Gambling Addiction

Gambling addict bandit glad he's in jail

KINGSTON, Ontario, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A Canadian bank robber says even landing in prison hasn't been enough to stifle his urge to commit crimes to satisfy his gambling compulsion.

Kevin Pinto, 39, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in a prison interview aired Sunday his gambling addiction was so severe the first call he made when arrested was to his bookie.

"Some people jump out of airplanes and parachute, some people do whitewater rafting," Pinto said. "For me it was watching sports on TV and gambling on sports."

Pinto was speaking from a medium-security lockup in Kingston, Ontario, in December just after he was denied parole. He said he respects the decision because he cannot yet handle his addiction, despite getting counseling.

"If I wasn't in prison I would still be out there, probably gambling and probably committing crimes," he said.

Pinto admitted robbing 10 banks in and around Toronto from January 2002 through September 2008 to support his "out-of-control" habit. Police dubbed him the "Exchange Bandit" because he always asked tellers for the U.S. exchange rate before slipping them a holdup note.

He finally turned himself in in October 2008 when a co-worker at Paradigm Capital, the investment firm where he made "roughly a quarter million dollars" yearly, alerted him to a media report connecting him to a bank robbery investigation.