Man Sues Bookie
William Hill a bookie agency is being sued by Graham Calvert a gambling addict for letting him continue placing bets. Calvert asked to be banned by this agency when he first confronted his gambling addiction and his account was closed for the company’s minimum six months. This practice is called self exclusion and is common in gambling establishments to protect the welfare of gambling addicts in preventing them from being able to gamble with their bookie of choice.
Two months later Calvert had a relapse and opened up a new account with William Hill under his own name with no hassle despite having made the company aware of his addiction and opting into the self exclusion facility. Calvert then placed a bet for £347,000 (Mr. Calvert a highly skilled greyhound trainer makes an average of £30,000 per month, his bet was worth almost as much as he makes in a year). Calvert lost that bet.
Gambling addiction, like alcohol or drug addiction is a disease that can only be controlled with the support of the entire community. William Hill was derelict in their duty to aid Mr. Calvert in fighting his addiction when he had already turned to them for help, after all the whole point of having a self exclusion policy is to prevent incidents like this from happening. Calvert’s lawyers have filed a £2,000,000 suit against William Hill who claim to be dedicated to “supporting responsible gambling initiatives”. Clearly they dropped the ball in this case and should end up paying the price for it.
