The fine relates to the treatment of a customer at a Merkur Slots facility in Stockport in north-west England. The player in question lost £1,981 during a number of gaming sessions between 1 and 3 November at the location.
Detailing the case in a statement today (13 February), the Commission said Merkur Slots failed to interact with the customer during these sessions. These took place between 1.50pm and 6.43pm on 1 November, 1.28pm on 2 November and 00.57am on 3 November.
According to the Commission, Merkur breached its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) in its failure to identify and interact with a player “who may be at risk of or experiencing harms associated with gambling”.
Specifically, the regulator picked out Social Responsibility Code Provision (SRCP) 3.4.1 (1) (a) and (b) which relates to premises-based customer interaction.
Under this condition, land-based businesses must interact with customers in a way that will minimise the risk of gambling harm. As the Commission ruled Merkur Slots failed to do this, it proceeded to issue the fine.
“Clear cut” case of failings at Merkur Slots
In its ruling of the case, the Commission said Merkur Slots cooperated throughout the investigation. It also acknowledged the operator has policies and procedures in place for SRCP 3.4.1, and that the failure was due to staff not implementing these effectively.
In addition, the regulator said Merkur Slots has taken remedial action to address this issue. However, Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes said as it was a “clear cut” case of a rule breach, a fine was necessary.
“This was a clear cut case of an operator failing to follow rules aimed at keeping consumers safe from harm,” Rhodes said.
“In recent years there have been a number of cases of online gambling businesses failing to meet their social responsibility obligations, but this investigation shows that land-based operators also need to make sure they are minimising the risk to customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.
“All operators should make sure that not only do they have policies and procedures aimed at preventing harm in place, but also that staff are effectively trained to follow and implement them.”
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/merkur-slots-uk-fined-social-responsibility-failings/
