Ladbrokes ordered to pay Roma couple €10k for refusing to take a bet
Wrc Jennifer The Had Told Irate Mr The Him Him The That Soon Kavanagh, Area To Entering Around Roulette Closing That Hangurbadzo On Informed And Branch She Asked Machine They Not The The Had After Manager, Were Bee Shop Dirty
A leading betting firm has been ordered to pay compensation of €10,000 to a Roma couple who were refused service in a betting shop at a time when other customers had bets accepted.
The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Ladbrokes had discriminated against Oskar Hangurbadzo and his fiancée, Zuzana Pompova, for refusing to take a bet on a roulette machine when they entered the unnamed branch on February 13, 2020.
The couple claimed they had been discriminated against contrary to the Equal Status Act because they were members of the Roma community.
Mr Hangurbadzo, who works in the IT sector, said he was a betting man who never had a problem before with staff at the Ladbroke’s branch which he had attended in the company of other Roma friends from Slovakia.
Mr Hangurbadzo, who had lived in Ireland since 2000, told the WRC that he was told the shop was closed when he entered it at 9pm on the day of the incident, even though it was not due to close until 9.30pm.
The WRC heard he took a comment made by one of the staff “youse guys are always making a mess at the corner” to be a clear reference to him and his Roma friends. He claimed bets were accepted from two other customers who had entered the shop after him, while staff had also laughed at him.
Mr Hangurbadzo said he felt humiliated and embarrassed by what happened.
Under cross-examination by Ben Shorten BL for Ladbrokes, he rejected the suggestion that he had become belligerent and had begun pointing his finger and insisting his bet be placed but accepted he may have raised his voice.
The WRC heard Ms Pompova, who was pregnant at the time of the incident, was at the door of the betting shop but left crying after hearing everything that was said to her fiancé.
The branch manager, Jennifer Kavanagh, told the WRC that Mr Hangurbadzo had become irate after she had informed him on entering the shop that they were closing soon and asked him not to dirty the area around the roulette machine.
Ms Kavanagh said she had enjoyed a good relationship with Mr Hangurbadzo and his family as customers but he was not his usual polite self on the night and had appeared uptight. She expressed shock at his insistence that she should accept his bet but claimed he had never presented a betting docket to her.
Under cross-examination, Ms Kavanagh accepted that she had served other customers without asking them not to make a mess but denied laughing at the complainant.
In his ruling, WRC adjudicator, Kevin Baneham, said the evidence of Mr Hangurbadzo and Ms Pompova was more in line with CCTV footage of the incident. Mr Baneham said the complainant had saluted staff on entering the shop and had a “business-like demeanour” in trying to fill out a betting slip quickly.
The WRC said the fact that two other customers were served allowed for an inference of discrimination to be drawn which had not been rebutted by Ladbrokes.
Mr Baneham said Mr Hangurbadzo was initially very calm but understandably became agitated when he was not served and two other customers had bets accepted. The WRC adjudicator did not accept Mr Hangurbadzoe was aggressive or demanded to be served or pointed a finger.
While he accepted that there was no bias against the complainants or their Roma heritage, he said it was a denial of service “on grounds of a stereotype” linked to an unfounded association between Roma people and messiness in the betting shop.
The WRC ordered Ladbrokes to pay compensation of €7,500 to Mr Hangurbadzoe and a sum of €2,500 to Ms Pompova.
Mr Baneham said the award was “proportionate, effective and has deterrent effect.” He acknowledged that Mr Hangurbadzo was a customer of Ladbrokes before and after the incident but said the award reflected the gravity of denying a person a service on grounds of race and being a member of the Traveller community.