Compulsive online gambler stole from friend and employer

The Nottingham Crown Court in the UK has sentenced 26-year-old addictive online punter Thomas Masters to 2 years’ imprisonment for crimes he committed in trying to raise money to gamble or pay gambling debts.

Despite at one point in his online gambling career winning GBP 70,000, Masters continued to fritter the money away on losing bets, making it necessary for his family to take out large loans to help him out.

Worse still, he resorted to clumsily staged ‘burglaries’ to steal the property of a friend and his employer in order raise more money for gambling.

Recorder Tina Landale said in sentencing Masters: “You set about two very separate mean offences, knowing the devastation caused by the first burglary, you callously committed a second.”

She added that the offences at his employer, where he used his employee access card, were a “breach of trust” and showed a callous disregard for the business.

Masters’ lawyer said that the young man was voluntarily attending Gamblers Anonymous and was “acutely aware” of the misery he had caused.