Caroline Dumont, a 57 year-old bookkeeper was living a life as a VIP online gambler but the truth is, she got the money to gamble online by stealing from her employers and earning approximately £3,000 a month. The UK court in Maidstone sentenced Dumont to jail for 3 years and 4 months after she admitted about her dishonesty. According to reports, the bookkeeper stole £33,000 from the company Steadfast Carpentry and £913,000 from Tara Plant Hire.
Following her divorce in 2011, Dumont started playing online. Things escalated when she started spending £50,000 a month playing slots at Mecca Bingo which is a subsidiary of the Rank Group. The operators soon classified her as a VIP and treated her with a trip to Las Vegas and a Caribbean cruise. The reality was that Dumont was living in a council home and earning £36,000 a year.
The bookkeeper told the court that she started betting with small wagers, but she soon increased her bet amounts. At first, from Tara Plant Hire she took £50. However, when she was short she borrowed £100. “Soon afterwards I was taking £30,000 every few days. In other words, I was taking up to £20,000 a week and wagering £250 a time,” she admitted.
She also told the court that her gambling was so high that the gambling operator should have noticed it. “In 2012 Mecca had more than enough evidence to activate the warning system, but I wasn’t stopped. When gambling escalates it’s their legal duty to report it to the Gambling Commission,” she said.
Rank Digital, the owners of Mecca, were told by the UK Gambling Commission to forfeit the profit of £950,000 the site made from Dumont and her betting.