Holland Park Leisure, which manages adult gaming centres throughout Leicester, has been hit with a £150,000 fine by the UK Gambling Commission for not implementing a self-exclusion mechanism for customers. This failure meant that patrons could not effectively ban themselves from gambling across the company's three venues in the city.
The Gambling Commission noted that Holland Park Leisure had previously been reminded of its duty to establish a multi-operator self-exclusion scheme. However, the necessary systems were not put in place until after the Commission suspended the company’s gambling license in October 2025.
Investigators also found the company had not responded in a timely manner to previous warnings and had provided misleading information during a regulatory audit. In addition to the financial penalty, the company will face an independent audit of its self-exclusion procedures and will be required to provide additional training to staff. This training aims to ensure employees can identify patrons who have self-excluded.
John Pierce, the Gambling Commission's Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, emphasized the importance of compliance, stating that all operators must actively engage with self-exclusion schemes. He highlighted that operators must have appropriate procedures in place to identify and prevent self-excluded individuals from gambling. He added that staff should be adequately trained and directed to support services. Pierce warned that these requirements are not optional; they form the core conditions of their licenses and are designed to protect consumers from harm. Operators that do not meet these conditions should expect enforcement action.
