I am becoming increasing concerned with the extent some employees with gambling addiction go to satisfy their addiction. That is, some of these employees go as far as defrauding, and stealing from their employers and go ahead to gamble with the money. Some time ago, a close buddy of mine narrated how he caught his colleague adjusting the sales records after removing some cash. After he confronted him, the colleague confessed that he usually use the money for betting. Below are several similar cases.
I'd like to know your thoughts - Do you think that employers should screen potential employees for problem gambling before employment?
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A gambling addict from the United Kingdom stole his company’s money to wager on cryptocurrencies. However, his employers eventually learned of his schemes.Mahmood Stole over $33,000 Siraj Mahmood used to work at a JD Sports retail in Manchester. His job was to help unsatisfied customers who had issues with the company’s products or wanted a refund. It seems that Mahmood’s salary wasn’t sufficient to cover his gambling expenses, causing him to instead steal from the company.
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Swindling company money would cost you jail time – that was the message Deputy Circuit Judge Neil Bidder QC sent out when he sentenced a financial director who stole over £800,000 to satisfy gambling addiction. Lauren Farr, 34, of Spring Grove, Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, was sentenced to 32 months in prison after admitting to defrauding company We Fight Any Claim out of £825,751.60 between March 2016 and October 2019, while working at the firm as a senior executive. The mother-of-two who had started at the company as a junior admin and worked her way up to the earning £70,000 per year financial director position, gambled around £1.5 million online, through operators such as Paddy Power and Betfred, police financial investigators who looked into her finances uncovered.
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A nefarious gambling addict by the name of Brian James Wilson scammed an elderly man and took all of his savings. He lied that he was about to invest the money in groundbreaking projects but, in fact, used it to fuel his gambling addiction. Wilson Took Almost $2M from His Victim Wilson first met his victim in 2018. Back then, the 82-year-old man was selling his mortgage-free Mount Martha home for $1.6 million. Once the sale was complete, Wilson helped the man move to a retirement village. A few months later, the scam began.
I'd like to know your thoughts - Do you think that employers should screen potential employees for problem gambling before employment?
It's extremely dependent on the job type on whether they should have access to this sort of sensitive information or require a declaration from the employee. In certain scenarios like finance it can be important to weed out people who have these sort of problems, because they could potentially have access to vast sums of money and if they cannot control their own finances, they should not be allowed access to many other peoples. There are other jobs as well, like working for the security services in sensitive roles, that could make someone vulnerable to foreign powers if they are known to have a gambling addiction. This sort of vetting is usually declared up front and like with finance roles is required by law or insurance necessity, so if someone is not comfortable with it then they simply have to find a position that does not do such checks.
