Unleash Your Inner Gambler With Leovegas Casino Games – The Gambling Commission is investigating claims that online casino company LeoVegas accepted £20,000 from a problem gambler who stole money from his mother, then bombarded him with emails encouraging him to keep betting.

Details of the case, revealed by the Guardian, have sparked fresh calls from campaigners and politicians to call on gambling companies to do more due diligence on customers before placing bets.

Unleash Your Inner Gambler With Leovegas Casino Games

A recovering addict, who is receiving treatment but still faces prosecution, had his account locked by LeoVegas in May 2018 after a customer service employee flagged “concern” about the connection during a live web chat.

Gambling Insider Nov/dec 2022 By Gambling Insider

The account was suspended days after LeoVegas received a £600,000 fine from the Gambling Commission for separate incidents of accepting bets from problem gamblers.

Despite the suspension, sister companies of the LeoVegas group, including Pink Casino and Castle Jackpot, continued to send him marketing emails offering “free spins” and bonuses four times a day.

In January 2019, months after receiving the email, the gambler opened a new account with 21.co.uk, which is also part of the Leo Gaming group. He used the same name and email address but this time registered his mother’s bank card.

He gambled around £20,000 before 21.co.uk asked for ID verification and, realizing he was using someone else’s card, eventually blocked his account.

Online Gambling Concept. Slot Machine On A Smartphone Screen, Poker Chips And Abstract Background. 3d Illustration Stock Photo

Once again, however, sister companies of the Leo Gaming group have resumed sending marketing emails from many of its sites, offering free spins and refunds on losses.

Using his mother’s credit card without permission, the gambler racked up thousands of pounds in debt to payers including 247 Moneybox, MyJar and Satsuma.

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, who has been calling for tighter controls on online gambling, said: “It makes no sense for gambling companies to carry out identity checks and whether they can afford to pay when gamblers have lost large sums of money before they’ve even placed a bet.

“The whole system seems to be a mistake. We also need to see immediate action to cancel betting on credit cards and end the practice of bombarding gambling addicts with gambling ads.”

Online Casinos Ignored My Obvious Signs Of Addiction, Says Gambler

A spokesman for the Gambling Commission said: “We are very clear to users about the rules they must follow to prevent and protect their customers from gambling harm. Where we see evidence that those laws are not being followed, we will investigate.

The case comes as the government reviews whether it should tighten regulations surrounding online betting, including stricter ID checks and rules preventing gamblers from betting on credit.

Online casinos and bookies currently do not have to check whether gamblers can afford their habit before allowing them to bet.

The Gambling Commission is understood to have gathered evidence relating to the case and is investigating whether LeoVegas breached the terms of its license to operate in the UK. LeoVegas declined to comment.

Beyond Fines: The Case For Compensation

In 2018 the Gambling Commission forced LeoVegas to pay a £600,000 fine for a series of breaches after reviewing the company’s license to operate in the UK.

Many of the failures are related to self-exclusion programs, which allow gamblers to voluntarily limit themselves from betting with a company. The regulator found that 1,894 LeoVegas customers were sent marketing materials even though they were registered in its opt-out program.

More than 400 customers were allowed to bet £200,000 over two months, without the company talking to them first or using a 24-hour “cooling off” period.

In April 2019 Bookies withdrew new games after being accused of trying to circumvent rules to cut stakes from £100 per spin to £2 on fixed-odds betting terminals.

Meet The Slots Creators

In December 2018, it was revealed that Ladbrokes had paid £1m to victims of problem gambling who had stolen from them, in exchange for an undertaking not to report it to the industry regulator.

November 2018 Three online casinos pay £14m in regulatory fines for failing money laundering and problem gambling controls.

May 2018 Leo Vegas fined £600,000 for accepting bets from problem gamblers and sending them promotional material.

March 2018 SkyBet fined £1m for allowing gamblers to continue betting and sending them marketing material.

Non Gamstop Casinos Uk

August 2017 888 online casinos fined a record £7.8m for failing to protect over 7,000 vulnerable customers. Games available at Casumo. The company failed to block Katie’s account until she contacted her saying she was suicidal. Photo: Kasumo

A problem gambler who lost £125,000 at online casinos LeoVegas and Casumo is accused of ignoring clear signs of his addiction, instead offering him bonuses to keep betting.

Katie, 42, a former successful accountant, is getting addiction treatment after racking up debt on nine credit cards.

His losses included £54,000 on one night when he was allowed to bet more than £380,000 on one website in one session.

Popular Uk Online Casinos 2023, A List Of Well Known Uk Gambling Sites

Details of his case, which is believed to be the subject of an investigation by the Gambling Commission, have emerged as calls for stricter regulation of online gambling and a review of whether credit betting should be allowed.

Detailed evidence seen by the Guardian suggests that Katy has been exhibiting behavior which the commission said should have alerted betting companies to problem gambling. This included making a series of failed deposits – where his banks refused to allow him to bet – and canceling withdrawals of winnings at the last minute to withdraw money from casino games.

In each case, you are made a VIP customer without paying checks and are given “free spins”.

Kasumo offered him free tickets to events at Wembley Arena, as he was gambling with the money he earned from his high-profile accounting job.

Global Gaming Business, January 2019 By Global Gaming Business

According to an internal communication among Kasumo employees, he complained that the company did not take action earlier after an employee called him a fraud.

Katie confessed her guilt in My Name Is…, a BBC Radio 4 documentary series that follows someone at the center of current affairs.

Betting records show that Katie, who is not her real name, started gambling with Kasumo in June 2017, betting as much as £100. On 9 October 2017, he made a bet of up to £5,000 overnight, landing three bonus offers despite losing control.

Casumo records show that the company noticed his unusual betting pattern 11 hours after it started, and emailed him to inquire about it. He then gambled away another £7,000 and Kasumo failed to block his account until midday, when he emailed a customer representative saying he was feeling “suicidal”.

Gambling Insider Mar/apr 2022 By Gambling Insider

In a recent email to Katie, the company said: “You are right to point out that there are many factors that could be considered red flags for a gambling problem. However, we look at the account holistically and in the context of a particular customer. “

Later that year, Katie lost control again, this time to Swedish company LeoVegas, which has established itself in the UK online casino market and is the shirt sponsor of Norwich City and Brentford football club.

The company gave him VIP status and allowed him to continue betting using multiple credit cards, despite 291 failed deposit attempts and withdrawals worth £27,550.

Between 12 and 13 December 2017, he placed bets of £382,844 in a 24-hour period, losing £53,985 on slot machine games.

Grand Casino Roulette Now Live

On 3 January 2018, by which time he had bet over £1m and lost £94,049, the operator emailed him: “I hope you had a great Christmas and a great start to the New Year. !

“Just wanted to send you a quick message to let you know that I’ve added a special loyalty bonus of £800 to your account which only comes with a 1x wagering requirement. Have a great day ahead!”

Katie said LeoVegas did not admit any failure to control his gambling problem, but paid £34,000 for reinstatement as an “act of good faith”.

He said he was amazed at how companies missed the warning signs of addiction, including the increasing scale and frequency of his bets, as well as the use of multiple credit cards, failed deposits and canceled withdrawals.

Gambling Insider Jul/aug 2022 By Gambling Insider

“They have algorithms where if you spend a lot of money they make you a VIP, or send you a bonus email and use it for their own profit. They can also use it to curb problem gambling, the commission they deserve,” said.

The Guardian published fresh claims this month that LeoVegas accepted £20,000 from a problem gambler who stole money from his mother, then tricked her into selling it.

LeoVegas said it could not comment on Katie’s case but said it “takes safe gambling very seriously, and follows strict policies and procedures to ensure compliance with our legal obligations and our license conditions”.