A racing punter who stopped using his Ladbrokes account after he was restricted to betting in pennies has called for stricter regulation of online bookmakers’ rules, after the firm later removed nearly £1,300 from his balance in what was described as an “inactive account fee”.
Mark Mackay, who had the account with Ladbrokes for several years, said on Wednesday that he had not been contacted by the bookmaker before it started to remove money from his balance. The money has since been returned to his account, but he believes his case highlights the significant sums that gambling firms may be raising from so-called “dormant” or “inactive” accounts, using rules that they can, in effect, make for themselves.
“I had two big wins last year and in September, there was about £8,800 in there,” Mackay said on Wednesday. “After the wins, they started restricting the bets and the stakes they were offering me were silly, so I stopped putting bets on.
“I’d occasionally try to put a bet on, then get knocked back, so I’d check the balance and leave. Then I logged into the account last Sunday and I found there was £1,300 gone. I’d had no contact at all from Ladbrokes, and I complained to their customer services. They came back to me on Monday and said that the money had been taken because the account was dormant.”
Ladbrokes had made three separate monthly deductions from Mackay’s account, taking 5% of the balance each time. The firm applied the charge under its online “Terms and Conditions”, which state that an account is deemed “inactive” after if it has not been used “for betting activity for a period of 12 consecutive months”, and that a fee of £2 or 5% of the balance, whichever is greater, will then be levied on the balance every month until it is either reduced to zero, or a bet is placed.
All online gambling firms have a policy on dormant accounts, but the amount of time that needs to elapse before an account is declared dormant, and also the scale of the charge applied, varies widely from company to company as individual firms are allowed to set their own rules .
“I’ve looked into the rules with other companies,” Mackay said, “and Betway, for example, charge £5 per month. It would take 20 years to take £1,300 from someone at that rate. Ladbrokes have taken that in three months. About eight months ago, I’d had a similar problem with Bet365, but they emailed me before taking anything out and I was able to withdraw the money. They [Ladbrokes] definitely did not email me, or write to me, or message me through the website, which is also something they can do.
“This has got to stop. If you’re trying to put a bet on, they know you’re not going to go through it all [the terms and conditions] with a fine-toothed comb if there’s 10 minutes to the race and that’s how they catch people.
“This was too much money for me to miss it, but what if it was £15 or £20, and then you think about all the others and how it could all add up. They think they can do anything, but it’s not their money.”
Ladbrokes defended its approach to dormant accounts in a statement on Wednesday evening. “Our policies around dormant accounts are in line with standard industry practice,” the company said. “Although we believe our terms and conditions are clearly available to customers who are required to accept them when registering accounts with us, we endeavour to email customers to inform them that deductions to dormant balances may be made.
“In this instance, we are investigating why such an email was not issued and would like to apologise to the customer whilst confirming that refunds of the deductions have now been made.”
A spokesman for the Gambling Commission, which regulates British gambling operators, said on Wednesday that the Commission would “expect any charges on dormant accounts to be set out clearly in an operator’s terms and conditions, and that those terms and conditions are fair and open.” The spokesman added that if Mackay contacts the Commission directly, it will “look into the details of his complaint”.
Brian Chappell, a campaigner on gambling issues who runs the website JusticeForPunters.org, said on Wednesday evening that an increasing number of gamblers are contacting the site to complain about fees charged on dormant accounts.
“Sadly, Justice for Punters is getting plenty of irate inquiries about this practice,” Chappell said. “People are simply astounded that their own money can be taken in this way.”
