Merkur Slots has been fined £95,450 for failing to interact with a customer who showed signs of problematic gambling.
The fine from Britain’s Gambling Commission relates to a customer at one of Merkur’s adult gaming centres in the United Kingdom, who was allowed to play for extended periods of time without any intervention by Merkur staff.
An investigation by the Gambling Commission found that the customer was able to play without any staff interaction for almost five hours on 1 November 2024, and again for almost 11 hours on the following day, in breach of the Commission’s social responsibility rules.
“This was a clearcut case of an operator failing to follow rules aimed at keeping consumers safe from harm,” said Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission.
“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 operators also need to make sure they are minimising the risk to customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.”
Under the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), land-based businesses must interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of customers experiencing harms associated with gambling.
The Commission noted that Merkur Slots was cooperative throughout the investigation and had the appropriate social responsibility policies and procedures in place, but that premises staff failed to implement the policies and procedures effectively.
Rhodes added: “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.”