SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) investigation has led to a Stoke-on-Trent man charged with providing facilities for gambling without having an operating licence.
The 39-year-old, named Haydon Simcock, was also charged for advertising unlicensed betting after being arrested in September by Staffordshire Police, which had been working with the UKGC.
The two offences refer to the time period of 18 October 2023 to 11 September 2024, and between 26 May 2023 and 1 March 2024, respectively. Simcock is set to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 24 March.
The arrest comes a year after man also named as Haydon Simcock, though it is not clear at this time whether or not this person is the same individual at the centre of the UKGC and Staffordshire police investigation, was implicated in a media investigation around black market betting.
Speaking with Racing Post last year, the person in question – who believed he was talking to a prospective customer – revealed that he had acted as commercial manager for The Post Bookmakers – an unregulated firm taking bets through WhatsApp.
He claimed that the firm has 10 employees, 1,300 customers and expected a “ridiculously busy” Cheltenham Festival. He also recommended that the ‘customer’ should deposit as much as they can to take advantage of a matched deposit scheme.
Simcock’s arrest provides the regulated industry with some useful evidence about the existence of a gambling black market in the UK, which stakeholders have often cited in debates around regulation. On the other hand, advocates of more stringent regulatory reform may argue that one arrest is not indicative of an extensive underground market.
Earlier this month, the UKGC actually warned customers of illegal websites as some had recently been found to be offering easily accessible deposits via Visa and Mastercard, the UK’s two most widely used payments networks.
A spokesperson at the UKGC said: “We are aware of these websites and continue to take action to disrupt the unlicensed market, including working with online platforms and with payment providers.
“Anyone gambling on unlicensed sites is supporting illegal activity and putting themselves at risk. Your financial data could be stolen, harvested or misused and you may not even be paid out if you win.
“These sites support crime and won’t have the standards or safeguards we insist on such as providing self-exclusion or looking out for and tackling gambling related harm. Consumers can easily check if a site is licensed by searching the business register on our website.”
