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Two men convicted after offering illegal gambling parasitic upon popular FIFA computer game

07 February 2017

Two men from Essex were convicted of offences under the Gambling Act 2005.

On Monday 6 February 2017, following a prosecution brought by the Gambling Commission, Dylan Rigby, 34, of Colchester, Essex, and Craig Douglas, 33, of Ilford, Essex, entered guilty pleas to offences under the Gambling Act 2005. Rigby was ordered to pay £174,000 in fines and costs, whilst Douglas was ordered to pay £91,000.

They admitted to being Directors of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a company which operated and advertised FutGalaxy.com – an unlicensed gambling website.

The District Judge, DJ McGarva described the offending as “very grave”. He concluded that children had been gambling on the site but that it was impossible to know how many had done so and what the effect of the criminality has been; that, he said, was the “real mischief”. Having been shown footage of a 12 year old boy gambling on the website, the Judge described what he had seen as “horrific”, adding that the video had “hit home to me how serious this is”.

FutGalaxy.com, which has no official association with the FIFA series of games or EA Sports, allowed customers to buy virtual currency called FUT coins. Customers could then use those FUT coins to gamble. They could convert these into FIFA coins, which could in turn be sold for real money on an unauthorised secondary market in which Rigby also had an interest.

FutGalaxy.com offered gambling products including sports betting, a jackpot lottery style game, and a higher or lower style game. The full extent of the gambling operation facilitated and advertised by the defendants was revealed after the Commission executed search warrants at the defendants’ homes and seized a number of electronic devices and company documents.

Given the nature of the products offered by FutGalaxy.com the Commission was particularly concerned about its popularity amongst, and use by, children and young persons.

Sarah Harrison, Gambling Commission CEO, said: “This was one of the most serious cases that has been investigated and prosecuted by the Commission. Its gravity is reflected in the significant financial penalties imposed by the Judge. The defendants knew that the site was used by children and that their conduct was illegal but they turned a blind eye in order to achieve substantial profits. The effect on children of online gambling was rightly described by the Court as ‘horrific’ and ‘serious’.

“All websites offering gambling facilities in Britain must be licensed; it is the only way in which children and vulnerable people can be protected. This case demonstrates that we will use the full range of our statutory powers to investigate and prosecute individuals and companies who try to operate illegally.”

Note to editors

  1. There is no official link between FutGalaxy.com and either FIFA or EA Sports.
  2. More information about how we regulate the gambling industry.
  3. Useful statistics on the gambling industry.
  4. During the proceedings the Court made an order under s45 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 that no details of anyone aged under 18 concerned in the proceedings be included in any publication if it is likely to lead members of the public to identify him as a person concerned in the proceedings.
  5. The defendants pleaded guilty to the following charges:

Dylan Rigby

  • Dylan Rigby was an officer of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a body corporate which committed an offence against section 33(1) of the Gambling Act 2005 in that between the 21st day of July 2015 and the 11th day of February 2016 it provided facilities for gambling, namely betting, when no operating licence had been granted under Part 5 of the Gambling Act 2005 which authorised such provision; and that offence was committed with his consent or connivance or as a result of his negligence. Contrary to section 33(1) and section 341 of the Gambling Act 2005.
  • Dylan Rigby was an officer of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a body corporate which committed an offence against section 33(1) of the Gambling Act 2005 in that between the 21st day of July 2015 and 11th day of February 2016 it provided facilities for gambling, namely gaming, when no operating licence had been granted under Part 5 of the Gambling Act 2005 which authorised such provision; and that offence was committed with his consent or connivance or as a result of his negligence. Contrary to section 33(1) and section 341 of the Gambling Act 2005.
  • Dylan Rigby was an officer of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a body corporate which committed an offence against section 330(1) of the Gambling Act 2005 in that between the 21st day of July 2015 and 11th day of February 2016 it advertised unlawful gambling; and that offence was committed with his consent or connivance or as a result of his negligence. Contrary to section 330(1) and section 341 of the Gambling Act 2005.

Craig Douglas

  • Craig Douglas was an officer of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a body corporate which committed an offence against section 330(1) of the Gambling Act 2005 in that between the 1st day of October 2015 and the 11th day of February 2016 it advertised unlawful gambling; and that offence was committed with his consent or connivance or as a result of his negligence. Contrary to section 330(1) and section 341 of the Gambling Act 2005.
  • Craig Douglas was an officer of Game Gold Tradings Limited, a body corporate which committed an offence against section 33(1) of Gambling Act 2005 in that between the 1st day of October 2015 and the 11th day of February 2016 it provided facilities for gambling, namely gaming, when no operating licence had been granted under Part 5 of the Gambling Act 2005 which authorised such provision; and that offence was committed with his consent or connivance or as a result of his negligence. Contrary section 33(1) and section 341 of the Gambling Act 2005.

Journalists can contact our press office on 0121 230 6700 or email: communications@gamblingcommission.gov.uk

For all media enquiries, please contact the Gambling Commission press office.

Last updated: 20 August 2021

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