The UK Gambling Commission has announced that an illegal WhatsApp bookmaker has been convicted.
The man in question, Haydon Simcock of Weston Coyney, Stoke on Trent, was tried for failing to fulfill his responsibilities to punters, including repaying an account balance of £269,000 ($358,144.78).
A Stoke-on-Trent man has been given a 30-week suspended prison sentence after a joint investigation by the Gambling Commission and @StaffsPolice found out he was running an illegal gaming business on WhatsApp.
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– Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) December 9, 2025
Illegal WhatsApp bookmaker convicted
Simcock led Post Bookmakers through the communications platform, taking on the role of VIP commercial director. His company allowed individuals to bet via WhatsApp and Simcock took responsibility for managing the accounts and financial transactions, according to the Gambling Commission report.
Specifically, its role provided “direct administrative support to the gaming transaction, accepting odds, accepting offers such as matching deposits and referral rewards, and accepting payments from customers.”
The Gambling Commission, in partnership with Staffordshire Police, responded to information sent to them by affected individuals, including an investigative journalist from the Racing Post.
“Using mobile apps like WhatsApp does not make illegal gaming invisible or beyond our reach – we can prove that such activity is taking place and we will use all the powers at our disposal to play our part in removing this illegal activity from the UK market and to ensure that those responsible are held to account for their actions,” said John Pierce, director of enforcement at the Commission.
Simcock faces fines
The report, heard at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, referred to Simcock’s links to punters who allegedly sold drugs and made threatening comments via recordings discovered from his electronic devices.
The devices, according to the Gambling Commission, “revealed that he (Simcock) had taken bets on people he suspected of selling drugs, suggested he could make a disgruntled customer ‘disappear’ and failed to pay a customer his account balance of £269,000.”
Simcock was given a 30-week suspended prison sentence and 200 hours of community service, but the presiding magistrate told him sternly: “he narrowly avoided detention.”
The failed bookmaker will refund £230,000 ($306,000) in compensation to the victim and pay £60,000 ($80,000) in gambling commission fees.
This would be a fortuitous outcome for Simcock, as he had previously admitted operating an unlicensed gambling business and advertising unlicensed “illegal gambling” on two occasions between May 2003 and September 2024.
Pierce concluded: “This case illustrates all the risks consumers face from illegal gambling – links to crime, lack of respect for social responsibility, repeated exploitation of consumers and operating without any of the necessary operational safeguards in place. »
Featured Image: Haydon Simcock via X
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