Operator News
UK – Rank fined £500,000 for treatment of problematic high-roller
By Phil - 17 October 2018
Rank Group has been fined £500,000 by the British Gambling Commission for failing to ‘protect’ a VIP gambler and actually visiting him in his home when he was on a period of self-exclusion from casinos.
The operator was accused of ‘falling into the trap of thinking VIP customers don’t experience problems.’
A Gambling Commission investigation found that the high roller went on to lose £1m in a 24-hour period just a year after being visited by the general manager of a Grosvenor Casino, owned by Rank Group, at an overseas property that he owned. The investigation also ruled that the group’s online gambling site did not follow laws around providing the player credit.
The player enrolled in a period of self-exclusion in 2016. The visit to his overseas property was described as a networking visit which Grosvenor did with a number of customers.
The General Manager is believed to have asked that the customer was re-installed at the casino, however bosses at Rank declined the request. Later in 2017 Rank provided the customer with online credit, despite a policy saying funds cannot be offered online. He went on to lose a total of £1m of the credited money credited over a 24-hour period.
Gambling Commission executive director Richard Watson said: “We expect all operators to protect any consumer who may be experiencing problems with their gambling, and operators shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that VIP customers don’t experience difficulties.
“No matter how wealthy customers are, operators still need to monitor them effectively to ensure they aren’t showing signs of problem gambling. It is certainly not appropriate to visit customers during a period when they are self-excluded. This penalty package would have been a lot higher were it not for the positive action Rank took in terms of self-reporting their failures and being open and transparent during our investigation.”
A spokesperson for Rank said: “We accept that our responsible gambling processes and controls were insufficient regarding this isolated case concerning a high value customer. Since this incident, we have worked hard to improve our processes and controls to avoid such a scenario reoccurring.”
