Ladbrokes Coral fined after losing £ 98,000 from client

The owner of Ladbrokes Coral has been fined £ 5.9 million for failing to protect his vulnerable clients and for the failure of his anti-money-laundering measures.

The Gambling Commission said that over a period of three years, Ladbrokes and Coral had not put in place effective safeguards to "prevent consumers from suffering gambling-related harm".

One customer lost £ 98,000 and asked the company to stop sending promotions.

But the company has not managed to achieve "social responsibility interactions".

The Gaming Commission said the problems occurred between November 2014 and October 2017, after which GVC Holdings bought Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018.

GVC Holdings will pay £ 4.8m and divest itself of £ 1.1m "customers from its failures".

In one case, a Ladbrokes customer declined 460 deposit attempts on his gaming account. However, they still lost £ 98,000 in two and a half years.

The commission also mentioned a customer from Coral who spent 1.5 million pounds over almost three years. During this period, he logged on to his account on average 10 times a day for one month and lost £ 64,000 in a four week period.

Coral "did not ask the client to prove its source of funding and could not provide proof of the achievement of social responsibility interactions".

& # 39; Regrets & # 39;

Richard Watson, Executive Director of the Gaming Commission, said: "These were systemic failures at a large operator, which caused damage to customers and stolen money that circulated in the company, which is unacceptable. "

GVC said "recognize and regret" that some systems and processes in place at Ladbrokes and Coral "do not adequately meet regulatory requirements".

"These historical failures were unacceptable and, since the acquisition, I have overseen a systematic review of the expanded group player's protection procedures and those responsible for these issues have left the company," added GVC General Manager Kenneth Alexander.

"I am confident that we have now put in place a strong and industry-leading approach to player protection."

Shares in GVC Holdings rose 0.59% to 611.37p.

In addition to the Ladbrokes and Coral brands, GVC also has bwin, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Neds and Sportingbet gaming centers.

Its game brands include CasinoClub, Foxy Bingo, Gala, Gioco Digitale, Partypoker and PartyCasino.