The Australian sportsbetting market is quite heavily regulated, so it is not often that you hear about gambling scams in the country. While regulators run tight ship, illegal activities will sometimes leak through. In one recent case, Queensland authorities have discovered a sports betting scam that has duped people across the state out of millions of dollars.
The scam has managed to disguise itself as a legitimate betting service. The ‘operator’ offers individuals the chance to take part in betting syndicates which promise them the chance to make a great deal of money by sharing in the profits. However, the players’ investment are never returned or recovered. One major scam involved a company called UK Home Based Business.
This company promised to place money on horse races on the behalf of investors, claiming to provide regular income. Trevor Clarke, who invested in the scheme, had his account suspended after the company stated that a problem had occurred with the software. In the end, he lost his $80 000 investment.
“A lot of the major scams…have disguised themselves as betting operations but there's no betting actually gone on,” says Ken Gamble, a private investigator who has been interested in betting scams for years. “So all the money's been cleaned out the back door, straight into the pockets of the people involved in running the companies”.
Ken Gamble investigated the scam and was led to an individual named Mick Featherstone, an ex-police officer. While Featherstone has denied being part of the scam, a man name Johnny Kane has come forward to confirm that he was in charge of UK Home Based Business. Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission has taken over the investigation of the betting scam and Mick Featherstone’s involvement in it.
We will keep you posted with any further developments.
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