IN his first hour on an Internet gambling site, he won an amazing 90,000 ($264,978).
But then his luck changed.
And within the next hour, his debt mounted to 158,000 ($465,268).
In that one night, Mr Richard Mahan, 25, used 13 of his parents' credit cards - and exhausted all the limits on them - in an attempt to make back the money he had lost, but to no avail.
Finally, in what is being described as Scotland's worst case of gambling addiction, he tried to kill himself.
A court in Scotland heard on Thursday that his parents called the police after the credit card companies told them to do so. They said that their insurance would not be valid unless they reported the case to the authorities, reported The Times of London yesterday.
Commented the judge, Sheriff Kevin Veal: '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.'
Mr John Clancy, Mr Mahan's lawyer, 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.
'It also raises questions about the wisdom of credit card companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised without any real checks.
Said Mr Clancy: 'My own firm is seeing more and more cases of bankruptcies every week arising from addiction to online gambling.'
Sheriff Veal warned Mr Mahan that he faces jail, saying: 'The quantum is so great that a prison sentence may have to be imposed in the public's interest.'
A spokesman for British bookmaker Willilam Hill said that the gambling industry was heavily regulated.
Of the Richard Mahan case, he said: 'How could anybody know he was not who he said he was or that the credit cards were not his? If I spent 90,000 on a car with my credit card, would anybody criticise me?'
Last month, a 22-year-old man racked up Internet gambling debts of 30,000 in less than half an hour using his father's credit cards.
BETS OF 5,000
He had placed bets of up to 5,000.
He pleaded guilty to theft and was senteced to 12 months' of community supervision order and told to do 200 hours' unpaid work.
Said his father, Mr Stephen Richardson, a property developer: 'Obviously, 30,000 is a lot of money and I had my wife and family to think of so I had to go ahead with the prosecution.
'If there had been a chance of custody, I do not know what I would have done. I could not have sent my son to prison.'
But then his luck changed.
And within the next hour, his debt mounted to 158,000 ($465,268).
In that one night, Mr Richard Mahan, 25, used 13 of his parents' credit cards - and exhausted all the limits on them - in an attempt to make back the money he had lost, but to no avail.
Finally, in what is being described as Scotland's worst case of gambling addiction, he tried to kill himself.
A court in Scotland heard on Thursday that his parents called the police after the credit card companies told them to do so. They said that their insurance would not be valid unless they reported the case to the authorities, reported The Times of London yesterday.
Commented the judge, Sheriff Kevin Veal: '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.'
Mr John Clancy, Mr Mahan's lawyer, 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.
'It also raises questions about the wisdom of credit card companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised without any real checks.
Said Mr Clancy: 'My own firm is seeing more and more cases of bankruptcies every week arising from addiction to online gambling.'
Sheriff Veal warned Mr Mahan that he faces jail, saying: 'The quantum is so great that a prison sentence may have to be imposed in the public's interest.'
A spokesman for British bookmaker Willilam Hill said that the gambling industry was heavily regulated.
Of the Richard Mahan case, he said: 'How could anybody know he was not who he said he was or that the credit cards were not his? If I spent 90,000 on a car with my credit card, would anybody criticise me?'
Last month, a 22-year-old man racked up Internet gambling debts of 30,000 in less than half an hour using his father's credit cards.
BETS OF 5,000
He had placed bets of up to 5,000.
He pleaded guilty to theft and was senteced to 12 months' of community supervision order and told to do 200 hours' unpaid work.
Said his father, Mr Stephen Richardson, a property developer: 'Obviously, 30,000 is a lot of money and I had my wife and family to think of so I had to go ahead with the prosecution.
'If there had been a chance of custody, I do not know what I would have done. I could not have sent my son to prison.'
