The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has slapped Rank Group with a mammoth £500,000 fine that Richard Watson, Executive Director of the UKGC, stated “would have been a lot higher were it not for the positive action Rank took in terms of self-reporting their failures and being open and transparent during our investigation.”
What happened?
The fine has been imposed on Rank Group after three major failings when it came to the protection of problem gamblers.An investigation carried out by the UKGC showed that Rank failed to contact or in any way interact with a player who was showing clear signs of problem gambling.Not only was there no attempt to intervene with the player’s gambling habits or question the player on their safety, the player was also contacted during a period of self-exclusion, and Rank also failed to comply with the rules around credit being provided to players.
During a period of just 24 hours, it has been reported that the player lost £1 million which had been credited to their account.Speaking of the issues, Mr Watson said:“We expect all operators to protect any consumer who maybe experiencing problems with their gambling, and operators shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that VIP customers don’t experience difficulties…“No matter how wealthy customers are, operators still need to monitor them effectively to ensure they aren’t showing signs of problem gambling. It is certainly not appropriate to visit customers during a period when they are self-excluded.”
Proactive
While the UKGC investigation did turn up several weaknesses within the operator’s system, the UKGC was also quick to point out that Rank had been proactive in reporting any issues to them, and had remained transparent throughout the investigation.