Ladbrokes has been fined almost AU$80,000 in Australia after failing to control a gambler who has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud-related offences.
The Northern Territory Racing Commission, a major Australian online gambling regulator, has handed out three separate fines of $26,180 – the maximum amount – to the Entain-owned operator.
The NTRC did not state the name of the person in question, but The Guardian says Gavin Fineff, a financial advisor, was responsible. The newspaper says he has pleaded guilty to a number of fraud-related offences in the New South Wales district court and is awaiting sentencing.
The gambler in question deposited $2.2m and withdrew almost $1.5m, losing $758,510 over a 21-month period. But, the NTRC noted in its findings that the individual has put on record that the “vast majority” of the funds “were obtained from other people.”
The losses were never returned to the gambler’s clients, with Ladbrokes now facing sanctions for its role in the case. The gambler had sustained multi-million dollar losses with another bookmaker before turning to Ladbrokes and opening an account there using a pseudonym.
Although, the NTRC notes that “at all times, Ladbrokes knew who the Gambler was" and "his true identity had been successfully verified."
From there, Ladbrokes reportedly offered the individual welcome bonuses of between $10,000 and $20,000. In total, Ladbrokes offered the gambler bonuses of $528,890.
“Right from the earliest moments of its first interaction with the gambler, Ladbrokes appears to have not given due attention to whether the gambler could afford to gamble to the levels that he was,” the NTRC said elsewhere in its decision. The NTRC added that Ladbrokes “appeared” to be focused on its profits as opposed to its responsible gambling policies.
However, the regulator noted that since the failings – which took place between 2018 and 2020 – Ladbrokes’ RG program “has developed significantly,” including staff being available seven days a week and increased responsible gambling customer interaction.
Ladbrokes has also engineered a “move away” from manual reports to automated real-time data analysis to identify at-risk customers.
