William Hill to pay record £19.2m for failures
Paul Brand has the latest on three gambling firms owned by William Hill being hit with £19.2m in fines for failing to protect consumers and weak anti-money laundering controls
Three gambling businesses owned by William Hill will pay a total of £19.2 million for “widespread and alarming” social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.
The “settlement” is the largest in the Gambling Commission’s history.
Social responsibility failures at William Hill businesses included allowing one customer to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes, allowing another to open an account and spend £18,000 in 24 hours and a third able to spend £32,500 over two days – all without any checks.
The Gambling Commission announced:
WHG (International) Limited, which runs williamhill.com, will pay £12.5 million;
Mr Green Limited, which runs mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7 million;
William Hill Organisation Limited, which operates 1,344 gambling premises across Britain, will pay £3 million.
Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes said: “When we launched this investigation the failings we uncovered were so widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension.
“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.”
Failing to identify customers at risk of harm led to yet another person losing £14,902 in 70 minutes, while one customer lost £54,252 in four weeks without the operator seeking any evidence of income or carrying out adequate checks.
The failure to apply a 24-hour delay between receiving a request for increased credit and granting it led to a customer being allowed to immediately place a £100,000 bet when his credit limit had been set at £70,000.
Ineffective controls allowed 331 customers to gamble with WHG (International) Limited despite having self-excluded with Mr Green.
Anti-money laundering (AML) failures included allowing customers to deposit large amounts without conducting appropriate checks – one customer was able to spend and lose £70,134 in a month, another to lose £38,000 in five weeks and another to lose £36,000 in four days.
Customers were able to stake large amounts of money without being monitored or scrutinised to a high enough standard, the Gambling Commission found, with the operator not requesting Source of Funds evidence when one customer put £19,000 on a single bet.
A spokesman for 888, which owns William Hill, said: “The settlement relates to the period when William Hill was under the previous ownership and management. After William Hill was acquired, the company quickly addressed the identified issues with the implementation of a rigorous action plan.
“The entire group shares the Gambling Commission’s commitment to improve compliance standards across the industry and we will continue to work collaboratively with the regulator and other stakeholders to achieve this.”
The Gambling Commission said all £19.2 million will be directed towards “socially responsible purposes” as part of a regulatory settlement.
The previous largest case was a £17 million action taken against Entain in August last year.
The William Hill settlement comes a week after the commission fined two operators owned by Kindred Group a combined £7.2 million and is the largest enforcement case taken on by the regulator.
Mr Rhodes said: “In the last 15 months we have taken unprecedented action against gambling operators, but we are now starting to see signs of improvement.
“There are indications that the industry is doing more to make gambling safer and reducing the possibility of criminal funds entering their businesses.”
For further information or support for gambling issues, you can contact:
GamCare - 0808 8020 133
Samaritans - 116 123
NHS Northern Gambling Service (covers the north of England) - 0300 300 1490 or referral.ngs@nhs.net
NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic (based in London) - 020 7381 7722 or gambling.cnwl@nhs.net
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know