''Calvert v William Hill Credit Ltd.'' was a

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

case in which a large bookmaker was sued by a customer who lost £2.1m to William Hill after the bookmaker had failed to implement their own "self-exclusion" policy.

Background

Graham Calvert was a successful greyhound trainer and pathological gambler who in 2006 placed the largest golf bet in history: £347,000 on America to win the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

. Calvert lost this and a series of other bets, so in May 2006 he closed his William Hill account and requested that it not be opened again. Nevertheless, he was allowed by William Hill to continue betting two weeks later. His losses escalated so, again, he requested of the bookmaker that they stop taking his bets. During this "rare moment of clarity," Calvert availed himself of William Hill's and other bookmakers' customer self-exclusion procedures. The William Hill employee who took Calvert's telephone call, John, apparently did not implement the company's procedure and William Hill continued to facilitate Calvert's gambling after he opened another account in his own name two months later. Between June and December 2006 he was permitted to make bets totalling £3.5m, resulting in a net loss of £2.1m.

Judgment

William Hill were found to have failed in their duty of care to Calvert. The judge also remarked upon "significant structural weakness in William Hill's internal arrangements." However, Calvert's claim for the £2,052,972.18 he lost was thrown out on the grounds that he would have ruined himself via another bookmaker. He had continued to gamble with other companies even while his William Hill accounts were closed. An additional personal injury claim for damages also failed.

Aftermath

Calvert was gaoled for two years in October 2008 on firearms and drugs charges. He, his family and property had been the subject of attacks from

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

s. The legality of the disclaimer on William Hill's self-exclusion policy remains untested, since they had not used the policy in the case of Calvert.

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20081025053338/http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Gambling-addict-jailed-over-guns.4616074.jp *http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7243656.stm *http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/7291597.stm *https://web.archive.org/web/20110204210910/http://www.lawreports.co.uk/WLRD/2008/CACiv/dec0.9.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20091031012659/http://www.inhouselawyer.co.uk/index.php/litigation-a-dispute-resolution/7318-no-duty-to-save-you-from-yourself *http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2008/454.html Gambling in the United Kingdom High Court of Justice cases 2008 in United Kingdom case law William Hill (bookmaker)