Betfair Faces Calls to Return Profits After Fraudster’s £1 Million in Gambling Losses
According to court documents, a gambling addict who stole £340K ($432K) from his company repeatedly requested to be banned from Betfair but was instead treated like a VIP customer. He was given free hospitality at athletic events during that time, and over the course of several years, he was permitted to lose almost £1 million ($1.27 million).
According to The Guardian, former finance manager Andrew Morford admitted to stealing the funds from Co-operative Development Services (CDS), a nonprofit housing organization, and was sentenced to two years in prison with a two-year suspension last Wednesday.
According to court records, Morford embezzled CDS funding between May 2019 until February 2024.
In determining to administer a light sentence, Judge Silas Reid cited Morford's gambling addiction as a "very significant mitigating factor."
Recurring Exclusions
Three years after he started using Betfair, in 2008, Morford made his first request to be permanently barred from the site. Despite complying, the operator was later able to create a new account by merely using the name "Andy" instead of "Andrew."
After self-excluding once more in 2010, he changed his mind two years later and lost £659K ($837K) over the next five years.
Despite losing hundreds of thousands of pounds more, Morford was able to register a new account in his father's name after Betfair terminated his account in 2017 due to "concerns about his betting."
According to records made public in court, Betfair internally characterized the account as being at the "low end of medium risk" despite these warning signs. Additionally, Morford used his true name to sign off on an email to his VIP account manager in August 2022, but the operator missed several chances to identify him.
In March 2023, he did it once more. This time, a staff member found the player had a history of evading self-exclusion after comparing the name to the company's database.
Before Betfair officially suspended the account, Morford continued to deposit over £550K ($699K) and lose tens of thousands of pounds despite this revelation.
Betfair Is Thinking About Selling
CDS is now urging Betfair to reimburse Morford for his gambling losses, together with GamLearn, a group that helps gambling addicts who have committed crimes.
Now that the criminal procedures are over, Betfair, which is owned by Flutter Entertainment, told The Guardian it would look into the situation.
"We have an established divestment process, to which this case will be subject once criminal proceedings have completed,” a spokesperson said, adding that the company takes player safety seriously.
The spokesperson said Morford had “impersonated his father on multiple calls with our teams, including safer gambling interactions where he reassured us that he was in control of his spending, and provided documentation in his father’s name.”
CDS pursued a civil claim against Morford and recovered £575K ($730K), with part of the repayment coming from his £100K ($127K) pension and his 50% stake in the family home, valued at £110K ($140K).
