Gambling help line director sentenced

[Fortify]

I don't know if this news is already in this board I have checked and did not see, if there is let me know.

Also according to the same news he was sentenced for cunning the gambling company he worked of millions but what has been shocked is that he did this just to use the same stolen funds to gamble.

I have seen something like this in my country where a young man whose mum is in the hospital took her ATM card and withdrew money meant for her treatment just to gamble.

When gambling stops being about Fun you will be doing you and those around you wrong.

It works out at $140k per year when comparing his prison time to his proceeds. I wonder how many gamblers would sign up for that sort of offer - let's say he was able to hide away the $1.4 million (in crypto?) so even though the demand is he repay the whole amount they cannot find any assets. He has to sit through prison for 10 years and then gets out with a nice pot at the end of it, then moves abroad to spend it. It obviously wouldn't work out that way because they've probably seized a load of assets already and prison is no holiday either, but it's an interesting theoretical trade. It did need a high sentence like that though, because it's the ultimate hypocrisy that you're in charge of helping people with their problems but you're committing far worse crimes on the side.

[MisFoxie]

These are the negative effects of gambling addiction we talk about, becaue imagine using a money that was meant for hospital treatment for gambling? Thats the craziest thing that he could have done, or what was he thinking? was he thinking if he gambles he could get 10x of that amount to pay his mum's hospital bills and then have some left? And thats why been realistic and true to yourself is always good, because gambling is the last resort you could ever trust for money.

These activities are actually common in almost every country. They are gambling addicts only a gambling addict can tell what their mentality is like but I think they believe that if they gamble with these emergency funds which are very important they will become profitable and get back all the funds they have lost until now. Because of this confidence they end up losing all their emergency funds.

Many people who gamble regularly can understand through their hunch when they will make a profit and whenever they feel that they can make a profit if they have some funds now at that time when they bring in their emergency funds instead of winning, they end up losing their emergency funds as well.

[GrigoryGaga]

It works out at $140k per year when comparing his prison time to his proceeds. I wonder how many gamblers would sign up for that sort of offer - let's say he was able to hide away the $1.4 million (in crypto?) so even though the demand is he repay the whole amount they cannot find any assets. He has to sit through prison for 10 years and then gets out with a nice pot at the end of it, then moves abroad to spend it. It obviously wouldn't work out that way because they've probably seized a load of assets already and prison is no holiday either, but it's an interesting theoretical trade. It did need a high sentence like that though, because it's the ultimate hypocrisy that you're in charge of helping people with their problems but you're committing far worse crimes on the side.

And with good behavior he might get out early, maybe after 4 years or so. By then the world might even have settled down a bit, and in prison you don't have to think about food or rent... sounds like a plan, lol. Kidding of course, just thinking out loud.

[acroman08]

Lol, I checked the post on X, I've read before that some mental disorder medication could cause someone to be more compulsive (yes, it could turn someone into a compulsive gambler), but I'm surprised that his lawyer is using it as a defense for him. I'm guessing that defense will probably get thrown out, but I can't help but wonder if it will stick for some reason.

Anyway, I'm a bit confused about the part on who he stole from, is it from the employer before he became the state’s gambling helpline, or the employer when he became the state’s gambling helpline?

[Bitcoin Smith]

It is like we asked a thief to guard the locker and gave him a key.

But humans can make mistakes and everyone have a life that is secret from what we see are a professional on the broad day light so never assume someone is a good soul unless you know them completely but no one can know anyone completely so better don't trust anyone.

And if he stole and wagered the government funds, then it is an even more serious offense, right when it is proven...

[lionheart78]

Lol, I checked the post on X, I've read before that some mental disorder medication could cause someone to be more compulsive (yes, it could turn someone into a compulsive gambler), but I'm surprised that his lawyer is using it as a defense for him. I'm guessing that defense will probably get thrown out, but I can't help but wonder if it will stick for some reason.

His lawyer is establishing the reason why the person became a gambling addict which is normal in any case.  The lawyer wanted to divert the blame to the medication, to at least lighten the sentence.  But of course, being a gambling addict is different from stealing funds, so I also don't think that it will be an effective defence for the defendant.

Anyway, I'm a bit confused about the part on who he stole from, is it from the employer before he became the state’s gambling helpline, or the employer when he became the state’s gambling helpline?

More probably after he became addicted since the news said former company.

[Smartprofit]

I hadn't heard of this story before, but after reading the first post in this thread, I immediately thought of Mikhail Bulgakov's short story "Morphine."🙋

The hero of this story is a young doctor assigned to work in a rural hospital. Desolation, boredom, hopelessness... To lift his spirits, he began using morphine. As a doctor, he was confident he wouldn't become an addict and would always be able to stop in time. However, this, of course, didn't save him from developing a drug addiction. He was lucky that another doctor saved him from complete destruction...

The stories are very similar! However, no one could save this hotline director... The online casino simply didn't have a psychologist who could have spotted the problem in time. The situation was made worse by the fact that this hotline director had access to the company's financial resources. This company seems to have managed to commit every organizational error imaginable... Of course, this man was initially confident that gambling addiction wasn't a threat to him, as he understood the dangers of gambling.  He considered himself an expert. However, gambling addiction is an objective reality. It directly affects a person's emotions and subconscious, bypassing the conscious mind. Overall, I think this is a very instructive story! 🧖

[Queen uloma]

Personally for me, gambling isn’t seen as enjoyment the moment people start using money that they’re suppose to  use in solving their important problems to gamble. The painful part of this, is that it affects family and innocent people around them. Imagine a person that stole his mom hospital treatment just because of gambling.

This act shows that this person values gambling more than important things that is suppose to matter to him more. That’s why I always advise gamblers to always know their limits and understand when to stop. Gambling is suppose to be for entertainment it’s not something that will make people put their future or their family in risk because of hope of winning big money in gambling.

[Sunshine1525]

If am to be sarcastic, I'll say he need to experience addiction to know how to attend to addicted people. Someone in the comment section from where OP got the information said Blind leading the blind. What a wild irony, sounds funny but he's been messed up so bad by whatever his defense claims he's taking.

I wonder how he'll pay the debt cause someone that would squander such a huge amount of money he stole on gambling wouldn't have any savings and must have lost all to gambling too. Maybe this needed to happen for other gambling companies to scrutinize their staffs. They also need to take internal gambling responsibility seriously not only preaching to customers about it

[Miles2006]

Stealing large sums of money to fund a gambling habit is illegal, this act is not new and the culprits are frequently caught in the act. Funny enough they never get the money to pay back especially those who decided to borrow huge amount probably they are confident about a big win so they get easily moved to risk everything well this is a different situation from the context. 
50% of gambling helpline also struggle with addiction, fair enough a gambler who spend more time gambling without seeing a need to take a break might likely get addicted so I’m not surprised.

[DanWalker]

I have seen something like this in my country where a young man whose mum is in the hospital took her ATM card and withdrew money meant for her treatment just to gamble.
When gambling stops being about Fun you will be doing you and those around you wrong.

I had read about incident like this before. I found the news by searching for it.

Story from FOX 13 News align perfectly with your post.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/recovering-gambling-addict-warns-of-expanding-access

Consider the case of Michael Burke. Unable to control his gambling addiction, he became embroiled in scandal involving million of dollars. Ultimately, he ended up in prison. His own addiction compelled him to steal $1.6 million. He spent three years in prison. And then, he himself admit that this chain of addiction are not merely strong. They are so ruthless that very attempt to break them can cost one their life.

[Felicity_Tide]

~snip

When gambling stops being about Fun you will be doing you and those around you wrong.

Turns out that a supposed "head of the state’s gambling helpline" is not safe either. This just proves how addictive gambling can be, that even someone who's supposed to help others get out of it, can also suffer from the same thing, and maybe even far worse than the issues he has addressed. $1.4M is a wild amount, and who knows if it's something he can pay back. Sometimes, it's best to not even start something you can not finish,.or something you don't have the power to control.

I guess the state would need to start doing more background checks to understand the people they're assigning to certain positions. I can't imagine a country appointing a drug dealer/addict as the manager of a drug rehabilitation centre.

[Alice Bloom]

The stories are very similar! However, no one could save this hotline director... The online casino simply didn't have a psychologist who could have spotted the problem in time.

Wait, isn't that the whole point of a hotline, that there are psychologists working there who are supposed to spot these problems?

[Silverstonez]

a certain former gambling help line director from Florida has been sentenced.

Also according to the same news he was sentenced for cunning the gambling company he worked of millions but what has been shocked is that he did this just to use the same stolen funds to gamble.

I have seen something like this in my country where a young man whose mum is in the hospital took her ATM card and withdrew money meant for her treatment just to gamble.

When gambling stops being about Fun you will be doing you and those around you wrong.

This is quite surprising considering that he was once the director of a gambling headline,  someone who was supposed to understand the dangers of gambling addiction, yet he end up stealing millions just to gamble.  This is the reason why I always advise people not to allow themselves to become so addicted that they lose control of their actions, because gambling can not only make them lose money but, also their integrity, relationship and peace of mind.

[Coyster]

50% of gambling helpline also struggle with addiction,

How do you know that or come up with this statistics, gambling addiction helpline workers are tasked with assisting problem gamblers, you'd not expect them to be gambling addicts themselves, would you?

This helpline director would be going away for a very long time, nearly 10 years behind bars for his actions. Who's willing to wager that he's going to get into a lot of trouble in prison, because of gambling too, lol.