Gambling Commission Cracks Down on Illegal Betting Operator
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:A man from the city of Stoke-on-Trent in England has been taken into custody for allegedly running an unlicensed gambling operation in the UK between October 2023 and September 2024.
Haydon Simcock, 39, was arrested by Staffordshire police in September following an investigation conducted by the UK Gambling Commission. Authorities charged him with providing gambling services across the country without a proper license from October 8, 2023, to September 11, 2024. Additionally, Simcock is accused of promoting betting offers between May 26, 2023, and March 1, 2024.
The Gambling Commission, which led the investigation, confirmed its collaboration with Staffordshire police. Simcock is scheduled to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on March 24.
Undercover Investigation by Racing Post
In February 2024, the Racing Post carried out a covert interview with an individual identifying as Haydon Simcock, who admitted to working for an illegal bookmaker specializing in horse racing. The illegal bookmaker, known to be working for "The Post Bookmakers," reportedly accepted bets from customers via WhatsApp.
During the interview, Simcock described himself as the bookmaker’s commercial manager, a claim later verified by the Gambling Commission, which identified the business as an unlicensed gambling operator. At the time, Simcock said the company employed up to 10 people and had approximately 1,300 customers.
He also revealed that many of their clients had been unable to place bets with licensed UK online operators due to affordability checks and account restrictions, which had driven them to use unauthorized gambling services.
More Regulation News
Gambling Commission’s Crackdown on Illegal Operators
The UK Gambling Commission has been increasing its efforts to combat illegal gambling in recent times.
The illegal market is bad from a human point of view. We are particularly vigilant and active in our work to disrupt this market and, through collaboration with others, have made good progress in frustrating illegal online operators.
In January, Rhodes outlined the Commission’s latest measures to tackle illegal gambling, particularly online. Since the start of the financial year, the regulator has issued over 770 cease-and-desist and disruption notices. This includes 262 cease-and-desist orders targeting operators and 205 directed at advertisers promoting illegal gambling.
The Commission is also compiling its first report on black-market gambling activity in the UK, and it is due to be released in the summer. This report will bring together data from unlicensed gambling sites with statistics on average player spending. The data was collected from 139,152 online gambling accounts belonging to seven major UK operators.
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