MPs’ fury as betting giant dodges £3.5million fine for death of addict

Furious MPs have lambasted gambling giant Playtech for using a ‘blatant’ legal loophole to dodge a £3.5million fine for their role in the suicide of a young addict.

Chris Bruney, 25, took his own life hours after being plied with £400 of bonuses by staff at online casino Winner.co.uk, owned by Playtech.

The successful electrical engineer, from Sheffield, lost £119,000 in the five days before his death but was still allowed to gamble. 

Yesterday it emerged the Gambling Commission cannot fine Playtech because bosses shut the subsidiary which ran the Winner brand last year.

After an 18-month investigation the regulator found there were ‘serious systemic failings’ in the way PTES managed social responsibility and anti-money laundering processes. 

The Commission said: ‘If the licence had not been surrendered the Commission would have imposed a financial penalty of £3.5million and considered whether other sanctions were appropriate.’ 

It added the breaches constituted a ‘criminal offence’.

Last night MPs and members of the Lords said Playtech, which turned over £1.3billion last year, should pay up. Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘Playtech must pay the full fine. This appalling case is symptomatic of the personal tragedies which keep happening because of the enormous scale of bad behaviour of the gambling companies.’

Tory MP Richard Holden, a member of the all-party parliamentary group for gambling, said: ‘It’s outrageous Playtech have got away with such a small fine and they must now pay up.

‘It’s unacceptable that they are able to exploit this blatant loophole in our gambling laws.’ The Lord Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, said: ‘Avoiding a multi-million pound fine through a loophole of ownership smacks of impunity. This is yet more evidence the regulation of VIP schemes is too light-touch.’ It is the first time any firm has avoided a fine using the loophole since the regulator was set up in 2007.

Yesterday the Commission, which regulates the UK industry, published the findings of an 18-month investigation into the actions of PTES, which ran the Winner.co.uk online casino.

It said there were ‘serious systemic failings’ in the firm’s policies to protect vulnerable players and prevent money laundering. It found Winner failed to ask if Mr Bruney was happy with his gambling or could afford his losses, as required by industry rules.

On Tuesday the company apologised and said it has made a £620,000 donation to safer gambling charities on the back of the Commission’s findings.

The sum is considerably less than recent fines for player protection failings against other large firms. In March online casino Betway paid £11.6million and in July last year Ladbrokes paid £5.9million, following revelations in this newspaper.

The Playtech donation is also much lower than the £8million earned by the firm’s chief executive Mor Weizer since Mr Bruney’s death. Nobody at Playtech has lost their job over the tragedy, although five executives at PTES are said to be no longer with the company.

On Monday Mr Bruney’s mother, who does not want to be named, said: ‘I believe Winner and the other companies that Chris gambled with killed my son. We have now been denied justice for our son. We are heartbroken and we have been let down.’ The family has not received a penny of the £119,000 lost by Mr Bruney in the five days before his death.

The charity Gambling with Lives said: ‘This whole process exposes the callous disregard of a hugely profitable company.’ Gambling Commission boss Neil McArthur thanked the family for ‘their bravery in bringing his case to our attention’.

Playtech were contacted for comment.