William Hill fined £6.2m for lax controls

i find them amazing when i  go into one of their shops they restrict me to a £10 max
bet per horse
they sound like crooks to me

Seems they will do anything rather than take a bet

They are classed as too high in society to be crooks,if they launder money it's classed as a mistake if a working class man fills his dole form in wrong that's fraud

@GAZO -- Seems they will do anything rather than take a bet

That's the odd thing. Hills were taking bets off money-launderers.

money launderes are not worried about  beating sp

Again we find that the books do not know that customers who bet in very large amounts can afford to do so. It would not take much investigation to do this like their postcode. They will make the right noises and carry on.

a customer living in a mansion, betting on average £10 per bet, consistently beating the industry price, will be cut to ribbons or account closed

a customer living in a bedsit, betting on average £500 per bet, clueless and not taking best price, will be given bonuses, tickets to Cheltenham and be made a V.I.P.

BBC all over this,lead story this morning.

@GAZO -- Seems they will do anything rather than take a bet

That's the odd thing. Hills were taking bets off money-launderers


The story I just seen on the BBC was just showing the FOBTs and a roulette wheel. I would guess it is all linked with money going through the machines, as why else would they show that (unless they know none of them want to take bets anymore)? Hopefully the whole story comes out of hgow the cash was laundered, but if it is all to do with the machines that will hopefully be a massive nail in the FOBT coffin.

Bookies are not interested in morality. Their strategy is based on taking money from those who have problems or indulging in money laundering. The only thing that would stop their practices if directors could be penalised by a time behind bars.

they haven't pinpointed exactly what the money was bet on, that could be the death knell for the FOBTs train

One punter deposited 654K over 9 months lived in rented accommodation and was on £30k a year. The very top of WH would have sanctioned taking the bets. WH won £1.2 million from the 10 customers involved. Same MO as the previous books that have been fined.Why do they still have a licence?

they didn't knock the boy who deposited £541,000 of crime money down to max bet 23p each-way then ....

'traders decision' to let him keep piling the dirty money in

knew exactly what they were doing, scum

rayman - it is no different than the corruption in racing. Non triers / suspect rides get pulled in only if you are small fry, others have carte blanche to do whatever they please, no matter how blatant. Imagine the steroid issues that have come to light and if the stable involved was a certain Mr Best - you know the BHA would have issued a small fine and a "carry on as you were". Imagine the Zarooni case being with a lot of other stables - no doubt a full investigation done and dusted within 72 hours.... Corruption stems from the top (NAP)...

Re Money Laundering - simply using the proceeds of crime to gamble is classified as money laundering.  There is no requirement to be using the transaction to hide the origin of the funds.

not something you'd expect from a company whose controls surrounding restricting anyone who has half a clue to peanuts are world leading ....

If those were winning accounts they would have been closed asap.

If that would have been a small Independent firm,they would have took there License away and Hills would have been right on to there customers offering them all there casino games.Its the standard G.C.response about not tolleraiting any bookmaker not being responsible regarding money laundering and vunerable people.Next fine will be 7 mil but if you have less than 50 shops,license took off you.

Strange thinking by the crooks though.

Imagine being able to steal all that money but then giving it to a bookies Must be better ways of laundering it shirley

I presume they get most of it back and can then say they won it on the FOBTs   

KC--Shirley uses Fairy Liquid Bio--

Bookies especially those in public hands, and have premises on the high street operate with the sole motto of profit at all costs,...no equity or social responsibility as far as they are concerned; they will take funds from any source as long as they are making a profit from it, regardless, even funds illegally obtained from a granny or a child's piggy bank; bookies do not have a soul when it come to profit for their business.

Some of them are as evil as the "crack cocaine machine of gambling/gaming" ie fobt; they should be monitored especially their CEO as closely as a convicted criminal on parole; they also have no morals.

Just read the RP report. The 10 'customers' were allowed to bet and lose £1.2 million.
Obviously a 'traders decision'.
Imagine the conversation with the top brass. 'Well have you checked they are not laundering or are addicts'. Yes boss I have asked them how much they earn (1 said £356k (honest) another lived in rented accommodation and earned £30k) so no problem. OK then let me know if they start winning and we will have to start restricting.
Oh and by the way what ever you do not let them withdraw any funds.
On 11 occasions the GC have handed out fines to the big boys for the same MO. In every case the books have promised to clean up their act.
My message to the GC is until you have the guts to withdraw a licence then this profit at all costs business plan will continue.

nothing wrong with the controls, problem stems from greed & these firms believing they can do whatever they want.  which for the large part they do due to an abject lack of supervision.

whosever fault It was nothing will be said a staff member looses a score
the gestapo sorry security will be down on them like a ton of bricks.
regards
ronnie

Went to withdraw from them yesterday and they made me split my withdrawal between payment methods I haven't used in months. Strange for any account I've had for 5 or so years.

One thing that seems overlooked by the GC & press.
Have they ever asked these firms the question "how many people have you prevented (not restricted) from betting due to money laundering concerns "
If the answer was in the thousands perhaps the offence would be justified by it only being a tiny minority of our customers, but as that line has not been spouted , I would guess the answer to the question can be counted on your hands.

Once again the definition of money laundering includes simply gambling with the proceeds of crime - trying to hide the original source is not required.  So in the cases cited, the large sums being used for gambling should immediately trigger extensive enquiries. 

There will be people in shops who refuse to give details when asked.  How often this occurs and what is done is an interesting point.  ie does the suspicious activity just continue at the bookie next door?

^ The bottom line is re: above '' the bottom line ! ''

Money laundering is the most simple thing in the world when it comes to the shops, a bloke puts 10k into a fobt, he losses a grand, but that money becomes legal as he has a cheque or cash from Hills..
if you walked into a bank with 10k and tried to deposit, there would be a stewards inquiry..
1...... 4 or 5 blokes playing on the machine putting in thousands, a single member of staff has to walk up to them and ask them where they got it from and there names and addresses.....

2....A bloke walks into a shop and wants £50 ew a horse, 2 phone calls, a 15 min wait, then told you can have £10 ew at the price.
you are then restricted, you have to call head office if he comes in again, and have your photo put behind the counter in case you come in again trying to take the p1ss...
THATS HOW IT IS, BUT ITS CHANGING