Bookmakers warned over under age gambling

THE Gambling Commission has written to licensed bookmakers reminding them they must have effective policies and procedures in place to prevent young people under the age of 18 from gambling or entering a betting shop.

It follows a recent mystery shopper exercise undertaken by the Commission which resulted in a 17-year-old being allowed to place a bet in 98 of 100shops visited.

Ladbrokes spokesman, Ciaran O'Brien, said: "Obviously we are disappointed by the results, not least because we put an awful lot of time and effort into this area in terms of training staff and materials. As a result of these tests we will be redoubling our efforts and making sure that we raise standards."

Andrew Lyman, senior executive of the Association of British Bookmakers, said: "We have never been complacent about this issue, but clearly we have a great deal more work to do. As a priority we will work as an industry with the Gambling Commission to improve our performance in this area."

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