The United Kingdom Gambling Commission is currently investigating claims that renowned online gaming company LeoVegas allowed a problem gambler to place £20,000 worth of bets. Responsible gambling campaigns have been all the buzz lately in the United Kingdom’s gambling industry and therefore such a case has sparked renewed calls from politicians and responsible gambling campaigners for more consumer protection measures.
As it turns out, after receiving the £20,000, which the gambler apparently stole from his mother’s credit card, the LeoVegas sister sites went on to bombard him with emails encouraging him to keep betting. This was despite the fact that the gamblers had had his account suspended by LeoVegas in May last year following an incident that was defined as ‘concerning’ – this was in a live web chat between the problem gambler and one of the gaming company’s customer service representative. The suspension of his account came just days after LeoVegas received a £60,000 penalty from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission for separate claims of enabling problem gamblers.
Even after the problem gambler was suspended, Castle Jackpot and Pink Casino, the LeoVegas sister companies, went on to send him marketing emails. This was as often as four times every day and they all promised “free spins” and some rather enticing bonuses. The gambler eventually gave in at the beginning of 2019 and set up a new gambling account with 21.co.uk which is also a sister company of LeoVegas. Even though he used his own name and email address, he registered the account with his mother’s debit card which he then proceeded to use to make bets of up to £20,000.
The gaming site eventually realized something was amiss and asked for his ID verification – on finding out that he was not using his own card, the site blocked his account. Unfortunately, even after that, the LeoVegas sister companies continued to send him marketing emails each offering a number of enticing perks including free spins, bonuses, and refunds on losses among other things.
Calls for Tighter Regulations
As mentioned earlier, the case of the problem gambler has raised a lot of eyebrows but is not too surprising since similar cases have been reported in the past. Tom Watson, Labour’s party deputy leader and one of the biggest champions of tighter online gambling regulations has pointed out that most of the companies often conduct ID and affordability checks after the gambler shave lost huge sums of money. This is pointless.
Online gambling companies in the United Kingdom are not obligated to conduct affordability checks by the existing regulations. Perhaps this is exactly where the authorities should begin as they ponder over whether or not they should tighten regulations.
