The year is only two days old but UK gambling operators are already facing their first public relations crisis over VIP customer activity.

On Thursday, the Guardian newspaper reported obtaining a ‘secret’ UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) report regarding online licensees’ VIP gambling programs. The report, which the Guardian obtained via a freedom of information request, crunched data from nine unidentified betting operators who apparently offer both retail and online betting.

The report has yet to surface publicly but the Guardian chose to focus on two aspects: VIPs accounting for a disproportionate amount of gambling account deposits and VIPs being overrepresented in the ranks of the UK’s problem gamblers.

One operator reportedly garnered 83% of all account deposits from just 2% of its overall customer base, while a rival operator derived 58% of deposits from 5% of its customers, and a third operator claimed that 3% of its customers were responsible for 48% of deposits.