The UK Gambling Commission has fined bookmaker Mark Jarvis a fee of €160,000, around £94,000.
In an announcement on Tuesday (October 16), the UK Gambling Commission revealed that the independent British bookmaker had been ordered to pay the fine after failing to protect a customer that showed signs of a gambling addiction.
Following an investigation, the Commission discovered that the high-street bookmaker had failed to follow adequate social responsibility procedures after a customer spent over £30,000 on its gaming machines.
In a report, the Commission revealed that £11,250 of the funds spent at the bookmakers had actually been stolen from the customer’s employer.
Along with the hefty fine, Mark Jarvis has been ordered to overhaul its betting shop responsibility procedures as its staff failed to follow “customer interaction codes” which should have alerted them to the signs of a problem gambler.
Richard Watson, the Gambling Commission’s Executive Director, said in a statement: “This case is a clear example of why gambling operators must have and implement effective social responsibility policies and procedures.
“All operators, regardless of size, need to ensure they really know their customers.”
Mark Jarvis hasn’t been the only operator to have ran into trouble with the UK Gambling Commission as Paddy Power Betfair was also fined this week. The Irish bookmaker was fined £2.2 million for failing to protect customers and failing to prevent stolen money from being gambled.
Its charges relate to offences from 2016 when the firm breached the UK Gambling Commission’s social responsibility code provision which relates to customer interaction and anti-money laundering guidance.
Two customers reportedly used stolen money to make bets at the firm’s Betfair Exchange. Meanwhile, a further three customers were allowed to gamble in shops and on Paddy Power’s website without the firm undergoing responsibility checks.
