£95,450 fine for Merkur Slots UK Limited

_{Merkur Slots UK Limited fined for social responsibility breaches at its Stockport gaming centre. (Image: William Barton / Alamy)}

A gambling business will pay a £95,450 fine for social responsibility failings at one of its adult gaming centres.

Merkur Slots UK Limited, which operates adult gaming centres and online casinos, will pay the money after a Commission investigation into their treatment of a customer who lost £1,981 between 1 and 3 November 2023 at its premises in Stockport.

Investigations revealed the operator failed to interact with the customer when they gambled from 1.50pm to 6.43pm on 1 November, and between 1.28pm on 2 November and 00.57am on 3 November.

Land Based Operators Need to Minimise Risks to Customers

This breached the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) which states that premises-based businesses must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.

Andrew Rhodes, Commission CEO, said: “This was a clearcut case of an operator failing to follow rules aimed at keeping consumers safe from harm.

“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 casinos need to make sure they are minimising the risk to customers experiencing gambling-associated harms.

“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.”