£500k casino penalty

THE owner of Grosvenor Casinos will pay £500,000 to regulators for failing to protect a wealthy customer who lost £1m in 24 hours.

The Rank Group did not follow credit rules properly, visited the man’s home while he was trying to go cold turkey and failed to consider everything it knew about him when deciding if he was showing signs of addiction, the Gambling Commission said.

Instead, the regulator said Rank placed ‘greater reliance’ on its knowledge that the man was wealthy.

Rank extended his credit and at one point he lost £1m in 24 hours.

Rank brought the issue to attention and admitted its shortcomings, the Gambling Commission said.