Gambling company director banned after £7m could not be traced

A DIRECTOR has been banned for 12 years after more than £7m could not be found following the collapse of a gambling company.

Andrew Laird Hosie had run Gambling Insight as an investment vehicle for arbitrage gambling, enticing investors in with claims that “it is a mathematical certainty we will win and profit tax free”.

Arbitrage gambling is when bets are placed with different betting companies to enable the bettor to make a profit, regardless of the outcome, by utilising the variance in odds offered by different bookmakers.

This was facilitated by software which scanned the online betting markets to detect the bookmakers at which the appropriate bets should be placed.

Mr Hosie had obtained an estimated £7.16m from investors and syndicates, under representations that the gambling of the investment monies was virtually risk free. However, after the company went into administration, “practically none” of the money could be traced.

David Brooks, group leader at The Insolvency Service, said the long ban highlights that “honesty and openness is an essential element of a director’s role”.

He added: “Mr Hosie promoted this investment as practically risk free. However, the truth of the matter was that Mr Hosie has lost the investors money through a combination of gambling and a failure to keep records which would show how it has been disposed of, through the thousands of gambling accounts operated by the company.”

The company, based at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, had continued to promote the low risks involved even after losing an estimated £2.5m by February 2014, and later sent screenshots of healthy balances to investors which were untrue.

Gambling Insight went into administration in January 2015, while Mr Hosie, who lives in Cheshire, went bankrupt in June 2015.