A thirty eight year old man identified as Williams Peter has been arrested by the police for playing bets worth a total of N600,000 on credit
The young man who operated the gaming centre, Solomon Adetoro was apprehended along side the chronic gambler for allegedly coniving to defraud the gambling firm company
Upon investigation, it was gathered that Peter approached Adetoro at the gambling outlet on Olowu Street, Ikeja, Lagos, on May 24, 2018, to play the game. He was said to have placed several bets without winning and promised to pay the following day.
As promised, he showed up at the outlet the next day, but didn’t pay the debt accrued; instead he took another round of bets and lost until the money accumulated to N600,000.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the operator did not report the debt to the management until it was discovered by an official, who came to take a record of bets around 9:00pm.
Upon questioning, the operator told the police that Peter was his customer, stated that he became afraid and complained when the debt quickly piled up, however, the gambler assured and swore to him that he would pay up as having the money was not his problem
In his words;
“He regularly comes to play Casino gambling in our shop. Each time he played without winning, he would beg me to allow him play another game. He played it for two days and the money accumulated to N600,000.
“He wanted to do another N50,000 when I stopped him. He said he had money that I should not worry. It was during the assessment of the account that the N600,000 was discovered.”
Peter confessed to playing the bets on credit in his statement to the police, adding that he had been into gambling for 16 years which built up his self confidence.
Both debtor and accomplice have since been arraigned in Ikeja Magistrate’s Court on two counts of stealing to which they pleaded not guilty.
The police prosecutor, Mr. Benson Emuehi, told the court that the offence contravened sections 315 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs. O Sule-Hamzat, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum, adding that the surety must present evidence of tax payments.
The case was adjourned till July 10, 2018 for mention.
