A customer who came back to a Rank Group casino after a spell of self-exclusion ran up losses of £25,000 before anyone on the staff spoke to them about their gambling. The case is one of several failures behind a £5 million settlement announced by the Gambling Commission on 7 October 2026.
The money will be paid by Grosvenor Casinos Limited, Grosvenor Casinos (GC) Limited and Gaming Group Limited. All three are owned by Rank Group PLC and together operate 51 land-based casinos across Great Britain. They must also submit to a third-party audit. It will test whether their anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls are working in practice.
Losses of £50,000 and £250,000 went unchecked
The Commission’s investigation found weaknesses in social responsibility at the venues. One customer lost £50,000 with no safer gambling interaction taking place. Another won about £260,000 in a short period, then lost about £250,000 within 12 days. No interaction with that customer was recorded.
Rules from 2020 left out of money laundering policies
The operators had not revised their anti-money laundering policies after the Money Laundering Regulations changed in 2020. Unclear controls let staff reach inconsistent decisions about customers with elevated risk, and some high-risk customers were assigned unsuitable risk levels. Money from high-risk sources was accepted without proper scrutiny. Enhanced due diligence, the deeper checks on a customer’s background and funds, was skipped even where the operators’ own policies called for it.
Sue Young, the Commission’s Executive Director of Operations, said these risks are just as present in land-based venues as they are online. The full £5 million will go to the Government’s Consolidated Fund.
Gambling in Great Britain is regulated by the Gambling Commission. 18+. Free, confidential help: GamCare, 0808 8020 133. Self-exclusion: GAMSTOP.