After committing fraud by changing racing results while working for the Press Association, an East Yorkshire gambling addict has been jailed for ten months.
Jack Bentham joined the organisation PA Media from Market Weighton near Beverley, and back in 2018, suspicions were first raised by a bookmaker about bets placed in that specific rea.
Bentham’s first offence took place on his first unsupervised day at the Howden offices in East Yorkshire. The 24-year-old would back favourites, and if they did not win, he would change the data to make them the winner, which meant that gamblers that lost were paid out and those who picked the actual winner lost out. Horse racing is very popular in the UK as horse bets contribute the most to the industry.
The gambling addict made around £15,000 from the manipulated bets while the loss to the bookmaker was in the region of £10,000.
Bentham’s lawyer, Stephen Robinson said that his client had a gambling addiction since he was 18 and he vowed to change his ways in the future including taking self-exclusion measures from betting shops and online accounts
Many people have a gambling addiction in the UK and it is estimated that just in England there are approximately 280.000 problem gamblers.