888 Gains as Gambling Penalty Better Than Losing License
- Regulator says online gambling company didn’t protect clients
- Technical glitch failed to prevent 7,000 clients from playing
The 888.com website.
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888 Holdings Plc shares rose in London trading as the online betting operator was hit with a 7.8 million-pound ($10 million) penalty for failing to prevent problem gambling, though avoided the worst-case scenario of having its license revoked.
888 had a series of computer glitches and failed to effectively screen for problem gamblers, the U.K. Gambling Commission said Thursday. One customer displayed signs of problem behavior so significant that it resulted in criminal activity, with the gambler stealing 55,000 pounds from his employer to play, the regulator added. The stock rose as much as 5.6 percent.