VIP customer loses court battle to recoup £1.5m in gambling losses
The High Court of England and Wales has dismissed the player’s case against Betfair.
UK.- A customer has lost a legal bid to recoup £1.5m in gambling losses from Flutter’s online betting exchange Betfair. Lee Gibson had argued that he “was a problem gambler” and that Betfair “knew or ought to have known” about his problem, but the High Court of England and Wales has dismissed the case in its entirety.
The lawsuit made the implied assertion that Betfair breached the terms of its gambling licence by failing in its duty of care to prevent large-scale gambling losses. Through claiming that Betfair had breached its licence conditions, the lawsuit argued that the operator “was operating unlawfully” and that every bet Gibson placed was therefore void.
However, while evidence indicated that Gibson had a gambling disorder of moderate severity, the court was unable to conclude that Betfair neither knew nor ought to have known about it since Gibson had actively concealed his condition. It found that Gibson failed to share information about his gambling problem and took steps to hide it.
The court also rejected the argument that Betfair had a contractual obligation to comply with its licence conditions every time Gibson placed a bet on the Exchange. The judge ruled that a contract is formed only when a customer initially opens an account, and that this would be understood to be a single contract governing the following transactions. It reaffirmed the view that concerns regarding non-compliance with licence requirements must be addressed to the Gambling Commission not the courts.
The court also rejected the argument that Betfair had a duty to prevent Gibson from suffering financial harm finding no common law duty of care to prevent Gibson’s gambling losses specifically as the losses arose through the customer’s own actions. Gibson was found to have never asked Betfair to exclude him or impose restrictions on his gambling.
This month, the British Gambling Commission launched its Gambling Harms Action Lab (GHAL). Proposed back in 2019 as part of its National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms, the new initiative aims to shape how financial institutions can help address problem gambling.
Speaking at the launch Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said financial services providers could collaborate with the gambling sector and play a key role in achieving a more holistic response to gambling harm.
