GUILTY: Youtuber Craig “NepentheZ” Douglas and business partner Dylan Rigby fined £2,000 after pleading guilt to Fut Galaxy FIFA17 gambling offences
Two men who admitted to running an unlicensed betting website have been fined after pleading guilty to gambling offences.
Craig Douglas is known as NepentheZ on Youtube and pleaded guilty to several gambling offences
He ran a website called Fut Galaxy which allowed anyone to gamble using virtual currency from the popular FIFA video-game. Players earn this currency by winning matches. They can then transfer it to the gambling website and use it to bet on real life football matches and lottery jackpots. The currency can then be transferred back to the game and even sold on unauthorised black markets, much like casino chips.
On top of running the website, he used his online personality on Youtube to advertise to his over one million subscribers, a great portion of which are underage. And on top of that he failed to disclose he was the owner of the website.
No surprise then that the UK Gambling Commission described this as one of the most serious cases they have ever handled. It’s also the first time they have prosecuted a case related unlicensed video-game gambling, which is bound to set a precedent in an industry estimated to be worth billions of pounds.
Douglas, 32, from Ferndown, Dorset, admitted a charge of being an officer of a firm that provided facilities for gambling without an operating licence, and a further offence relating to the advertising of unlawful gambling.
Rigby, 33, from Colchester, Essex, pleaded guilty to two charges connected to the provision of facilities for gambling, and a third offence linked to advertising illegal gambling.
