Problem gambler loses duty of care appeal against Star Sports for recovery of £33,859 losses

A problem gambler who sued Star Sports for losses of £33,859, claiming he was owed a duty of care having allegedly admitted his problem to an employee at the firm's betting shop in London, has lost his case.

The judge at the London County Court did not believe a conversation had taken place between the claimant, Scott O’Brien, and a cashier at the bookmaker’s Knightsbridge branch.

O’Brien had claimed he told the cashier, who he recognised as a parent with a child at the same school as his own, that he "had a bit of a problem with gambling", and that the cashier should not tell his wife.

During the case, O’Brien admitted to gambling with other people’s money, with the judge agreeing with the point put forward by the legal team for Star Sports who said if that were the case, “the claim must fail as the money the claimant had lost was stolen or misappropriated”.

2023 Grand National attracts 7.5 million viewers on ITV

Around 7.5 million tuned in to watch Corach Rambler's victory in the Randox Grand National.

The figure, which was equivalent to the same amount that watched last year's running, was the highest one-minute audience peak of the year so far for a sporting event on ITV, beating the 7.1m viewers for the Six Nations match between England and Scotland in February.

The average viewing figure for the Grand National programme, which was broadcast on ITV's main channel, was 4.4m, which was up from 4.1m in 2022.

ITV broadcasted 15 races across the three-day meeting at Aintree, with five races from each of the day's cards.

Newton Abbot's Tuesday card cancelled due to waterlogged track

Newton Abbot's clerk of the course Jason Loosemore said he was left with no choice but to cancel Tuesday’s meeting after heavy rainfall left the track waterlogged and unstable.

A total of 30mm of rain has fallen since Tuesday and despite the best efforts from course officials, a decision was made to call off the six-race card.

Loosemore said: “We had a wet week last week and a wet day on Friday. I went down for declarations this morning hoping to see improvement but there was none. We had one dry day and I wasn’t expecting miracles but I wanted to see some improvement.”

A dry couple of days leading up to Tuesday are expected, but Loosemore said that it would not be enough for racing to go ahead. He added: “Despite the fact we have two days of good forecast, it wasn’t going to get significantly better.

“It wouldn’t have been raceable tomorrow morning and that would not give us enough time to race on Tuesday. It’s unfortunate because we had a good Easter Saturday with a cracking meeting.”

Read these next:

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'This is our sport and I love it' - Corach Rambler charges to magnificent victory in disrupted Grand National 

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