A south Wales-based problem gambler has criticised William Hill for not doing enough to prevent him from betting at the time when he was placing thousands of pounds on single wagers.
Reportedly, the man racked up more than £70,000 of debt with the British gambling company in the period from 2012 to 2019. Now, he is upset by the fact that the operator did little to help him get out of his gambling addiction’s vicious circle, especially considering the fact that bookmakers are required to intervene whenever their customers show signs of distress or compulsive gambling behaviour.
William Hill, however, shared that no shortcomings were found in its procedures. The company revealed that it held a thorough investigation into the management of the customer’s account and found no flaws in its safer gambling procedures during the aforementioned period. The British gambling operator noted that preventing gambling-related harm and ensuring high standards of safer gambling are crucial to its policy, which is why it took any customer complaint extremely seriously and remains committed to improving this area of operation.
Problem Gambler Managed to Rack Up Debt of Over £70,000 in 7 Years
According to reports, the punter’s annual salary amounted to approximately £35,000 at the time when he started placing small bets on major sports events such as the Grand National.
However, it did not take him long to start opening accounts online and taking advantage of gambling operators’ free bets offered as free gifts and bonuses. Things quickly escalated with him starting to chase small losses, with his stakes exponentially increasing from a couple of pounds to a single bet of £10,000.
William Hill even made him a gold customer, and as part of the British gambling operator’s VIP scheme the problem gambler soon started placing bets amounting to as much as his monthly salary. Company staff members had a total of 89 phone conversations with him, with most of them being associated with a service called “Quick Cash” (now called CashDirect), which allowed him to directly withdraw money to the bookmaker without being forced to wait for the money to be cleared by his bank.
A massive number of these calls were made from a phone box situated outside the betting shop where he used to play, often because the man was spending so much on his gambling addiction that he was unable to afford to pay his mobile phone bill.
As revealed by William Hill, the player also generated many winnings, and as a result, he was able to withdraw thousands from his account. The man confirmed that but said that he would, unfortunately, re-stake those winnings almost immediately after withdrawing the money.
The problem gambler shared that his life became quickly centred around gambling, with him becoming more and more distant from the people closest to him. He still owes about £70,000 to family and friends.
William Hill Already Faced UKGC £6.2-Million Fine for Failing to Prevent Gambling-Related Harm
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) rules require gambling operators in the country to monitor their customers and intervene once they spot any signs of problem gambling behaviour, anxiety, or distress.
The gambling addict, however, claims that William Hill did not make an effort to check him on these points and pretty much did nothing to prevent him from carrying on betting. A member of the due diligence team at William Hill got in contact with the player on the phone after him informing the company that he was willing to ban himself from gambling due to the lack of free bets. A self-exclusion at this point would mean closing the customer’s account permanently and suspending him from other online gambling platforms.
During the conversation, William Hills’ employee discussed various measures that would tackle the player’s compulsive gambling but, eventually, allowed him to continue gambling with the company because he thought the player was complaining because of the service he was getting and the fact he was not offered special bonuses, rather than an issue associated with the social responsibility policy of the operator.
This is not the first time the British gambling giant has faced complaints associated with its customer protection and due diligence policy. Back in 2018, it faced a monetary fine worth £6.2 million for its failure to protect customers from gambling-related harm. Many of the cases that the UK gambling regulatory body highlighted at the time were quite similar to the ongoing issue and occurred at about the same time.
- Author
Olivia Cole
