Merkur Slots UK Limited fined by Gambling Commission

On 13 February 2025, the Gambling Commission (the “Commission”) announced that it had imposed a fine of £95,450 on Merkur Slots UK Limited (“Merkur”) for social responsibility failings at one of its gambling premises in Stockport.

Following an investigation outside of a licence review, the Commission found Merkur in breach of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (“LCCP”) applicable to land-based operators. By failing to identify and interact with customers in a way that minimises the risk of harm associated with gambling, Merkur had breached Social Responsibility Code Provisions (“SRCP”) 3.4.1(1)(a) and 3.4.1(1)(b).

Failure to comply with SRCP 3.4.1

Paragraph 1 of SRCP 3.4.1 requires licensees to interact with customers in a way that minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling. At a minimum, this must include identifying customers that may be at risk of, or are experiencing, harms associated with gambling (3.4.1(1)(a)), interacting with such customers (3.4.1(1)(b)) and understanding the impact of the interaction on the customer and the effectiveness of the licensee’s actions and approach (3.4.1(1)(c)). There are three key elements to these customer interaction obligations – identify, act and evaluate.

In this case, the Commission conducted an investigation into Merkur’s treatment of a customer, who lost £1,981 when gambling for significant periods of time (from 13:50 to 18.43 on 1 November 2023 and between 13.28 on 2 November and 00:57 on 3 November) at its premises in Stockport. It has been reported that Merkur’s internal investigation revealed that the customer had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and, although staff at the branch were aware that the customer left the premises to withdraw more cash to continue gambling, they failed to intervene, instead reserving the customer’s favourite machine which may have exploited the irrational belief that a long losing streak on one terminal must eventually end in a jackpot.

As a result, the Commission found that, despite warning signs, the operator had failed to interact with the customer between 1 and 3 November in accordance with its regulatory obligations. Whilst Merkur had policies and procedures in place regarding SRCP 3.4.1, staff at the premises had not implemented those policies and procedures effectively.

As a result, in accordance with the Commission’s ‘Licensing, Compliance, and Enforcement Policy’ and the ‘Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties’, the Commission imposed a financial penalty of £95,450 under section 121(1) of the Gambling Act 2005. The Commission acknowledged that Merkur cooperated with the investigation and that remedial action was taken in order to address the defects in the implementation of policies and procedures.

Comment

It appears that Merkur’s breach resulted from staff at its premises failing to properly implement and follow internal policies as opposed to issues with the policies or procedures themselves.

In a statement relating to this case, Andrew Rhodes (CEO of the Gambling Commission) said, “This was a clearcut case of an operator failing to follow rules aimed at keeping consumers safe from harm”. In particular, he emphasised that “land-based operators need to make sure they are minimising the risk to customers experiencing harms associated with gambling” as much as online gambling businesses and indicated that “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”.

This is a reminder to land-based operators that they must take their responsibilities to minimise the risk to customers experiencing gambling-related harms seriously. It underscores the importance of ensuring that policies and procedures tackling the risks of harms associated with gambling are implemented effectively, including through the provision of training to staff and audit and review processes.