SPECIAL REPORT
etfair, one of Britain’s biggest gambling brands, has a vacancy for a ‘ViP relationship Manager’.
Bit sounds like an exciting opportunity, doesn’t it? You’ll be working, according to the advert, with ‘high net worth clientele’ in a ‘fast-moving dynamic industry’ where ‘initiative’ and ‘innovation’ are rewarded.
Most of all, though, the successful candidate will be expected to operate with ‘high integrity’. the company is unequivocal about this. ‘We take pride in doing what’s right,’ potential applicants are told. ‘No exceptions.’
Keep those words in mind when you read the account below from a husband and father in his late 40s. Until around 2018, he also enjoyed so-called ViP status with Betfair and had his own so-called ViP manager.
His story illustrates precisely why this newspaper has been campaigning for tighter gambling regulation.
it’s important to understand that, in this world, ViP does not mean individuals like, say, Wayne rooney (on the books of Gibraltarbased 32red) but ordinary people in ordinary jobs on ordinary wages for the most part, like the man who has agreed to speak out today.
He was losing heavily when he was invited to become a ViP. Many ViPs with the big bookmakers — Ladbrokes Coral and Bet365 among others — are in similar positions.
By treating these customers to free holidays and all-expenses-paid trips to major sporting events, the companies maintain they are merely rewarding loyalty; it’s what all businesses do, they say. the more cynical explanation, however, is to keep them hooked, to keep them playing the odds, to keep them losing.
either way, one thing is certain: there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ for most ViPs, even if it is served with champagne in a box at Wembley or Cheltenham.
the (now former) heavy gambler i interviewed is a harrowing case in point. He was wined and dined in hospitality suites over the course of two intensive years. By the end, he had lost more than £250,000, which is perhaps what is meant by a ‘high net worth’ client.
Did he feel like he had been groomed? i asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘One hundred per cent. i thought my ViP manager at Betfair was my friend, that i owed him something.’
Customers, especially ViP customers, are supposed to be subjected to affordability checks to make sure they don’t get into financial trouble. So was he asked to provide any proof of income? ‘Not once,’ he replied after revealing he needed psychiatric treatment after his debts mounted.
i would like to tell you who this unfortunate man is, but i can’t. He asked not to be identified, because Betfair only agreed to pay back the money he lost on condition he signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDa), or gagging clause.
NDas are now being increasingly used in the gambling sector. although legal, their use raises concerns for two reasons. first, they silence critics. We have been given a copy of such an NDa. it’s concise, no more than a few paragraphs. But the crucial section reads: ‘You acknowledge and accept that the terms of this agreement and the substance of all negotiations in connection with it are confidential. You agree not to disclose them to, or otherwise to communicate them to, any third party [especially the Press] without our written consent.’
Second, NDas may keep some of the most controversial cases secret from the regulator who can impose huge fines on bookies for breaching ‘ social responsibility’ provisions (such as failing to adequately protect problem gamblers) in the industry code of practice.
Our own research has established that, since enforcement action began in 2013, the Gambling Commission has handed out fines to most of the major players. Last year’s total of £19.7 million was a record — up from £18.4 million in 2017.
Betfair, or Paddy Power Betfair as it used to be known, was on the watchdog’s ‘list of shame’. the firm — since renamed flutter entertainment — incurred a £ 2.2 million penalty for misdemeanours in 2016, including failing to safeguard a string of customers showing signs of gambling addiction.
LADBROKES
Coral has previously said that its ViP schemes are ‘ operated responsibly’ and are designed to ‘achieve customer loyalty in what is a very competitive marketplace’, while Bet365 says it ‘prides itself on providing a safe environment for its customers and goes above and beyond its legal and regulatory requirement to do so’.
But some of the cases investigated by the Gambling Commission only came to light because the gamblers in question stole to feed their addiction and ended up in court.
NDas ensure that many more do not. the culture of exploitation goes largely unreported and unpunished, in other words.
Like the story which emerged last week involving a gambling addict who had lost £ 134,000 playing roulette and blackjack and who was paid £100,000 by a High Street bookmaker as long as he signed a gagging clause, preventing him from contacting the Gambling Commission.
‘in my experience, NDas are used virtually all the time to cover up the level of exploitation that has occurred,’ said Brian Chappell, who founded consumer group Justice for Punters. ‘ NDas are the final act of exploitation in what has often been a stream of bad practice.’
the ‘ bad practice’ undoubtedly escalated following the liberalisation of the gambling laws in Britain under tony Blair which allowed bookmakers to advertise on tV and radio for the first time.
few would deny we are now in the grip of a gambling epidemic. More than two million people in the UK are either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction, according to a Gambling Commission report.
TOtHe gambling giants, this demographic is a source of profit, not concern. this is the reality behind the marketing blurb, behind the Pr pronouncements, behind the code of practice itself.
it’s hard not to reach that conclusion given that betting firms recruit specialist staff to deal with highspending customers. How ironic that, in responsible Gambling Week (November 7-13), Gala Bingo’s online arm, part of GVC-owned Ladbrokes Coral Group, were advertising for a ‘ ViP executive’ responsible for ‘increasing overall player lifetime value and the revenue contribution of the ViP player base’.
a spokesman for GVC said the firm was committed to giving customers ‘the safest possible gambling environment’, adding: ‘ With regard to ViPs, as in any other industry we want to ensure that our most loyal and regular customers are given the best possible service.’
the Gambling With Lives charity, set up by parents bereaved by gambling- related suicides, took particular offence at the wording because it said the ‘end of a player’s “lifetime value” to the firm may well be the end of the player’s lifetime’.
among the ‘ key responsibilities’ listed in the Betfair ad is ‘the identification and nurturing of ViPs who have reduced or ceased activity’. What does this mean in practice?
the gambler who had to sign an NDa — let us call him John — was particularly critical of this tactic. He said that if he stopped betting for a period of time he would often receive a text from his account manager saying something like: ‘i notice you haven’t been betting much recently’ — which prompted him to start again.
His relationship with Betfair is documented in 15 (a4) print- outs obtained by the Mail. the records were secured under a ‘subject access request’ which required the firm to release all John’s personal data which runs into scores of pages.
Where did personal responsibility for John’s decisions end and accusations of ‘grooming’ begin?
Probably around the time he received the following email which began: ‘ Hi ****, i just wanted to introduce myself as your new account manager and welcome you to Betfair ViP… it’s my job to ensure that your betting experience is as enjoyable as possible.’
at the time, John was losing, on average, about £ 1,000 a month.