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| Sky Bet fined £1m by Gambling Commission | Sky Bet fined £1m by Gambling Commission |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Sky Bet has been fined £1m for failing to protect vulnerable customers, the Gambling Commission has said. | Sky Bet has been fined £1m for failing to protect vulnerable customers, the Gambling Commission has said. |
| It did not prevent problem gamblers who had self-excluded from its websites from betting, the watchdog said. | It did not prevent problem gamblers who had self-excluded from its websites from betting, the watchdog said. |
| Sky Bet chief executive Richard Flint said the firm accepted that it "needed to do more" to stop self-excluded gamblers from opening duplicate accounts. | Sky Bet chief executive Richard Flint said the firm accepted that it "needed to do more" to stop self-excluded gamblers from opening duplicate accounts. |
| He added that Sky Bet had tried to return the money that was gambled. | He added that Sky Bet had tried to return the money that was gambled. |
| People who feel they are having trouble controlling their gambling can ask betting firms to refuse their service. | |
| But 736 self-excluded Sky Bet customers were able to open and use duplicate accounts. | |
| In addition, about 50,000 people who had excluded themselves received marketing emails, texts or push notifications through a mobile app, the Gambling Commission said. | |
| And 36,748 customers did not get the balance on their account returned after self-excluding. | |
| Richard Watson, Gambling Commission programme director, said: "This was a serious failure affecting thousands of potentially vulnerable customers and the £1m penalty package should serve as a warning to all gambling businesses. | |
| "Sky Bet reported the issues to us quickly, co-operated with us and has taken this investigation seriously." | |
| Betting temptation | |
| Matt, a trainee accountant from London, started gambling as soon as he turned 18. He says he lost as much as £30,000. | |
| "It's a 'lad culture' thing," the 22-year-old recently told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. | |
| "You can't go to the pub on a Saturday afternoon without having the football on the TV, and then obviously there's adverts that come on and you get the urge to bet. | |
| "I couldn't watch a game of football without having a bet on it. | |
| "It was embarrassing to open up [to friends] and say, 'I'm really struggling with this gambling problem.' They were involved in gambling as well," he said. | |
| Mr Flint said Sky Bet had notified the Gambling Commission when the firm had noticed the issue. | |
| "We could and should have made it harder for self-excluded customers to open duplicate accounts with us and for that we are sorry. | |
| "We fully agree with the Gambling Commission's findings and will donate the agreed sum to charities for socially responsible purposes. | |
| "We want to reassure people that we have not made any profit out of this episode," Mr Flint said. | |
| He added that Sky Bet had increased resources "and focus on helping our customers to gamble safely", including a TV and online advertising campaign. | |
| Sky Bet also had "a team of 60 people monitoring accounts for unusual behaviour," he said. | |
| The Leeds-based operation, which is majority-owned by CVC Capital Partners, runs sites including Sky Vegas and Sky Bingo. |