Compulsive gambler sues William Hill 'for letting him lose £2million'

Graham Calvert, 28, says the firm ignored his pleas to bar him from using its telephone betting service.

The greyhound trainer claims it allowed him to gamble £3.5million in a matter of months.

In a landmark case due to be heard at the High Court next week, he claims William Hill negligently allowed him to amass losses of £2.1million.

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Mr Calvert, who earned £30,000 a month from racing, says he told the firm he was addicted to gambling and twice asked for his accounts to be closed.

His legal team will argue that the firm failed to operate its "self-exclusion" policy and permitted Mr Calvert to run up staggering debts.

Under a self-exclusion policy, customers can approach bookmakers and ask them to put a block on their accounts, barring them from using their telephone-betting services.

"If I'd known I had the problem and didn't do anything about it, I would see myself as being 100 per cent responsible," Mr Calvert said yesterday. "The fact is that I did try to go through the right procedures and I was let down.

"Although I lost millions this is not just about the money. I didn't do it to make money - I didn't need to as I had plenty.

"I did it for the thrill. Gambling is like a drug. In the end I was carrying £50,000 to £100,000 at a time into William Hill.

"They could not count it in time for the races, but the bets were put on regardless. Now, I've lost my wife and my children because of it."

Mr Calvert's gambling problems were apparent long before he opened an account with William Hill in May 2006.

He began waging large amounts with Pagebet in August 2005. At that time he had £700,000 in savings.

By October 2005 he was a customer of Stan James bookmakers and was betting £20,000 on a single race. In November he says he lost £30,000 in two days.

When he joined Ladbrokes in January 2006 he was betting as much as £110,000 in a day.

By the time he joined William Hill he knew he was addicted and within days asked it to close his telephone betting and cash accounts.

But he claims the bookmaker still allowed him to place bets.

He took out bank loans, borrowed almost £1.5million from business associates and would carry bin liners stuffed with cash to place bets at William Hill's Sunderland branch.

In September 2006 he lost £347,000 when he backed America to win the Ryder Cup.

By December, seven months after opening his William Hill accounts, he had wagered almost £3.5million and lost £2,028,858.68.

He finally confessed to his family and friends and sought legal advice.

He says he has been unable to return to work because of stress.

Mr Calvert, from Fence Houses, County Durham, is being divorced by his wife Adele, 25, and now lives apart from his children Lila, four, and Imogen, seven.

He says he has a tape recording of a conversation he had with William Hill in May 2006, soon after he joined, in which he told the company he wanted his account closed to stop him from betting.

Peter Hornsey, the head of Mr Calvert's legal team, said the case is a crucial test of the gaming industry's social responsibility policies.

"It goes to the issue of how bookmakers treat people who have gambling problems via their self-exclusion policy and whether they can be held responsible when they advertise themselves as offering self exclusion and promoting socially responsible gambling," he said.

William Hill insists it has "no case to answer" and is contesting the claim.

The case is due to be heard at the High Court on Monday and is scheduled to last for five days.