|
|
 |
| |
 |
|
|
 Welcome to
the News desk.
|
 |
|
|
| Competition watchdog to investigate online betting
firms |
22/10/2016 |
|
 Alexandra Topping and Rob
Davies |
• Bookies could
lose licences over claims they use ‘misleading promotions’ and
‘unfair terms’ to deceive customers
Online betting companies who overturn gamblers’ winning
bets using loopholes buried in the small print of their websites face losing
their licences, after the competition regulator launched a probe into the
industry.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it had begun a
review asking betting websites to explain allegations that they use
“misleading promotions” and “unfair terms” to deceive
customers.
The regulator is understood to be receiving a flood of
complaints already from gamblers who feel cheated by an industry that wins
£4bn a year from them.
|
“Gambling
inevitably involves taking a risk, but it shouldn’t be a con,” said
Nisha Arora, the CMA’s senior director for consumer enforcement.
“We’re worried players are losing out because gambling sites
are making it too difficult for them to understand the terms on which
they’re playing, and may not be giving them a fair deal.
“We’ve heard worrying complaints suggesting people may be
lured into signing up for promotions with little chance of winning because of
unfair and complex conditions.”
Sarah Harrison, chief executive of
industry regulator the Gambling Commission said online betting firms were
“not doing enough” to draw up fair terms and conditions, which often
“bamboozle” customers.
The CMA has the power to take firms to
court for breach of the Enterprise Act, while the Gambling Commission can
revoke betting firms’ licence to operate in the UK.
The Remote
Gambling Association, which represents online betting firms, played down the
scale of the problem.
The RGA said it would co-operate with the CMA
probe but added: “There is no reason to believe that there are widespread
failings.”
“If there are faults it is right that the CMA
shines a light on them and that we collectively learn lessons from that.
“However, it would be wrong to pre-judge the outcome of an inquiry
that has only just begun.”
About 5.5 million people regularly use
gambling websites in Britain, and the sector has grown 146% since 2009,
according to the CMA.
Online betting firms won about £4bn from
gamblers in the 11 months to September 2015, according to the Gambling
Commission.
“Gambling, by its very nature, is always going to
involve risk but customers must have faith that if they win they will not end
up feeling that the deck is stacked against them because of an obscure
condition that they did not properly understand,” said Harrison.
Brian Chappell, 59, set up the campaign group Justice4Punters in March
this year after several of his online betting accounts were shut down, said
bookmakers were regularly changing the odds after a bet had been won, claiming
the customer had breached their conditions.
Customers who placed
successful odds regularly saw their accounts closed, with no reason given.
“The websites follow all of your patterns, if you seem to be doing
sensible things then they shut your account down, they are often getting rid of
anyone who has any ability at all,” he said.
Regulatory sources
said some companies would allow a customer to place a bet at 10/1, for
instance, then cancel the bet claiming they made a mistake when setting the
odds. |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Main Menu
