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-- Within an hour of logging on to an internet gambling site, Richard Mahan had won £90,000. But his luck soon changed and, ignoring the sage advice of gamblers everywhere, he tried to claw his way back.
He used 13 of his parents' credit cards and, as he gambled into the early hours, ran up debts of £158,000. Mahan, 25, then tried to kill himself in what is believed to be Scotland's worst case of internet gambling addiction.
His parents, Linda and James, called in the police after the credit card companies told them that their insurance would not be valid unless they did so.
Forfar Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Mahan kept gambling at his parents' home in Brechin, Angus, in April last year until he exhausted the limits on all the credit cards.
Sheriff Kevin Veal said: "If £150,000 can be lost in 50 minutes under clandestine conditions in the early hours of the morning, it is an issue so great that it needs to be addressed by the wider community. It is a social issue."
Brian Bell, the procurator fiscal, said: "Initially he'd made over £90,000 in profit but within an hour he continued gambling and started to lose money heavily until the credit cards ran dry. He then tried to commit suicide. The credit card companies indicated that unless the matter was reported to the police the insurance cover would not come into place and the parents would have to pay back the money."
John Clancy, representing Mahan, said that the case highlighted the dangers of the lack of regulation of internet gambling. "The court should be aware that internet gambling, along with alcohol and heroin, is the scourge of the 21st century because it is unregulated," he said. "It also raises questions about the wisdom of credit card companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised without any real checks. --
