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LeoVegas penalised for advertising and marketing failings

02 May 2018

LeoVegas, the online gambling operator, has been penalised by the Gambling Commission for failings relating to misleading advertising and the handling of customers at the end of their self-exclusion period.

Following a review of LeoVegas’ licence the Commission has concluded matters on the basis that LeoVegas will pay a £600,000 penalty, will divest itself of any funds received as a result of the failings, and will pay the Commission’s costs.

During its investigation the Commission found that LeoVegas:

  • was responsible for 41 misleading adverts
  • failed to return funds to 11,205 customers when they chose to self-exclude and close their account
  • sent marketing material to 1,894 people who had previously self-excluded
  • allowed 413 previously self-excluded1 customers to gamble without speaking to those customers first or applying a 24-hour cooling off period before allowing them to gamble.

Neil McArthur, the Gambling Commission’s Chief Executive said: “The outcome of this case should leave no one in any doubt that we will be tough with licence holders who mislead consumers or fail to meet the standards we set in our licence conditions and codes of practice. We want operators to learn the lessons from our investigations and use those lessons to raise standards. ”

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1 Self-exclusion is a tool used by consumers who feel they are having trouble controlling their gambling and request that the operator refuse their service.

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Last updated: 2 September 2021

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