A woman who managed to win a large amount of money while playing online bingo failed to inform the authorities for her winnings and ended up in court for that.
Josephine McGlade managed to win an amount of approximately £75,000 while playing fortune playing bingo on the Internet. The 55-year-old woman, who claimed social benefits because of poor health, was brought action against in court because she failed to bring to light the amount he won while playing the game online to the Department for Work and Pensions and Kirklees Council.
McGlade shared that she did not disclosed the winnings due to the fact that she spent the money on her family and friends. She, however, pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonesty for not revealing a change of circumstances which were to probably affect her privileges to getting such a benefit.
The woman suffers from severe arthritis and have claimed employment and support allowance as well as housing benefit. All the benefits were claimed by Ms. McGlade because of the fact that she was not able to work due to her health condition, so she had no income.
The prosecutor Jill Seddon revealed to the Kirklees magistrates that the 55-year-old woman got the money on her account. According to Seddon, Ms. McGlade was perfectly aware of the fact that any changes of her circumstances must be reported to the Department for Work and Pensions. The prosecution shared that the amount of money she won from an online gambling website was estimated to £74,989.
The Woman Fails to Report Change of Circumstances to Authorities
Reportedly, the amount was won by the woman in October 2015, and after that the sum was paid out to her account in the Royal Bank of Scotland. As mentioned above, what she did not do was to declare that substantial amount of money to the competent authorities. In her defence, Ms. McGlade said that she thought the money was not hers any more after she spent them on her family and friends.
As explained, the woman gave her son money to purchase his house, estimated to £60,000 instead of taking out a loan. The rest of the money she gave away, buying her daughter a new car for work and giving each of her children an amount of £2,000.
Magistrates were informed that as a result of the fraud, the amount of benefits overpaid to her amounted to £5,700.
The charges against her were dated in the period from November 2015 and May 2016. The charges were related to her wrongdoings and failure to give the thorough detail of her capital. The woman admitted that she should have informed the local magistrates for the winning while she still had some of the money in her account and that would have led to some reduction in her social benefits.
As a result, McGlade was fined by the competent authorities. She has also paid back the money owed to the social benefits agencies and paid the court costs, too.
- Author
Daniel Williams
