AT £6.2m, the penalty handed to bookmaker William Hill by the Gambling Commission for breaching anti-money laundering and social responsibility regulations sounds like the type of warning shot which should bring systemic changes to the betting industry.

But sadly, William Hill, which allowed ten customers to deposit large sums of money linked to criminal offences, and problem gamblers continue betting huge amounts with little or no scrutiny, is not unique.

Last year, 888 was ordered to pay £7.8m after more than 7,000 people who had ‘self-excluded’ themselves from gambling were still able to access their accounts, depositing £3.5m. Ladbrokes Coral agreed to a £2.3m penalty package when two high-spending customers gambled away about £1.3m of stolen money.

In 2016, Betfred agreed an £800,000 settlement after accepting stolen cash from a ‘VIP’ customer, and Paddy Power paid £280,000 after it was found to have encouraged a problem gambler to keep betting. The frequency of these cases and the common issues identified by the Gambling Commission give the impression that the industry doesn’t want to ask too many questions about where customers’ money comes from. The regulator clearly has teeth, but the Government needs to take note of these findings as well.

Ministers are weeks away from a decision on cutting the maximum stake on addictive fixed odds betting terminals. If the industry cannot find a way to protect its most vulnerable customers, then it can have no complaints if it has measures like this thrust upon it.