The UK’s Playing Fee has introduced that an unlawful WhatsApp bookmaker has been sentenced.
The person in query, Haydon Simcock from Weston Coyney, Stoke on Trent, was judged to have defaulted on his obligations to bettors, together with the reimbursement of a £269,000 ($358,144.78) account steadiness.
A person from Stoke-on-Trent has obtained a 30 week suspended sentence after a joint investigation by the Playing Fee and @StaffsPolice discovered he ran an unlawful WhatsApp playing enterprise.
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— Playing Fee (@GamRegGB) December 9, 2025
Unlawful WhatsApp bookmaker sentenced
Simcock ran Put up Bookmakers by means of the communication platform, taking over the function of VIP business supervisor. His firm approved people to wager by way of WhatsApp, and Simcock took accountability for account dealing with and monetary transactions, in keeping with the Playing Fee report.
Particularly, his function supplied “direct administrative back-up to the playing transaction, by agreeing odds, agreeing affords reminiscent of matched deposits and rewards for referrals, and taking funds from prospects.”
The Playing Fee, in partnership with Staffordshire Police, responded to data directed to them by involved people, together with an investigative reporter from The Racing Put up.
“Utilizing cellular apps like WhatsApp doesn’t make unlawful playing invisible or past our attain – we will proof such exercise is going down and we’ll use each energy obtainable to us to play our half in eradicating this illegal exercise from the British market and to make sure these accountable are held to account for his or her actions,” mentioned John Pierce, Fee Director of Enforcement.
Simcock faces fines
The report, heard by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court docket, referenced Simcock’s connection to bettors who allegedly offered medication and made threatening remarks by way of data found from his digital gadgets.
The gadgets, in keeping with the Playing Fee, “revealed he (Simcock) took bets from folks he suspected of dealing medication, steered he may make a disgruntled buyer ‘disappear’ and didn’t pay one buyer his £269,000 account steadiness.”
Simcock was sentenced to a 30-week suspended jail sentence and a 200-hour neighborhood service order, however the presiding Justice of the Peace sternly advised him, “he narrowly averted custody.”
The defaulted bookmaker will repay £230,000 ($306,000) in compensation to the sufferer and can foot £60,000 ($80,000) in Playing Fee charges.
This is able to be a fortuitous final result for Simcock as he beforehand admitted to working a playing enterprise and not using a license and promoting “illegal playing” and not using a license on two separate events from Could 2003 to September 2024.
Pierce concluded, “This case illustrates all of the dangers that customers face from unlawful playing – hyperlinks to crime, having no regard for social accountability, repeatedly exploiting shoppers, and working with none of the mandatory operational safeguards in place.”
Featured picture: Haydon Simcock by way of X
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