UK gambling operator Rank Group has been fined £500k for failing to prevent a problem gambler from blowing £1m in 24 hours.

On Wednesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that it had imposed a financial penalty of £500k on Rank for (a) failing to interact with a customer displaying obvious problem gambling behavior, (b) contacting the customer despite him signing up for self-exclusion and (c) not following rules regarding the provision of credit.

The gambler in question was a longtime “very high net value” customer of Rank’s Grosvenor Casinos brand who lived overseas. His gambling “escalated rapidly” in 2017 after he opened an online account with GrosvenorCasinos.com.

The credit issue arose when the customer was having difficulty transferring money to his Rank Digital account. To ensure the customer kept playing, Rank effectively offered him the same credit facility available to their land-based casino customers.