Money

I spent thousands on video game skins & next thing I was £100,000 in debt – when I ended up in court I knew I must stop --[Reported by Umva mag]

CHARITY boss Jordan Lea started to gamble on online games at 14 – and ended up blowing £100,000 on the black market. At first, he used gaming “skins” as currency before graduating to casinos. fpnw.co.uk©2024Jordan Lea started to gamble on online games at 14 – and ended up blowing £100,000 on the black market[/caption] GettyJordan blames illegal gambling sites for his addiction[/caption] He once spent five consecutive days in one, and he got so desperate for cash that he advertised his iPad and phone on Gumtree – and parted with them for £100. Jordan, 36, said: “I 100 per cent blame those illegal sites for my addiction. “I was gambling away my pocket money aged 14. I would buy skins, then go to a third-party website to gamble them away, playing roulette or blackjack. “It’s just something that’s done in gaming culture and these sites are advertised everywhere and promoted by gamers. “If I got money from my mum to buy something in a game, she’d put in her card details and I’d use them to steal money from her. “Kids can easily buy crypto currency wallets from illegal sites and are using that to gamble. “By 16 I was working in Tesco and betting away all my wages. Nobody knew because it’s easy to keep it secret. As a teenager you don’t think you’re gambling because it’s all game-related.” In 2016 he ended up in court for stealing a pal’s credit card and got a suspended sentence for fraud, then in 2018 he signed up to GAMSTOP, which lets players bar themselves from UK websites. But in despair he turned to the black market. He said: “I got loans, credit cards and maxed everything out and ended up spending about £100,000 on unregulated sites where there are no checks.” Jordan finally quit his addiction when he met his current partner and they now have a nine-month-old baby. He said: “I realised what I was doing was selfish – not just impacting on me but everyone around me.” Kids preyed on by £4.3bn bets sites Up to £4.3billion is gambled a year on black market gaming sites in the UK – which suck in kids as young as EIGHT. A shock new report reveals £2.7billion is being spent on unregulated gambling websites, while another £1.6billion is staked in underground casinos. GettyYoung people are being lured into gambling online[/caption] One in five 18 to 24-year-olds who gamble have bet on the black market. And The Sun can reveal that primary school kids are being lured into illicit gambling where they bet crypto currency and gaming skins — costumes for online characters that cost money — on roulette, blackjack and virtual slots. Jordan Lea, who runs a gambling addiction charity, said: “It’s shocking how these sites are luring in young kids. “We gave a talk at a primary school and an eight-year-old told us he’d started gambling through playing [online game] Roblox. His dad ended up smashing his Xbox in front of him. “At secondary schools, pupils tell us they find sites through social media platforms like YouTube and are betting their pocket money. It’s a growing problem because they are so tech savvy.” A report out today by researcher Frontier Economics exposes how illegal operators target Britain via offshore websites and apps, in a bootleg market that has cost us £335million over five years — equal to 1,700 nurses’ salaries. The dossier says that gamblers are also changing their VPNs — their digital network — to access uncontrolled bookies abroad. It means gambling addicts who join Britain’s GAMSTOP scheme, which voluntarily blocks their web bets, can continue gambling. Grainne Hurst, of lobby group the Betting And Gaming Council, said the report exposes the problem’s “unnerving” scale. She added: “From online gaming to betting on sports, millions of customers are being driven into the arms of pernicious black market operators. These people don’t care about player safety and don’t pay a penny in tax.”

Sep 19, 2024 - 18:23

I spent thousands on video game skins & next thing I was £100,000 in debt – when I ended up in court I knew I must stop --[Reported by Umva mag]

CHARITY boss Jordan Lea started to gamble on online games at 14 – and ended up blowing £100,000 on the black market.

At first, he used gaming “skins” as currency before graduating to casinos.

a man wearing a black vest with a yellow patch on it

Jordan Lea started to gamble on online games at 14 – and ended up blowing £100,000 on the black market[/caption]

a person holding a cell phone that says casino online

Jordan blames illegal gambling sites for his addiction[/caption]

He once spent five consecutive days in one, and he got so desperate for cash that he advertised his iPad and phone on Gumtree – and parted with them for £100.

Jordan, 36, said: “I 100 per cent blame those illegal sites for my addiction.

“I was gambling away my pocket money aged 14. I would buy skins, then go to a third-party website to gamble them away, playing roulette or blackjack.

“It’s just something that’s done in gaming culture and these sites are advertised everywhere and promoted by gamers.

“If I got money from my mum to buy something in a game, she’d put in her card details and I’d use them to steal money from her.

“Kids can easily buy crypto currency wallets from illegal sites and are using that to gamble.

“By 16 I was working in Tesco and betting away all my wages. Nobody knew because it’s easy to keep it secret. As a teenager you don’t think you’re gambling because it’s all game-related.”

In 2016 he ended up in court for stealing a pal’s credit card and got a suspended sentence for fraud, then in 2018 he signed up to GAMSTOP, which lets players bar themselves from UK websites.

But in despair he turned to the black market.

He said: “I got loans, credit cards and maxed everything out and ended up spending about £100,000 on unregulated sites where there are no checks.”

Jordan finally quit his addiction when he met his current partner and they now have a nine-month-old baby.

He said: “I realised what I was doing was selfish – not just impacting on me but everyone around me.”

Kids preyed on by £4.3bn bets sites

Up to £4.3billion is gambled a year on black market gaming sites in the UK – which suck in kids as young as EIGHT.

A shock new report reveals £2.7billion is being spent on unregulated gambling websites, while another £1.6billion is staked in underground casinos.

a young man wearing headphones is typing on a laptop

Young people are being lured into gambling online[/caption]

One in five 18 to 24-year-olds who gamble have bet on the black market.

And The Sun can reveal that primary school kids are being lured into illicit gambling where they bet crypto currency and gaming skins — costumes for online characters that cost money — on roulette, blackjack and virtual slots.

Jordan Lea, who runs a gambling addiction charity, said: “It’s shocking how these sites are luring in young kids.

“We gave a talk at a primary school and an eight-year-old told us he’d started gambling through playing [online game] Roblox. His dad ended up smashing his Xbox in front of him.

“At secondary schools, pupils tell us they find sites through social media platforms like YouTube and are betting their pocket money. It’s a growing problem because they are so tech savvy.”

A report out today by researcher Frontier Economics exposes how illegal operators target Britain via offshore websites and apps, in a bootleg market that has cost us £335million over five years — equal to 1,700 nurses’ salaries.

The dossier says that gamblers are also changing their VPNs — their digital network — to access uncontrolled bookies abroad.

It means gambling addicts who join Britain’s GAMSTOP scheme, which voluntarily blocks their web bets, can continue gambling.

Grainne Hurst, of lobby group the Betting And Gaming Council, said the report exposes the problem’s “unnerving” scale.

She added: “From online gaming to betting on sports, millions of customers are being driven into the arms of pernicious black market operators. These people don’t care about player safety and don’t pay a penny in tax.”

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