October 08, 2013

Gambling Commission rebukes Coral Bookmakers

The Coral bookmaker has been rebuked by the UK Gambling Commission over a recent incident involving money laundering within their retail units.

A man in his thirties that is currently awaiting trial on drug charges spent over £90,000 in the betting shop without being challenged on where the money came from. The Gambling Commission say the operator will have t0 pay back the money as it is almost certainly from illegal activity.

The betting shop in the North East of England is supposed to record and challenge any gamblers that spend in excess of £10,000, a suspicious activity report was filed by Coral staff but nothing else was done in relation to the customer and his high spending rate.

Instead the commission said Coral chose instead to “recognise the significance of the customer from a commercial perspective” – and gave him a complimentary day at the races as a valuable customer.

There are calls in the EU Commission to lower the reporting rate from currently £10,000 to £1,700 however this has not been implemented at present in the UK.

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