The Labour MP Carolyn Harris said: “Just how exploitative has a gambling company got to be before the Gambling Commission suspends their licence? Gambling companies have to perform checks on how heavy gamblers fund their bets, as a condition of their licence to operate. In another of the seven cases, a customer deposited £187,000 in two days without being asked for information about the source of their funds. “Betway could not provide evidence of any social responsibility interactions being carried out with this customer,” said the commission, blaming systemic historical failings at the company. It also accepted £494,000 from a customer who had 11 different accounts with the company and had previously signed up to exclude themselves from gambling, a measure offered to people struggling with addiction. Betway relied on unverified and “open source” information as evidence they could afford to do so.
Another gambler deposited £1.6m and lost more than £700,000 over three years, despite being unemployed.
