Why won’t the Gambling Commission suspend licences of firms that break rules?
What would a big gambling company have to do in order for its operating licence to be suspended?
It’s a question that has been tested to its limits by the behaviour of the £11bn industry over the past decade, culminating in the record £19.2m fine handed down to William Hill this week over a rap sheet that beggars belief.
Putting the context aside for a moment, some of the lowlights of this latest chapter in the history of the British gambling industry are mind-boggling enough.
William Hill and its sister brand Mr Green allowed punters to squander thousands of pounds within minutes, without bothering to perform the required checks to ensure customers weren’t losing the shirts off their backs.
More than 300 people were allowed to bet despite having signed up to a company-wide system meant to block them from doing so. Volunteering for such “self-exclusion” schemes is usually a sign that a customer is in financial distress, or wrestling with addiction.
But it’s only when you factor in the backdrop to these transgressions that the jaw really hits the floor.
The litany of misdeeds began in May 2020 and continued through to October 2021, including several nationwide and regional Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Gambling Commission had explicitly warned the industry to be extra careful not to exploit punters who were trapped at home – bored depressed and vulnerable – with little but the spin of a digital casino wheel to entertain them.
Yet the failures continued.
In December 2020, the government launched a once-in-a-generation review of gambling laws, prompting the industry – mindful of the threat of draconian restrictions – to make solemn promises that behaviour would improve.
Yet the failures continued.
William Hill, Mr Green and 888 had
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