U.K. Scrutiny of Online Gambling Sites

The United Kingdom's progress toward liberalizing its laws on Internet gambling has renewed concern for underage and problem gamblers.  Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced in August that the new national Gambling Commission will conduct spot checks on gambling Web sites to determine their policies on blocking underage gamblers.

Jowell expressed dismay that most U.K.-based Web sites had accepted bets from children as young as 11, the age at which U.K. banks offer debit cards.  She noted that only Ladbrokes and the National Lottery conducted proper age verification checks through their Web sites.
 
According to the Culture Secretary, Web sites failing to conduct proper age verification in the future will face criminal penalties, "unlimited fines," and loss of license.

Online gambling sites were criticized from a different perspective by a Crown Court judge in the embezzlement prosecution of Bryan Benjafield, a 23-year-old accounts administrator for a construction firm in Dorchester.  Benjafield pled guilty to siphoning off more than £1 million to pay for sports betting, internet poker and other online casino games offered by Ladbrokes and Skybet.

"The ease with which a desperate man addicted to gambling could spend enormous sums is bluntly staggering," observed Judge Andrew Langdon, who criticized the industry for permitting "enormous sums to be spent unthinkingly."

Benjafield's embezzlements forced the liquidation of the company for which he worked.