One of the largest bookmakers in the UK – Paddy Power – was found to have signed an agreement with a woman, who received £86,000 in return for luring a problem gambler from a market rival of the company.
According to court documents, which were obtained by the Daily Mail, the Irish bookmaker hired the 53-year-old Ericka Carroll, as a “VIP introducer”. As part of her role, she was required to encourage high-roller customers to choose the services offered by the gambling company.
The hairdresser, who runs a salon, was chosen by Paddy Power because her husband was suspended from working with the firm as he had recently left his job at Paddy’s market competitor Ladbrokes. However, court documents say that it was Mr Carroll who in fact acted as the “introducer”.
Only a day after the deal with Paddy Power was signed, Mr Carroll pushed the property investor Antonio Parente to start betting with the Irish bookmaker, although he was already aware of the fact that the man was addicted to gambling. Parente was given a sign-up bonus of £20,000 by the firm to “induce him to gamble”. Court documents also revealed that the customer was also granted free trips to the Grand National and the English Premier League football matches. Mr Parente, who has already been addicted to gambling, spent over £347,000 with a period of 13 months.
Paddy Power’s Owner Pledges to Cancel All “Personal Introducer” Agreements within 4 Weeks
The contract was unveiled as part of a High Court legal action, in which the ex-business partner of Parente, Amarjeet Singh Dhir, says Flutter Entertainment did not carry out the necessary checks required to prevent the gambling addict from spending money that was initially stolen from him. These allegations were rejected by the gambling giant, which claimed to have carried out all the relevant checks and was not aware of the fact that Parente had problems with controlling his gambling habits.
As part of the contract, Mrs Carroll was to receive 25% of the losses generated by her client, a clause suggesting that up to £86,750 may have been received by her as a result of Parente’s gambling losses. Her deal with Paddy Power, which is the first of its kind to become public, was unveiled after an application made by the Daily Mail to the High Court.
This weekend, the owner of Paddy Power – Flutter Entertainment – made an official promise to cancel all agreements made under the “personal introducer” clause within a four-week period, with the pledge considered a major victory for local anti-gambling campaigners. As unveiled by the Daily Mail, Paddy Power said in court records that it could not say why the 53-year-old woman was on the agreement instead of her husband, explaining that the employees who worked on the counteract had left the firm.
Campaigners and Members of Parliament described the contract inked between the gambling operator and the Carrolls as “disgraceful” and called for the country’s gambling regulator to suspend such agreements from being made across the sector.
The recent revelations have put the former deputy leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson, under further pressure after in September he faced some criticism for accepting a paid position with Paddy Power’s owner, the international gambling giant Flutter Entertainment.
- Author
Olivia Cole
