The Tricky Issue Of Problem Gambling

31 August 2017
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Dearbail JordanBusiness reporter


For David Bradford, his betting addiction had actually got as bad as it potentially could.


The 57 year-old remained in prison for scams after stealing ₤ 50,000. His habit had cost his household their home and left them buried under ₤ 500,000 of financial obligation.


For 888. com, however, there was more to be had out of David Bradford.


While he sat in jail, his son Adam saw that the online betting company was sending adverts to his father's mobile phone, at a cost of ₤ 5 a time.


Adam Bradford states: "After calling them 6 times and pleading with them, they turned off the text after almost ₤ 100 worth of charges."


Dr Carolyn Downs, senior speaker at Lancaster University who is an expert on the gaming industry, estimates that there are around 500,000 individuals in the UK with a "extreme" addition.


"And for each of those individuals with severe problems, you're taking a look at four or 5 other member of the family being severely affected. Who possibly don't understand that their household member is a problem gambler up until they lose your house," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.


Theft


On Thursday, 888 Holdings, which owns 888. com, was fined a record ₤ 7.8 m by the Gambling Commission for failing to secure countless vulnerable customers who had tried to "self-exclude" themselves from their sites.


The regulator also penalised 888 for stopping working to acknowledge problem behaviour that resulted in a single person taking ₤ 55,000 from their employer.


Sarah Harrison, primary executive of the regulator, stated: "Messages like this send a strong signal to business like 888 and every betting operator that the Gambling Commission will take difficult action against companies who don't meet the rules."


However, the Gambling Commission would not have learnt about any of these issues had 888 Holdings not advance in the very first location.


In the regulator's public statement on the matter, it says that it was 888 Holdings who notified the commission about the technical issue on 28 February 2017.


Asked how it ensures that gambling companies are following a code of practice which needs them to put self-exclusion treatments in location as well as determining at threat consumers, the regulator, stated: "The commission performs routine compliance activity in a variety of ways.


"In addition, we often act upon info from consumers or operators themselves that prompts us to perform an investigation, as in this case."


Self-exclusion or misconception?


In 888's case, the fault lay with a technical problem.


Customers with acknowledged issues had effectively blocked themselves from betting on the poker, gambling establishment and sports sites.


But they still had access to the bingo sites.


However, even with this loophole now closed, there stays a broader market issue with self-exclusion, states Dr Downs.


She stated: "It was difficult to do with online gaming, even to discover a put on a site to really go to tell them you want to self-exclude ... it on a regular basis requires an awful lot of clicks with a mouse around the website to find a location."


And just due to the fact that an individual is left out from one means of gambling, it does not provide them any protection against other approaches.


In some instances, self-exclusion is simply farcical.


Tony Franklin, a recuperating gambling addict and an advocate, says: "Self-exclusion from betting stores is paper-based so they are reliant on you offering a photograph of yourself. Then, it might just be distributed to a small number of betting shops in the area."


It is really easy to go to another town to wager, he says, and it is extremely difficult for individuals working in bookmakers to police their clients.


Dr Downs proposed a nationwide register for self-exclusion: "The Gambling Commission could run this," she states: "If you wanted to self-exclude you would send your information off on an easy form to the Gambling Commission and they would let everyone know your email address."


But she includes: "I don't believe there's any sort of will for that action. Problem bettors offer many of the profit for the gaming industry and that's actually quite popular."


The Gambling Commission states the market is working on a national "online multi-operator self-exclusion scheme" which it is intends to have in place by 2018.


At the moment, consumers must to each individual site to ask the business not to enable them to gamble. The commission states: "The brand-new plan will make it possible for consumers to self-exclude from all online accredited wagering operators through one web website."


GAMSTOP, as it is called, will be run by the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), a group whose members are online gaming business.


Adam Bradford concerns the wisdom of this. "It resembles asking a cop to arrest himself for a criminal activity."


Clive Hawkswood, president of the RGA, denies that there is a dispute of interest. "On the contrary it is very much in our interests and our goal is to make it as good as any system in the world," he states.


The Gambling Commission says: "We think about an industry-led and handled option is finest placed to provide a reliable and efficient plan by structure, in specific, on the core experience and in the industry of establishing and managing big IT services, in addition to administering current self-exclusion schemes."


Mr Franklin thinks wagering business require to take stronger action before allowing people to bet, such as carrying out an affordability look at potential customers.


This, he thinks, must be outsourced to a 3rd party such as credit inspecting business Experian.


Liberalising problems


At the moment, however, Mr Franklin says people will stay susceptible to a market whose main aim is to generate income.


Dr Downs states: "I believe legislation is definitely the only answer. I believe when we liberalised the gambling market - as was forecasted by a number of individuals at the time - we liberalised much more issue gamblers."


For Mr Franklin, he says: "Never again. Not ever will I give another pound to these people."


888 Holdings declined to comment on private cases. Its response to the action taken by the Gambling Commission can be accessed here.