Gambling Commission slaps Ladbrokes Coral with fine

The Gambling Commission has slapped Ladbrokes Coral with a £2.3m fine after its Gala Interactive business breached regulations which protect consumers.

The Commission said the fine follows the discovery of “significant flaws” in Gala’s dealings with two high-spending customers who gambled away around £1.3m of stolen money.

An investigation found that Gala failed to effectively interact with the two customers who were displaying problem gambling behaviour. It also failed to have in place written policies and procedures that could have curbed the behaviour.

The Commission also noted a previous case regarding similar failings, when Gala said customers of concern would be identified sooner and effectively handled. This assurance was made at the same time that these two customers were gambling.

Coral said on Monday that it accepts that the failures identified fell short of the standards and procedures expected. As a result, it has agreed to pay back the money made in relation to the two customers and to make an additional £1.2m contribution to fund research into the causes and identification of problem gambling.

Chief executive Jim Mullen said: “Running a gambling company carries a huge responsibility to ensure that it is done so in a safe and responsible manner. When any part of our business fails to meet the required standards, it is right that they are held to account. The sector has an obligation to look to help customers help themselves and to seek to protect the vulnerable where self-help is evidently not going to happen.

“In the two cases reviewed with the Commission, it was clear that within our operations, we had not met our own standards or those demanded by the Commission. While we will always be exposed to risk of people failing to follow procedures, we accept that, in this case, the failings were evidence of a lack of priority being given to changes in approach identified in earlier engagements.

“Being public with our failings is an uncomfortable experience for any business, but we believe it is right that others can see the extent of our mistakes and try to learn from them. The Ladbrokes Coral business has moved on since these cases occurred and the mind-set of the Board and the management is that there can be no short cuts on delivering our social responsibility and anti-money laundering obligations.