Adult gaming centre operator fined £150,000 for self-exclusion failings

Holland Park Leisure Limited, which operates three adult gaming centres in Leicester city centre, has been fined £150,000 ($202,888) by the UK Gambling Commission for failing to join the mandatory multi-operator self-exclusion scheme. The regulator found the operator in breach of Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.5.6 on Tuesday.

The multi-operator self-exclusion scheme is legally required across Great Britain and allows players to exclude themselves from multiple land-based gambling venues within a local area. Holland Park Leisure has also been instructed to commission an independent third-party audit assessing its policies, procedures, controls and staff training related to self-exclusion and responsible gambling.

Repeated Non-Compliance and Misleading Information

The Gambling Commission noted that Holland Park Leisure had previously been warned about its non-compliance but failed to take remedial action at that time. The company also provided misleading information during the regulator’s enquiries, factors which were considered significant aggravators when determining the penalty amount.

Although some steps towards future compliance were taken once the licence review commenced, these efforts did not mitigate the severity of the breach.

Fundamental Licence Conditions

John Pierce, the Gambling Commission’s director of enforcement and intelligence, emphasised the critical role of such schemes “for people who feel they are suffering gambling harm”.

“It is important that all operators fully integrate with the scheme and maintain effective safeguards for self-excluded customers,” Pierce said. He highlighted that operators are required to be “fully participating in a recognised multi-operator self-exclusion scheme”.

Pierce concluded: “These are not optional requirements. They are fundamental licence conditions designed to protect consumers from harm, and operators that fail to meet them can expect regulatory action.”

Heightened Scrutiny of Adult Gaming Centres

The fine comes days after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced proposed reforms to adult gaming centres, betting and vape shops on high streets. The reforms would require adult gaming centres to seek planning approval when opening and would repeal the established “aim to permit” rule for betting shops and 24-hour slot machine arcades across the country.

During the announcement, Burnham labelled adult gaming centres and betting shops as “dodgy businesses”. Adult gaming centres offer category B and C gaming machines to over-18 customers and have come under enhanced regulatory oversight in recent months.

Many experts have warned that implementing these reforms would most likely require new legislation to amend the 2005 Gambling Act. Andrew Lyman, Gibraltar’s Gambling Commissioner and a former director at the UK Gambling Commission, told iGB: “A fundamental change to an underlying principle of the act (one might say the fundamental principle) would need to be changed by primary legislation.”