the chance to continue collecting commissions on money transactions that involve sectors it is unwilling to be associated with anymore.
- Author
Olivia Cole
