A father who went to jail for stealing more than £1 million from his company to gamble on sports is sharing his story to encourage gambling addicts to seek help.
Andy May, a finance manager living in rural Norfolk, told the BBC that after gambling away the deposit for his family’s first house, he did not gamble again for seven years. However, after seeing a “free bet” advertisement during the 2014 World Cup, May began gambling again with disastrous results.
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The father of two began gambling so excessively that he used his company credit card to bet £1.3 million, an offense that landed him in prison. Now, after serving two years behind bars, May is working with GambleAware to spread his message about the dangerously addictive nature of gambling “with the hope of trying to persuade others to act differently.”
“I was betting on anything that I could,” May told the BBC:From the number of corners in a game to yellow cards, usually online on my phone or my laptop in the office. No amount of money would have been enough. I used to come home at lunch so I could grab the bills and did the same at work. I started to pay my own personal credit card off with the company’s bank account. Over the period of four and a half years, I stole more than £1.3 million from my employer.
Everything was out of control. The only thing I was thinking about was gambling. I was stealing money left, right, and center. I finally got caught at work in the summer of 2019, and it was almost a relief when I was fired. But I lied to my family and said I’d fallen out with my boss, and within a fortnight, I’d found a new job.
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May continued:
Do I think that I could ever gamble again? Sadly, the answer is probably yes. But what I focus on every single day is making sure that I don’t today. There’s nothing I could possibly win that would make my life better, and I have everything to lose.
I’d be gambling with so many things that aren’t money, like my recovery, all of the relationships I have managed to save, and the trust people have rebuilt in me. There’s just no point.
Lawmakers in the United Kingdom have grappled with how to curb the betting craze sweeping across the country and much of the world.
The English Premier League proposed banning gambling sites from advertising on football shirts. However, a report by the Select Committee for Culture, Media, and Sport in the House of Commons said the measure would do little to shield young people from exposure to gambling.
In response, the government has proposed instituting substantive reforms such as making gamblers pass affordability checks before placing any bets, restricting betting on slot machines, as well as making any establishment that offers gambling pay a tax to treat gambling addicts.
Looking back on his experience, May recalled not only the darkest moments of his experience with addiction but also how far he’s come and what he still has.
“Watching my kids go to school on the day I went to prison was the worst day of my life,” and the impact “on those closest to me has been far worse than prison ever was,” May explained.
“I am thankful to still have a close relationship with my children,” May concluded.
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