Fresh fraud allegations emerge against Tipico ahead of Banijay takeover, Maltese court ruling

Tipico, a major betting company headquartered in St Julian’s, is now facing fresh allegations of fraudulent conduct and abuse of dominance in a new pre-action claim filed in Cyprus. 

This new development, documented in a Pre-Action Protocol Letter of Claim dated 12 November, sees the Maltese betting giant named as the intended defendant by Thrakon Imperial Holding Ltd, a company based in Larnaka, Cyprus. 

The Cyprus claim asserts that Tipico committed fraudulent and intentional wrongdoing. The intended claimant is seeking interest at the statutory rate from the date of each loss, along with legal costs on an indemnity basis.  

Thrakon Imperial Holding Ltd claims the facts and law are “overwhelmingly supported” by Tipico’s own internal documents and prior testimony, which allegedly prove the case through “the clear admissions of franchise status and the documented knowledge of legal breaches”. 

This new claim surfaces a month after French media group Banijay announced it will buy a majority stake in Tipico from private equity group CVC in a deal valuing Tipico at €4.6 billion, creating one of Europe's largest online gaming groups.

Tipico will be merged with Banijay-owned Betclic under a new entity, Banijay Gaming, which will become continental Europe’s biggest sports betting operator by revenue. Banijay will initially hold 65% of the new group, aiming to raise this to 72%, while CVC retains a minority stake.

The transaction—worth about €3 billion for the majority stake and including debt repayment—is expected to close in mid-2026. Banijay has said it is confident it will secure regulatory approval, but the fresh allegations might trigger scrutiny.

Tipico continues to navigate a multi-pronged legal attack in the Maltese civil and criminal courts, initiated by a Greek businessman, Antonios Stampolidis. 

The protracted litigation in Malta began when Stampolidis, representing the BVI-registered Chadborn Holdings, sued Tipico and its German former director, Oliver Voigt. 

Chadborn Holdings was Tipico’s franchise partner, operating 10 Tipico shops in Austria. 

The central accusation of fraud revolves around alleged forgery of the franchise contract. Stampolidis alleged that Tipico manipulated a new franchise contract that was being negotiated in late 2012. Following a meeting in Frankfurt, Tipico sent Stampolidis a contract to sign, but he was “very surprised” because it did not reflect what they had agreed upon. 

Stampolidis sent an email back, deleting the paragraphs he disagreed with, and subsequently faxed and posted the signed, amended draft to Malta. However, Stampolidis claims that Tipico later sent back the original contract, signed by Tipico’s then-director Oliver Voigt, but now containing Stampolidis’s signature. 

Stampolidis specifically alleged that the pages where he had deleted sentences were exchanged, with “a complete line” actually being added in one paragraph. He further claimed Tipico kept his signature but changed the surrounding text to suit them. Stampolidis also cited a “really obvious” colour difference in the logos used on the allegedly exchanged pages (dark black) versus the pages that were kept (very faint). 

The Greek businessman further claimed that Tipico’s legal department tried to cover up the forgery by forcing him to sign new contracts. Another former Tipico director, Hans Wolfram Kessler, allegedly threatened to stop the acceptance of bets in Stampolidis’s shops, forcing their closure, which Stampolidis viewed as a “clear attempt at covering up the forgery”. 

In the Maltese Civil Courts, Stampolidis sought damages in the region of €14 million for the illegal and abusive termination of the franchise agreement and loss of profits. Stampolidis is requesting the courts to declare any contracts entered into after the alleged forgery as null, and he calculated that Tipico owes him €15 to €20 million. 

Beyond the civil suit, Stampolidis took his fight to the criminal sphere. Stampolidis filed challenge proceedings asking the courts to force the police to prosecute Tipico representatives for forgery, claiming the police had previously appeared reluctant to prosecute despite confirming investigations were carried out. A court later ordered witnesses to be heard in the criminal case filed over the forgery complaint. 

In a separate criminal complaint filed in 2020, Stampolidis targeted Tipico’s managing director, Thomas Wolter, for alleged perjury. Stampolidis’s lawyer argued that Wolter had lied in an affidavit filed before Judge Miriam Hayman by claiming the contract had “never materialised”, with the sole intention of concealing the contract tampering. 

Tipico denies allegations 

Tipico, which is based in Malta, has vigorously defended itself against these claims in the Maltese courts. It denied the forgery allegations, calling them “completely not true”, and insisted that the contractual relationship ended in a manner completely different from that reported by the sworn application. The company said it was “absolutely not true that the defendant company breached contractual dispositions in some way”. 

The company rebutted Chadborn’s claims of unjustified enrichment, stating they were unfounded. Tipico countered by suggesting that, if anything, Chadborn had caused damages to Tipico through their association. Tipico also noted that Oliver Voigt and Hans Wolfram Kessler had ceased their roles as directors three years before the civil case was filed. 

Tipico also denied being the subject of any investigation by law enforcement or regulatory authorities. 

The civil case in Malta is drawing to a close, with a final decision expected to be delivered on 12 June 2026.