The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has fined Merkur Slots UK Limited £95,000 following an investigation that revealed social responsibility failings. The details of the fine and the failings were released in a statement directly from the Commission.
Failure to Meet Standards
The fine was issued after an investigation was conducted into the way Merkur handled a customer in one of their Stockport venues. The customer had lost close to £2,000 over the course of a few days, during each of which they were playing for prolonged periods.
The Commission’s investigation revealed the player had lost £1,981 between November 1st and 3rd, 2023. It revealed that on the 1st, he had played between 1:50 PM and 6:43 PM, before playing between 1:28 PM and 00:57 AM on the 2nd into the 3rd.
Merker failed to intervene with the player, allowing them to continue playing and losing funds. This was flagged up to the Commission and was the basis of the investigation.
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Duty of Care
Speaking about the investigation, Andrew Rhodes, the Commission’s CEO, noted that the operator had clearly failed to check in with the player and that this was in direct breach of established rules for customer care.
He talked about how there had been many instances of social responsibility failings involving online casinos and UK gambling sites but also many cases involving land-based operators. He said, “This investigation shows that land-based operators also need to make sure they are minimising the risk to customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.”
Rhodes finished by emphasising the need for land-based staff to be effectively trained so that they can intervene in situations such as the one Merkur encountered in Stockport.
License Breach
License Breach
The UKGC concluded that Merkur was in direct violation of the License Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) for failing to intervene with the customer. The rules state, “Premises-based businesses must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling”.
Their findings and further reports have suggested that Merkur’s behaviour was in direct contradiction with these rules.
The identity of the player involved has not been revealed, but an investigation by The Guardian suggested that it was a 64-year-old cancer patient. This investigation also suggested that the staff had witnessed the customer visit an ATM to get more money out. Further to this, staff had allegedly reserved slot machines for the player to continue playing.
