The Guardian reports…
Betting firms won £1.3m in stolen money from a gambling addict without establishing where the funds came from, it has emerged, reigniting concern about whether firms do sufficient due diligence on punters who lose large sums.
Andy May, 44, was sentenced at Norwich crown court on Monday to four years for fraud after admitting siphoning funds from the clothing company where he was a senior manager earning more than £50,000 a year.
According to betting records seen by the Guardian, May placed thousands of bets, some with stakes of more than £50,000, with companies including Betfair, Betway, and BoyleSports.
The companies gave him incentives such as free bets and tickets to race meets, football and rugby matches, details obtained via a subject access request show.
But they did little to check he could afford his habit, or find out where the money came from, until he had racked up huge losses.
May funded his gambling by stealing more than £1.3m from the outdoor clothing company Sealskinz, the court heard, spending almost all of it with online gambling firms.
Betting records show that he lost more than £600,000 with Betway between January 2017 and January 2019, and the court heard that £461,000 of it came from stolen funds.
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/14/betting-firms-won-13m-in-stolen-money-from-gambling-addict
