Popular YouTuber Pleads Guilty in FIFA 17 Gambling Case

According to the BBC, YouTuber Craig Douglas, known as NepentheZ and Dylan Rigby, owner of the since defunct FIFA 17 related FUTgalaxy channel, have pled guilty to charges against them including inviting children to gamble and including the provision of facilities for gambling.

Together, Douglas and Rigby have been operating FUTGalaxy, a website allowing players to use in-game currency from FIFA 17 to purchase randomised item packs, play games of chance and place real life sports bets. From mid-2015 to early 2016 the website is estimated to have generated a whopping £96,000 (?AUD$156,000), with one 14-year-old customer anecdotally losing more than £586 in a single day. (?AUD950) Douglas has additionally been using his YouTube channel to advertise the unlicensed gambling website to over 1.3 million subscribers. This is not the only gaming related website operating online and Bloomberg Technology estimates that the black-market may be worth billions at this point.

Though the pair is yet to be sentenced, they are facing extensive fines for offences under the UK’s gambling act and have since offered public apologies for their behaviour.