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Paddy Power failings earn Gambling Commission rebuke

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Paddy Power

Paddy Power: launched a review into their social responsibility controls

 By David Baxter 2:10PM 29 FEB 2016 

PADDY POWER have agreed to contribute £280,000 to a socially responsible cause after “failing to keep crime out of gambling and protect vulnerable people”. 

Drawing the attention of the wider gambling industry to a number of lessons from Paddy Power’s shortcomings, the Gambling Commission published a detailed statement on Monday into significant failings relating to three Paddy Power customers.

In its statement, headlined ‘Failures in anti-money laundering controls’, the commission said it had “identified a number of serious failings on the part of Paddy Power Holdings Ltd (Paddy Power) in relation to keeping crime out of gambling and protecting vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited”.

According to the statement, a betting shop customer who was a problem gambler working five jobs to fund his habit, was actively encouraged to keep returning to the shop and bet by senior staff, despite concerns being raised by shop staff.

The first recorded instance of Paddy Power directing the customer to sources of help with problem gambling came after a chance meeting with the customer away from the shop, when it was revealed he had lost his jobs, was homeless and had lost access to his children.

Money laundering

The statement highlights that another customer laundered Scottish bank notes through gaming machines at one of Paddy Power’s shops.

The manager of the shop relayed concerns to senior staff over a six-month period, but none of these suspicions were relayed to Paddy Power’s money laundering reporting officer.

When eventually challenging the customer, Paddy Power were unable to verify the customer had a legitimate source of funds.

Failed to follow policies and procedures

Finally, the Gambling Commission’s statement highlights that Paddy Power did not carry out sufficient due diligence checks into online gambler Mark Cooney, who has been sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to fraud offences.

Cooney stole over £250,000 from six customers at two banks where he worked and spent a significant amount gambling, with the report stating that Paddy Power made no direct inquiries to Cooney about the source of the funds he was gambling.

Power “acknowledged that it failed to follow the policies and procedures it had in place for undertaking due diligence checks on customers of its online business”.

Lessons to be learned

Paddy Power accepted the commission’s findings and as a result have agreed to a review into their anti-money laundering and social responsibility controls from a third party at their own expense.

As well as the £280,000 payment, Paddy Power also contributed £27,250 to the commission’s costs in investigating the matter.

Richard Watson, programme director at the commission, said: “We expect the industry will learn lessons from this case – it is their duty to keep crime out of gambling and protect vulnerable people from harm.

“If operators don’t implement processes and policies aimed at doing this then they risk losing their operating licence. Paddy Power failed in their dealing with three customers and are now facing the consequences of these actions in a very public way.”

 

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