Ladbrokes Coral Group apparently did not learn the lesson of the British gambling commission, the famous UK Gambling Commission. In 2017, Ladbrokes Coral Group paid a £ 2.5 million fine for failing to protect some addicted gamblers.
The British group did not check the source of players’ funds and didn’t prevent them from gambling. Two players bet hundreds of thousands of pounds in a few months without arousing Ladbrokes Coral’s suspicions.
“Déjà vu” in July 2019
Ladbrokes Coral was fined 5.9 million pounds for the same reasons. However, this time the problem was not with 2 but rather with 8 players. Those facts date back to 2014 and 2017.
A £ 5.9 million check for the Gambling Commission
In 2018, GVC Group purchased Ladbrokes Group for the mere sum of £ 3.2 billion. GVC owns brands such as Bwin, Sportingbet, PartyPoker, PartyCasino and Foxy Casino, to name a few. It is one of the largest world’s live gambling groups. It purchased Ladbrokes Group and the merging of these two giant gambling groups gave birth to Ladbrokes Coral.
Between 2014 and 2017, Ladbrokes failed to meet its obligations to the UK Gambling Commission. Actually, any live casino or gambling sites (Poker, Bingo, Sports Betting, Horse Racing) with a license from this Commission is obliged to protect its players. This means they have to check their source of funds and make sure that they play with moderation.
It seems that someone in Ladbrokes’ retention department turned a blind eye and let 8 players gamble compulsively. How come a player loses 1.5 million pounds over three years without raising the attention of the group’s customer service? Sometimes that same player lost £64,000 in a single month and logged 10 times a day without a single reaction from the customer service.
Another player who requested not to receive ads from Ladbrokes Coral lost £98,000 in 2 years.
Obviously, bonuses were too tempting to be neglected. Not to mention this player who spent £14,0000 within 4 months after opening his account. As a result, GVC group will have to pay a 4.8 million fine for failing to meet its commitments and 1.1 million fine for “the interested parties”.
Ladbrokes Coral will have to behave nicely
Allegations against GVC go back to 2014. However, at that time Ladbrokes was independent and did not belong to GVC yet. As a result, GVC committed to pay a £ 5.9 million fine. The UK Gambling Commission is targeting Ladbrokes, which is on its second fine.
The UK Gambling Commission will scrutinize the top 50 Ladbrokes Coral Group players in the years 2015-2017 to audit any misbehavior. CEO’s GVC group, Kenny Alexander, said: “I oversaw a systematic review of the group’s players protection procedures and those responsible for those issues left the company.”
The UK Gambling Commission may withdraw the license of gambling operators who do not comply with their players’ protection obligations. In 2017, Ladbrokes paid a fine of £ 2.5 million and £5.9 million last month. A third warning could result in a withdrawal (temporary or permanent?) of the gambling license. And in such a case, the loss of profit would be of several million pounds. Stay tuned
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