UK Gambling Operators Found Lacking on Age Checking

A study by the Gambling Commission within the Uk found almost every betting shop visited had no problem taking gambling action from underaged customers.

A study by the united kingdom Gambling Commission revealed that bookmakers are failing miserably at ensuring underage players aren't allowed gambling options. The identification process was ignored at almost every venue tested by the commission, which desired to know laws against betting under eighteen were being enforced.

After visiting 100 different gaming outlets, including operations by all of the five biggest British bookmakers, the commission's investigators found an improbable ninety-eight took bets from a seventeen-year-old. Staff training is meant to insist on seeing identification for anyone not clearly twenty-one or older.

Industry insiders have reacted quickly, professing shame and promising to make adjustments to deal with the issue. But gambling opponents have seized the consequences as proof children can't be guarded against an exploitative betting industry.

"We were told by the federal government that reforming gambling laws would help to offer protection to our children, but another time we've got damning evidence that shows that's not happening," said Don Foster, a spokesman for the anti-gaming Liberal Democrat party.

"We need to take these findings at the chin and admit that for some reason that culture has not been embedded within the industry within the way that it will have been," said Andy Lyman, a representative of the Association of British Bookmakers. He said employees who couldn't buy into the age-checking culture could be released.

Commission spokesmen said the testing achieved what it was meant to, discovering weak links within the system. One said simply, and maybe ominously, "WE PREDICT to peer significant improvements."

Published on May 31, 2009 by JulieWong

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