Ladbrokes have been branded ‘vultures’ after revealing an ‘inactive’ fee of £3 targeted at lapsed users.
The move has prompted fears that recovering addicts may feel pressured into betting.
An email has been sent to people who have in the past registered for the Ladbrokes website but not used it in at least 14 months.
The correspondence claimed that a monthly £3 would be deducted from their account.
Ladbrokes claim the charge is to cover ‘the operating cost’ of keeping accounts open – and have vowed to refund all customers who get in touch.
Sports producer Chris Brown was among those to share a screengrab of the company’s email on Twitter, where the fee has been branded ‘diabolical’.
Other social media users described Ladbrokes as ‘disgusting vultures’ in response.
Chris, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, said: ‘It’s not sending the right message.
There’s a whole ‘gamble aware’ campaign and this goes completely against it.
‘If you are someone who’s struggled with gambling and you haven’t logged into your account for a year and know you have £20 in there, you’re immediately going to want to log in and either withdraw it or spend more.
‘It needs to be investigated.’
The email claimed users would have to ‘claim back’ the £3 fee from Ladbrokes Customer Services.
In response to one tweet, Ladbrokes said: ‘Hey, thanks for your message. These fees are calculated as the operating cost of having your account kept open whilst it remains inactive and only your gaming account balance will be charged.
‘If you’d like to talk about this in more detail, then please send us a DM.’
Chris, 36, checked his emails yesterday before branding the move ‘nonsense’ on Twitter.
He added: ‘[I read] that my account’s been inactive and as of [Thursday] I’ll be [charged] a £3 inactivity monthly fee. That’s not right.
‘I don’t think I had any money in my account anyway but if I did, I presume they’d just take £3 a month out until it goes.
‘They responded to my tweet to say it was to cover their operating costs. They said “while your account remains inactive it’s for the operating costs of keeping the account open”.
‘I don’t think anywhere else does that. If I don’t do my online shopping, I don’t think they’ll start charging me for not doing my online shopping.’
Now Chris and many others on social media have deactivated their accounts in protest at the move.
Entain, a sports-betting and gaming group who own Ladbrokes, said refunds will be offered in full to all those affected by the £3 fee.
The chare is standard practice that is approved by gambling guidelines, it was stressed.
A spokesperson from the organisation said: ‘Our principle objective is to repatriate money sitting in dormant inactive accounts to the customer and to close that account down if it is no longer active.
‘If the customer at any stage of the process makes contact and requests the reimbursement of the dormancy fees we will make that repayment in full.
‘Following our prior communications, we’re updating you that your account is now being treated as inactive as it hasn’t been used for 14 months.
‘As of today a £3 inactivity monthly fee is now in effect, which will continue until your balance reaches zero.
‘Please note that fees have been deducated from your Ladbrokes account balance can be claimed back by contacted our Customer Service team.
‘Once you’re reclaimed them, you can withdraw your balance as you have in the past.
‘If your balance is less than £5 or your last known payment method has expiresd, you’ll need to make a deposit then withdraw that amount plus your remaining balance.
‘We may be required to reverify your personal details before you are able to deposit or withdraw, this will be notified to you upon account login and instructions will be provided.
‘If you have any questions or further queries about your account, please contact us.’
‘The gambling commission allows betting operators to charge inactivity fees on accounts that have been dormant for a long period of time as it is not in our interest, nor in the interest of the customer, to have funds sat in accounts which are not used for lengthy periods and which may never be used as they have most likely been forgotten about.
‘This is a standard process operated by most betting operators.
‘Before we start deducting fees, we attempt to return the balance to the customers last known payment method.
‘If this isn’t possible, for example if the payment method on the account is no longer active, before we start deducting fees, we contact the customer using the contact information on their account to recommend they withdraw the balance themselves to another payment method.’
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