A multimillionaire mogul has taken a luxury West End sportsbook operator to court for not protecting him from his problem gambling behaviour.
In a lawsuit 54-year-old businessman Scott O’Brien claims he lost over £100,000 while being in a gambling frenzy in the period from September 2018 to March 2019. The recycling tycoon shared that he has been addicted to gambling all his adult life, with the problem even pushing him to making attempt to commit suicide.
The plaintiff told a judge that his gambling addiction got excessive after he sold Pulp Friction, his Essex-based paper recycling business, in a £9-million deal back in 2012. According to his claims, his detrimental gambling habit got so bad at some point that he stashed £1 million in cash in his wardrobe.
Mr O’Brien has now taken luxury sports betting operator Star Sports for allowing him to spend more than £400,000 on horse and dog races at the brand’s flagship betting shop in Mayfair, London.
According to the lawsuit, the businessman lost £48,859 on the bets but he claims that his losses equal more than £100,000 when taking into account the amount of money he spent on betting terminals. His lawyers now claim that the high-end sportsbook operator violated its duty to protect its customers under the social responsibility code provisions and that some of Mr O’Brien’s massive gambling losses were due to the failure of Star Sports to comply with the regulations applicable to the company’s operating permit. Apart from that, the recycling mogul is suing the sports betting operator for breach of contract.
High-Roller Player Claims the High-End Sportsbook Did Nothing When Informed about His Gambling Addiction
The legal representatives of the bookmaker company, however, are defending the claim. They deny the player’s claims he had shared with them that he was finding it hard to control his gambling and claim that the bookmaker had no general duty that requires the company to protect a gambling addict from the potential negative consequences of their actions.
According to the player’s claims, he informed a staff member at the Star Sports store that he was addicted to gambling and says that the operator should have taken some measures to prevent him from using the services of its betting store or, at least, to limit his wagers over the six-month period from September 2018 to March 2019.
The lawsuit before the Central London Country Court claims that Mr O’Brien placed wagers worth £419,252 during the aforementioned period, incurring losses of £48,859. In addition, the legal action claims that the player was also losing large amounts of cash on Star Sports shop’s betting terminals. The player’s actions reached a climax on March 30th, 2019, when he placed a £111,945 stake. At the time, his betting was excessive, with him spending cash at a number of high-street bookmakers, too.
As mentioned above, Mr O’Brien claims that he spoke to one of Star Sports betting shop cashiers – Gemma Mehmet – and disclosed his addiction, as well as the fact that he tried taking his own life and even spent ten months in rehab once due to his problem gambling habits. He asked her not to reveal the information about his gambling addiction to other people, as he was worried that his ex-wife might learn that he returned to his old habits.
One of the lawyers of the gambling company that is being sued, disputed the claims of Mr O’Brien as “nonsense”, arguing that Star Sports’ employees had no reason to suspect the player was experiencing any trouble and claiming that the businessman never alerted any staff member that he had a gambling problem. The legal representatives of the defence also noted that the former recycling mogul did not visit the Star Sports store on a daily basis – he visited the betting shop only 17 times over a six-month period, with his winnings exceeding his losses until March 30th, 2019.
- Author
Olivia Cole
