Gambling Addiction

Co Tyrone Man Arrested for Stealing £300k for Gambling Addiction


After the arrest of a Co Tyrone man, who ripped off his bosses of more than £300,000 to meet his addiction for online gambling, a judge has widened the observance on online gambling and credit Companies.

Eamonn McGirr, 27 has been sentenced with a 20 months jail by David McFarland, Dungannon Crown Court Judge for robbing his bosses of heavy funds and pooling the same for online betting.

The allegations have been confessed by McGirr. He admitted stealing money from Tyrone Tiling Services in Omagh over two years. He used the Company checks to use illicit cash, as told by Prosecution lawyer, Michael McAleer.

McGirr got stuck with online gambling, when he was a student and the addiction increased when he began working, as heard by the court. He had taken a loan of £5,000 from the Credit Union, had two overdrafts on two bank accounts and had pending bills on five credit cards. So, was he left out with no option, but to steal money from the Company.

As per McFarland, McGirr didn't only cheat on his Company, but also posed threat to the jobs of a number of people working there.

"Online gambling companies needed to look at how they did business, pointing out that people with addiction problems could - apparently unchecked - gamble away thousands of pounds with a single click of a mouse", said McFarland.