Ladbrokes Coral hit by £5.9m fine over consumer safeguarding failures
Ladbrokes Coral is set to pay a £5.9m penalty imposed by the Gambling Commission, over multiple failures to safeguard problem gamblers after they lost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
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“These were systemic failings at a large operator, which resulted in consumers being harmed and stolen money flowing through the business and this is unacceptable,” the commission’s executive director Richard Watson said.
The regulator detailed a list of failures to carry out social responsibility interactions including one example where it failed to ask one customer about their source of funds even as they lost £1.5m in under three years.
It also found that the failures took place between 2015 and 2017, before GVC bought Ladbrokes Coral for £3.2bn.
The tougher stance on betting firms has led to companies including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and SkyBet paying millions of pounds in penalties for failures relating to money laundering and problem gambling.
As part of the settlement, GVC will pay £4.8m in lieu of a financial penalty and will divest £1.1m gained from customers as a result of its failings.
GVC will also review its top 50 customers for the years 2015-17 to consider whether any other failings can be identified.