Online Bingo Addict Jailed

Bingo Addict Jailed After £76,000 Theft
Written by Mark Bennett

Reports in the media today suggest another employee has been jailed for stealing massive amounts of money from her employer to feed her online bingo addiction. It seems the number of reports of problem gambling related to the online bingo and casinos sites is on the increase and the tighter legislation aimed at giving the UK Gambling Commission power over offshore operators can't come around soon enough.

Luccienne Mainey, a 41 year old mother, has been given a 16 month jail sentence having stolen more than £76,000 from her employers. A court heard how Mainey has claimed that she became addicted to bingo after her marriage collapsed and as the addiction got worse she turned to stealing from her employers to fund her habit.

As an accounts administrator for Suffolk based APD Ltd, Mainey was a trusted member of the team and was also known to the family that ran the company for 20 years.

In January 2011 the first breach of trust was uncovered, where Mainey had paid £800 into her own account. At the time she apologised and after repaying the money claimed it would never happen again. However within 8 weeks she was caught playing online bingo at work and given a warning for her conduct.

In October 2011, she was questioned about a £3,000 supplier payment and admitted that that she had credited the money to herself. Subsequently the company carried out an investigation revealing that Mainey had stolen £76,081 over the last year and the company had actual been out of pocket by nearly £87,000 as it had to repay VAT it had previously claimed.

At Ipswich Crown Court Mainey admitted to five accounts of fraud by false representation with 25 offences being taken into account. Sentencing her to 16 months in jail, Judge Peter Fenn said she had committed a gross breach of trust. He added: 'The message must go out loud and clear from this court to those who might succumb to temptation to steal from those whose money they are in a position of managing.'

Defending Mainey, Ian James, said she knew she had betrayed the trust that her employers had put int her. He added: 'She has repeatedly expressed her remorse which does genuinely extend beyond her own predicament and extends to the harm she had caused to her employers and their business.'

Her online bingo addiction followed a breakdown in her marriage in April 2007 after her husband had an affair with one of her friends.