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Southwark Crown Court in London has now penciled in trial dates for what looks like a watershed moment for the UK gambling world. Former GVC Holdings bosses Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman, plus ten others, are heading to court on a long list of serious charges.
They’re accused of conspiracy to defraud, dodging income tax, bribery, and trying to derail justice. All of this ties back to GVC’s old operations in Turkey and a supposed scheme to rip off HMRC. The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) officially charged them in August 2025, ending a six-year investigation that’s kept the industry guessing.
A Three-Part Courtroom Marathon
Judge Baumgartner set out a plan this week: three separate trials, just to manage the number of people and the mountain of evidence involved.
First up, on 14 February 2028, Alexander, Feldman, and five others will go to trial. That first session is expected to last about four months.
Then, in October 2028, it’s the turn of Alexander MacAngus, Richard Raubitscheck-Smith, and Raymond Smart.
The last trial focuses on Robert Hoskin, Entain’s former Chief Governance Officer, and kicks off on 5 March 2029.
Nobody entered a plea at this stage. The judge wants to see more evidence before moving ahead with a formal arraignment.
Venue Disputes and Legal Logistics
Prosecutors tried to shift the case to Leeds, arguing some of the alleged crimes happened there. Judge Baumgartner wasn’t having it. He said moving such a big, complicated trial would be a logistical and financial nightmare for taxpayers, so it stays in Southwark.
There’s also some talk about possible reporting restrictions, especially since Entain Plc’s business interests are tangled up in some of the evidence. No decision there yet. For now, the judge just wants both sides to work together and sort out disclosure so everything’s ready for 2028.
GVC’s Turkish Ties: How We Got Here
This whole saga started with GVC Holdings’ ownership of Headlong Limited, a Turkish-facing business running from 2011 to 2017. GVC sold it to Ropso Malta Limited in late 2017, with an earn-out clause worth up to €150 million. That sale wrapped up just before GVC’s massive £4 billion buyout of Ladbrokes Coral, which turned GVC into a global gambling heavyweight.
But in 2019, HMRC started digging into whether GVC kept profiting from Headlong even after the sale. Things escalated in 2020, with investigators looking hard at possible corporate wrongdoing. Alexander and Feldman have always denied any misbehavior.
After the company rebranded as Entain Plc, chairman Barry Gibson admitted there’d been past compliance failings tied to “former employees and third-party suppliers.” He insisted Entain had since overhauled its governance.
In 2023, Entain cut a deal with the CPS and HMRC: a Deferred Prosecution Agreement. The company agreed to pay a whopping £585 million in penalties, plus £20 million to charity and £10 million in legal costs. That settlement—one of the biggest ever for a UK business—helped push Entain’s losses to £900 million in 2023 and another £450 million in 2024.
Source: iGaming Expert
