Bookies to reimburse Birmingham Dogs Home with money gambled away by disgraced former chief
Gambling giant Paddy Power Betfair has been fined more than £2 million after allowing disgraced Birmingham Dogs Home chief Simon Price to gamble money stolen from the charity.
The firm has also agreed to repay all the stolen money gambled away by addict Mr Price on its sites to the dogs home.
Mr Price gambled away £640,000 of the £894,753 he stole, but it is not known how much of this was gambled with Paddy Power Betfair.
The charity will receive a slice of the firm's £500,000 divestment.
Birmingham Dogs Home runs Sunnyside Centre in Coven, South Staffordshire, as well as its base in Solihull.
The Gambling Commission fined the firm £2.2m after discovering ‘significant’ amounts of stolen money had been gambled with Paddy Power’s online exchange Betfair after it failed to carry out proper anti-money laundering checks.
An investigation by the watchdog also found Paddy Power did not protect three customers showing signs of gambling addiction.
The commission’s inquiry centred on five customers in 2016, including two who were allowed to gamble stolen money – one of whom was disgraced former Birmingham Dogs Home chief executive Mr Price.
He and his wife Alayna admitted cheating the charity out of £894,754 over four years from 2012 to feed Mr Price’s gambling addiction.
Mr Price was jailed for five years at the end of 2017, while Mrs Price was given a two-year suspended term.
The regulator also found three Paddy Power customers were allowed to bet ‘extensively’ online and through its betting shops despite signs of problem gambling, which were not picked up after failures to interact with the punters.
Paddy Power Betfair will pay out £1.7 million to charity Gamble Aware and £498,508 to victims and impacted parties, as well as £50,000 to cover the commission’s investigation costs.
Birmingham Dogs Home will receive a share of the £498,508.
Richard Watson, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said: “As a result of Paddy Power Betfair’s failings significant amounts of stolen money flowed through their exchange and this is simply not acceptable.
“Operators have a duty to all of their customers to seek to prevent the proceeds of crime from being used in gambling.
“These failings all stem from one simple principle - operators must know their customer.”
