Concern after 17-year-old is allowed to bet at 98 out of 100 shops.

Byline: Graham Green

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

The commission's director of regulation, Nick Tofiluk, has already met senior executives of major bookmakers to discuss the results and the action the operators plan to take.

Tofiluk said: "It is illegal for young people under the age of 18 to gamble or to enter a betting shop. We are extremely concerned at these results - further mystery shopping exercises will be conducted to ensure that controls are effective."

Although there was some private comment among bookmakers over the appearance of the mystery shopper - one suggested estimates of his age based on a photograph put him at between 18 and 26 - they are not making this an issue, but pledged to improve their performance.

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. 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 are deeply disappointed, particularly as bookmakers have invested a great deal of time and money trying to ensure shop staff take a proactive approach to enforcing the age limit on gambling.

"We've never been complacent, 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."'Clearly we have a great deal more work to do' Andrew Lyman, Association of British Bookmakers