Gambling is a favorite pastime of millions of people from different nationalities and this industry shows no sign of slowing down – gambling venues in Las Vegas alone reportedly generated $25.2 billion revenue for the fiscal 2016. Some gamble for entertainment or as a means to pass the time, while others are in a dire need of money and hope to claim a life-changing jackpot that would improve their financial situation for life.
One often hears stories about people who have succeeded in hitting it big, earning millions of dollars with a single lottery ticket or slot spin. It is those stories of immense success that revive the hopes of millions of ordinary people, leading them to believe they, too, can transform their lives by making a bet or two.
This often causes us to forget that there are hundreds of gamblers, who unfortunately are not as lucky as the jackpot winners we hear about. This is precisely what this article aims at – we will relate to our readers the stories of five people who had their lives ruined by gambling.
Elderly Man Faces Jail Time after Spending £300,000 on Travel and Gambling
Albert Pearce, a retired window cleaner from North Finchley, London, is facing jail time after it became apparent that he inherited the amount of £300,000 by mistake. The elderly man received this handsome amount of money as an inheritance, following the passing of his friend Julie Spalding, 98 years of age, back in 2008.
Much to Pearce’s demise, Spalding’s will was overturned by the court in 2014 and it was established that the massive amount was not meant to end up with him. The judge questioned Spalding’s legal capacity to make one such will and ruled that the rightful heir of the £300,000 was the woman’s nephew, Cecil Bray, age 82.
The court established that Spalding had promised to leave both her life savings and home to her nephew. Mr. Bray believed himself to be the rightful heir of the inheritance as he quit his job to take care of his aunt back in 1996. The nephew explained he was always at the elderly woman’s disposal, assisting her with various errands and helping her with her affairs.
Aunt and nephew fell apart in July 2005 after Spalding demanded Bray to leave her house for good. It was at that time that Pearce’s influence over the elderly woman grew. After the passing of Spalding, Mr. Bray was bent on recovering the inheritance which he believed belonged to him.
While the judge rejected the claims that Pearce had influenced Spalding’s final decision on her will, the judge ruled out Bray was the rightful hair because the deceased had previously promised him her life savings and home.
Following the overturning of the will, Pearce was demanded to return the £300,000. He announced his bankruptcy, explaining he was unable to give the amount back because he had squandered it to the last pence on travels and gambling.
Elderly Woman Loses CA$300,000
Elfriede Lippa, 91 years of age and a resident of Victoria, Canada, became addicted to gambling after frequenting her local View Royal Casino, which resulted in the woman losing nearly CA$300,000. These losses were accumulated over a period of seven years, unbeknown to the old woman’s relatives.
The troubled woman’s son, Tom Lippa, described his mother as a once vibrant person, who lived alone in her apartment and would pay visits to his sister every week when the two would walk her dog. The woman’s son related that as he and his sister went through the bank records of their mother, they noticed a strange trend – the records indicated Elfriede would sometimes withdraw from her bank account more substantial amounts in one and the same day.
It became apparent the old woman was battling with a compulsive gambling problem. Her children noticed it after she had developed dementia. The family learned at a later stage that their mother was visiting the View Royal Casino because she felt lonely spending so much time alone at home. The woman’s children also found out that their mother had remortgaged her condo for the amount of CA$140,000 when she was 85 years old. The woman had visited several banks to obtain the additional sums she needed for her mortgage. She even went as far as to apply for a CA$200 payday loan at the age of 90.
Tom Lippa commented it became obvious to him his mother was a compulsive gambler but both he and his sister were unsure at what stage she had developed dementia. Whether or not Elfriede’s mental condition affected her choices to play casino games remains unclear. Regardless, both Tom and his sister Sue Yakubowich decided they should share their family’s tragedy after they heard word of the potential opening of a second gambling venue in the Greater Victoria area. The brother and sister strongly opposed the idea. The troubled elderly woman was subsequently placed in a care facility.
Former Finance Controller Ends Up in Jail Over Gambling Debts
Similarly to Elfriede Lippa, David Bradford, a former finance controller from the United Kingdom, accumulated massive gambling debts while betting on slots at online casinos. Bradford’s losses amounted to the staggering amount of £500,000. The man resorted to stealing money from his employers to sustain his gambling addiction. He also concealed his issue from his family.
Bradford, who is married and has three children, kept his gambling problem a secret from his wife. In fact, the former finance controller who used to earn as much as £71,000 per year, hid his addiction so successfully that his wife and children found out about it when it was already too late. They learned about Bradford’s downfall from his solicitor and from the reports of the local media. At this point, Bradford had already bankrupted his family and was sentenced to jail. It turned out he went as far as to remortgage their house without the knowledge of his wife.
The worst part of the entire story is that Bradford resorted to stealing from his employers. He worked for a Wales-based company and repeatedly stole money from his bosses by deceiving them into paying him more than they normally would.
The scheme continued for a period of 18 months until one day Branford’s employers called him and reported some irregularities with his invoices. After learning about his scheme, the employers were initially reluctant to press charges against Branford but changed their minds at a later stage and alerted the local police authorities.
Bradford explained that he first started developing a gambling problem at the early age of 19 when he was preparing to become an accountant. It was at that time that he started to live way beyond his means and began looking for ways to increase his income. His first attempts to hit a big win were made at the local pub where he was playing on the slot machines.
After the introduction of online slots, it became easier for Bradford to feed his betting problem without alerting his wife and children. He admitted there was a point when he had opened accounts at as many as 12 different online casinos, which initially caused him to spend £10,000 per year. This sum later swelled to the troubling amount of £30,000 per year.
Following his arrest, Bradford wanted to warn others of the risks of developing a gambling addiction. He and his son even sent a letter to David Cameron to appeal for more stringent restrictions in regard to gambling regulations.
Man Commits Homicide to Pay Out Gambling Debt
Some people end up in court, or worse, in jail, because of their gambling spendings but there are some who are ready to go as far as committing a murder to solve their problem with gambling debts. Such is the case of 53-year-old David John Napier from Australia, who committed homicide to pay out a gambling debt amounting to AU$20,000.
Napier was invited to the home of his best friend, 70-year-old Richard Andrews, where he took the old man’s life by repeatedly hitting him over the head. It was established that the cause of the murder was Andrews’ refusal to lend Napier some money. What is more shocking, Napier’s instrument of choice was a hammer. But it gets worse. Napier returned to the crime scene on the following day where he dismembered the body of his dead friend using a hacksaw. To prevent the police from identifying Andrews should his body be found, Napier also mutilated his face.
After dousing the dead body in bleach, the man disposed of it by dumping it in two separate locations, in Dwellingup and Gidgegannup. Following the disposal of his best friend’s body, Napier proceeded to plunder his bank accounts to pay out his gambling debt. To avoid raising the suspicion of Andrews’ neighbors, the man came up with an elaborate story and attributed his friend’s absence to his going on a vacation in the port city of Albany, located in near proximity of Perth.
Napier’s precautions did not prevent him from getting caught, however, as he was detained by the local police six weeks after the murder. After he was arrested, the man attempted to deny he had anything to do with the disappearance of Andrews. The investigators then explained to him that a forensic examination will be performed at the home of the deceased, at which point Napier realized there was practically no point in concealing what he had done and confessed his crime.
In court, Napier attributed his horrific actions to Andrews’ refusal to lend him AU$100. Supreme Court Judge Bruno Fiannaca, who took charge of the case, commented Napier most likely saw murdering his friend as the only way of dealing with his AU$20,000 gambling debts. It was established this was not the first time Napier was asking his friend to borrow him some money.
The fact the murderer cooperated with police officers and assisted them in locating the remains of Andrews was taken into account. However, the gruesome way in which Napier disposed of the dead body earned him 22 years in prison after the court found him guilty in August 2017. He is to be released no sooner than 2038.
Gambling Addict Defrauds Employers of over £1.7 Million
This last account goes to reveal there is somewhat of a pattern among problem gamblers as it relates the story of a woman who also defrauded her employers because of gambling. Tracey Stevenson, 54 years of age, ended up stealing the mind-blowing sum of £1.7 million from her bosses. The British woman, who is from Norfolk, was consistently stealing money from her employers’ bank accounts over the period between 2011 and 2016.
Stevenson used the stolen amounts to pay for two real estates, one located in the United Kingdom and the other one in Spain. The remaining amount she used to fund her increasing gambling problem. Her wrongdoings were uncovered after her employers at Ecsec Ltd. faced some financial issues in January and started an investigation. Stevenson attempted to escape repercussions by going out on a sick leave.
The fraud was later on discovered after Stevenson’s husband found a suicide note she had left where she confessed about her wrongdoings. It was the husband who informed Stevenson’s employers at Ecsec Ltd. about her stealing. The Cambridge Crown Court found Stevenson guilty of fraud.
As a result, the woman was ordered by the court to return a portion of the stolen amount within a period of three months. The ruling of the court instructed Stevenson to pay back about half of the amount she had stolen from her employers or £786,766. If she failed to do so, she was facing six additional years on top of her initial sentence. Stevenson’s employers commented they were satisfied with the compensation determined by the court and this ruling only went to show that crime does not pay.
