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Leo Vegas, one of the most prominent gambling brands has been penalised by the Gambling Commission for failings relating to misleading advertising and the handling of customers at the end of their self-exclusion period. As a consequence, they have been fined a total of £627,000. This is made up of a £600,000 fine plus £27,000 of the Gambling Commissions expense.Following a review of LeoVegas’ licence the Commission has concluded matters on the basis that LeoVegas will pay the penalty plus divest itself of any funds received as a result of the failings, and will pay the Commission’s costs.
What did Leo Vegas Do Wrong
During its investigation the Commission found that LeoVegas misled and failed their customers on numerous occasions.In total The Gambling Commission found that Leo vegas were responsible for 41 misleading adverts. That they had repeatedly failed to return funds to 11,205 customers when they chose to self-exclude and close their account.LeoVegas acknowledge that they operated in breach and have already returned balances to players where possible. They have identified £14,429 in outstanding balances. Although it should be noted that the majority being less than £1.00.Nevertheless, LeoVegas will divest itself of those funds by making an equivalent donation to charities for socially responsible causes.It also transpired Leo Vegas sent out marketing material to 1,894 people who had previously self-excluded. They also allowed 413 previously self-excluded customers to gamble without speaking to those customers first or applying a 24-hour cooling off period before allowing them to gamble.
More From The Gambling Commission
Neil McArthur, the Gambling Commission’s Chief Executive said: “The outcome of this case should leave no one in any doubt that we will be tough with licence holders who mislead consumers or fail to meet the standards we set in our licence conditions and codes of practice. We want operators to learn the lessons from our investigations and use those lessons to raise standards. ”