Player Threats to Online Gambling Operator Taken Seriously

Threatening to blow someone's brains after having a few drinks too many is a big no-no After demanding $50,000 (GBP 33,000) to cover his losses and threatening an unidentified poker operator's staff that he would travel to the company's headquarters and “blow the f***ing brains out of every single person who crosses my path,” Michael Gallagher (35) found himself in even deeper trouble, as he was brought before the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, who decided he should spend some time in prison. According to Judge Fox, the case in which the player made the chilling threats since he was not satisfied about the reaction to his accusations that there were irregularities in the hands dealt to him, was the worst imaginable of its kind. He also said it was surprising that a blackmail charge against Gallagher was dropped in favor of a lesser offence under the Malicious Communications Act 1988 when the case actually had all the hallmarks of extortion, a maximum penalty for which would be 14 years, compared to a six-month maximum for sending an electronic communication conveying a threat. However, Gallagher got himself out of the blackmail charges by admitting the lesser charge and getting three months of prison for it. He also claimed that he had had too much to drink at the time when he wrote a threatening email that said: “I hope you take me seriously because I swear to God I'm going to do it. I will have my vengeance. I have planned this for six months. It's what makes me sleep a night. “Drifting off to sleep, thinking about what I am going to do, knowing full well that the butchering I do will get you exposed for what you are... I will gladly take a life sentence for that. “Believe me, it will be my finest hour... $50,000 in my account, or believe me, you will all be dead.” Apparently, the next day, he sent another email apologizing for his threats and claiming that what he said was under the influence of alcohol. However, this did not mitigate Judge Fox, who told Gallagher: “It is no excuse, at all, that you were affected by drink.”