GBP 7,000 Spent by UK School Boy on Online Poker

The example of this 12-year-old should serve as a reminder that operator vigilance needs to be maintained on a high level

A disturbing report arrived this week from the Liverpool News that 12-year-old Declan Hind blew GBP 7,000 of his father’s money on internet poker sites.

According to Hind, a friend at school showed him how to download free play games to his smartphone, so the whole thing started in fun play, with virtual currencies. As he saw some success, young Hind decided to try and make easy money by playing on real-money sites.

He therefore borrowed his father’s credit card to make an unrelated internet purchase, and fraudulently registered at unidentified online poker sites, where in a bit over a week he spent GBP 7,000 of his father’s money.

When his 52-year-old father realized that something was happening as his credit card was declined as maxed out, the boy cleaned his computer of all internet poker sites. According to the father, “I was screaming and shouting at the credit card company, I didn’t know what happened.”

As soon as he learned the truth, Hind’s dad decided to make the thing public in order to warn others and present the case as an object lesson for anti-gambling bodies to use.

In addition, both Declan and his father will take part in an anti-underage gambling initiative by Prevention Town, a national charity which aims to use education to prevent accident and injuries in children.

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