Ban sinister tactics that keep gamblers spending, say MPs
After Daily Mail probe, more bookies admit using ‘rebates’
MPS last night demanded a ban on cash rebates for gamblers as a string of betting firms admitted using them to entice customers.
A Daily Mail investigation yesterday exposed how Britain’s biggest betting firm routinely rewards customers with cash returns on big losses.
Rebate schemes can lock vulnerable players in a spiral of betting that can develop into serious addiction, campaigners warn.
Last night betting giants Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred were also forced to admit handing out the controversial inducements which are permitted under ‘lax’ Gambling Commission regulations. Carolyn Harris, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for gambling, is leading calls for a total ban on rebates and cash incentives in the wake of the Mail’s investigation.
The Labour MP said: ‘The use of cash rebates by the big betting companies is absolutely appalling. The Government should be banning the disgusting practice of offering cash rebates to big losers.’
‘If the Gambling Commission considers this activity legitimate, then there are serious concerns over the legitimacy of the Gambling Commission.’
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of the Centre for Social Justice, also called for an ‘urgent investigation’ into Bet365 and said ‘government action is long overdue.’
He added: ‘It is time to consider banning the practice where online gambling firms offer problem gamblers inducements to bet.
‘We need stronger rules to curb this greed at any price industry – it corrupts people and it ruins lives.
‘At its heart is an abusive relationship which uses inducements to keep people betting and deploys cynical adverts to entice young men into believing that betting your money away is smart, savvy and successful. These companies are selling a lie. Any sense of morality seems to have departed.’
Tory MP Bob Blackman said: ‘There has got to be a way of banning these ridiculous incentives which keep people gambling vast amounts of money and could ultimately destroy lives. It is absolutely outrageous.’
The Mail yesterday revealed how Bet365 uses a dizzying array of bonuses, incentives and perks to ‘reward loyalty’ after we became the first media organisation to infiltrate the firm’s high-security base in the tax haven of Gibraltar.
A training officer from the gambling giant, which makes £682.4million a year in profits, told our reporter that ‘VIPs’ can be offered incentives such as the chance to win FA Cup final tickets by hitting a ‘net loss threshold’.
Gamblers who rack up losses of £15,000 a week can be offered rebates of up to 10 per cent so they can continue playing, our reporter was told.
Yesterday Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred also admitted offering rebates.
A spokesman for Ladbrokes and Coral said: ‘There are a variety of concessions and rewards that we offer our valued customers from time to time, one of which is cashback.’
Betfred said: ‘We sometimes reward our loyal customers with a rebate – however, we make sure it is done within a strict criteria and executed in a socially responsible manner.’
The Gambling Commission permits firms to offer unlimited rebates – as long as the amount returned is ‘proportionate to the type and level’ of the customer’s gambling. Bookmakers are also
given free rein to assign VIP status to players as long as they have ‘specific provision’ to identify potential problem gamblers. But campaigners fear the ‘lax and unspecific’ guidelines have fostered a ‘wild west world of online gambling’.
Liz and Charles Ritchie, who set up charity Gambling with Lives after their 24-year-old son Jack took his own life after becoming addicted to online gambling, said: ‘When will proper rules be imposed to protect people from practices like those revealed by the Mail’s investigation?
‘Our son Jack took his life after gambling online on Bet365 and other sites. Research shows that online casino games cause mental health problems and suicide.’
Terry White, a former gambling addict who lost £250,000 playing roulette, said: ‘The easy elevation of a customer to a VIP level is abhorrent as it rewards people for both losing and spending lots of time and money on their site – the two indicators a person has issues.’
Online betting was permitted under Tony Blair’s 2005 Gambling Act, but experts say it failed to predict the rise of 24-hour-a-day internet gambling. Ministers are under pressure to tighten legislation as figures show 480,000 problem gamblers in the UK and a further two million at risk.
Iain Duncan Smith, vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for gambling, said: ‘Even Labour now admits Tony Blair’s gambling Act was a disaster. It is estimated gambling addiction could be costing £1.2billion to the economy per year. The Mail should be congratulated for undertaking this investigation into what is going on behind the curtain of secrecy.’
A spokesman for Bet365 said the company ‘prides itself on providing a safe environment for its customers and goes above and beyond its legal and regulatory requirements to do so’.