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| William Hill to pay record £19.2m for failings | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Three gambling firms owned by William Hill are to pay penalties of £19.2m for failing to protect consumers and weak anti-money laundering controls. | |
| The record penalty comes after the Gambling Commission found "widespread and alarming" issues at the company. | |
| The problems were so severe the commission had "seriously considered" suspending the firm's licence. | The problems were so severe the commission had "seriously considered" suspending the firm's licence. |
| In one case, a customer was allowed to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes without any checks. | In one case, a customer was allowed to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes without any checks. |
| As well as insufficient controls in place to protect new customers, the commission also found several failures to guard against possible money laundering. | As well as insufficient controls in place to protect new customers, the commission also found several failures to guard against possible money laundering. |
| It found cases where customers were allowed to deposit large amounts without the business conducting appropriate checks. | It found cases where customers were allowed to deposit large amounts without the business conducting appropriate checks. |
| The commission said one customer was able to spend and lose £70,134 in a month, while another deposited £73,535 and lost £14,068 in four months. | The commission said one customer was able to spend and lose £70,134 in a month, while another deposited £73,535 and lost £14,068 in four months. |
| "When we launched this investigation the failings we uncovered were so widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension," said Andrew Rhodes, the Gambling Commission's chief executive. | |
| "However, because the operator immediately recognised their failings and worked with us to swiftly implement improvements, we instead opted for the largest enforcement payment in our history." | |
| Under the settlement, WHG (International), which runs williamhill.com, will pay £12.5m, Mr Green, which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7m and William Hill Organization, which runs more than 1,300 betting outlets across Britain, will pay £3m. | |
| The £19.2m collected from the penalties will go towards "socially responsible" good causes. | |
| As well as allowing new customers to spend very large sums over short periods without any checks being carried out, the commission said the group had also failed to identify customers who were at risk of experiencing gambling related harm. In one instance, a customer lost £14,902 in 70 minutes. | |
| The company had also failed to apply a 24-hour delay between receiving a request for an increase in a credit limit and granting it, the commission said. One customer was allowed to place a £100,000 bet immediately, even though he had a £70,000 credit limit. | |
| "The reason we have the requirements to have controls in place is to stop people being able to spend such large amounts of money so quickly without intervention," Mr Rhodes told the BBC's Today programme. | |
| "It may be that they can't afford it, it may be that it's a choice they want to make, but we have to have safeguards in place, and William Hill accept that they simply didn't have them at this time." | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Companies | Companies |
| William Hill (bookmaker) | |
| Gambling | Gambling |