doctor_slump 2008-2-15 09:45 AM
Man sues betting chain for letting him bet
A compulsive gambler is suing a betting chain for two million pounds in losses he racked up despite asking the firm to bar him, he said Thursday.
Graham Calvert, a 28-year-old greyhound trainer, will go to the High Court next week in a bid to force William Hill to repay his losses because it failed in a duty of care to him.
Calvert, from Tyne and Wear in northeastern England, said he told the company to bar him in May 2006, but was later allowed to open a new account with them.
"If I'd known I had the problem and didn't do anything about it, I would see myself as being 100 percent responsible," he told the BBC. "The fact is that I did try to go through the right procedures and I was let down."
Calvert's losses included 347,000 pounds on one bet alone, in which he forecast that the United States would win golf's Ryder Cup championships.
Calvert sought to be barred under a process known as "self-exclusion." His lawyer Peter Hornsey said the court hearing will be a test case for betting shops' social responsibility.
"This case is important not just on a personal level for Mr Calvert but also for the betting industry as a whole," he said.
"It goes to the issue of how bookmakers treat people who have gambling problems via their self-exclusion policy and whether they can be held responsible when they advertise themselves as offering self-exclusion and promoting socially-responsible gambling."
The court case is due to start next Monday, and last five days.
