London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

Betting firms won £1.3m in stolen money from gambling addict

Betting firms won £1.3m in stolen money from gambling addict

Andy May convicted of fraud in case that highlights need for industry reform, say campaigners
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.

The firm only asked him for evidence of his wealth after he had lost £116,000. It accepted financial statements, which May told the Guardian he had doctored using Microsoft Paint.

In one three-week spree that followed, winning bets took his account balance up to £1.2m, which he then lost over 33 days.

The series of huge bets prompted no further intervention other than offers such as free bets and tickets to an England football match.

May also lost an estimated £437,000 with Betfair, part of the Flutter group that includes Paddy Power. The court heard that £268,000 of this was stolen.

During a lull when he stopped placing huge bets, a Betfair VIP manager sent him a message saying: “Long time no speak. I noticed you are depositing less than previously, is everything OK?”

Internal chats show that Betfair staff later realised he had lost £270,000 between 2014 and 2016. The company asked him for evidence of his funds in February 2017 but did not close his account for a further eight months.

BoyleSports did not secure proof of funds from May despite an astonishing sequence of bets.

Between 28 March 2017 and 3 May 2017, May placed dozens of bets, staking more than £500,000 combined, including a single £50,000 bet on South American football.

During this period his account balance soared to more than £240,000, all of which he lost within three days.

BoyleSports did not request proof of funds and continued to bombard him with offers of free bets until September 2020.

May said he had sent the Gambling Commission details of his betting with multiple operators, including one that did such little due diligence that it listed his gender as female.

“This case is a sad and salutary illustration of what can happen when an addiction to gambling runs in this way,” said the judge, Anthony Bate, in his sentencing remarks.

Gambling campaigners said May’s habit of placing huge bets and then moving on to other operators if challenged could have been prevented with stricter regulation.

“This case highlights the need for a much lower threshold of losses at which checks by operators should be carried out,” said Matt Zarb-Cousin, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.

He said May’s case also made the case for “single customer view”, where gambling operators are forced to share customer details to improve the quality of checks meant to ensure they are not headed for financial ruin or using stolen funds.

“Whether it’s through utilising open banking, or through the creation of an ombudsman that can hold user data, a single customer view would help prevent cases like this,” said Zarb-Cousin. “This has to be addressed in the government’s gambling review.”

BoyleSports said it had “invested significantly” in player protection and would support a single customer view approach but could not comment on individual cases.

Flutter did not comment, but is understood to have a policy of returning funds to victims when a conviction makes clear that it has unwittingly received the proceeds of crime. It is also understood to be open to a single customer view.

Betway said it had returned funds to Sealskinz and had informed the Gambling Commission and the police about potential fraud.

It said an external law firm had not picked up evidence of falsified documents but acknowledged that the documents could have been falsified.

“As a responsible leading online gambling company we are actively engaged in the single customer view debate and will consider all workable and legally sound proposals to implement any beneficial aspects of it,” it added.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
×