Lancashire National News: Odds on win for the Insolvency Service as three gambling companies are shut down

Odds on win for the Insolvency Service as three gambling companies are shut down

Three companies operating a sports betting service have this week been ordered into liquidation following an Insolvency Service investigation on behalf of the Government.

Company Investigations of the Insolvency Service found that Montgomery Enterprises Limited (Enterprises) and Indeleck UK Limited (Indeleck), both run by Wayne Montgomery and trading under the style of “Belmont Sporting Services” and “Preferential Sports Investments”, were placing bets on sporting events on behalf of customers for commission. A third company, Heathridge Capital Management Limited (Heathridge) was connected to Enterprises and Indeleck and appeared to have been set up for a similar purpose.

The investigation found that Enterprises and Indeleck advertised their services through targeted mail-shots inviting potential customers to “invest” between £250.00 and £12,000, a proportion of which would be used for each bet. Mail-shots sent out by the companies contained claims that a £250.00 investment could produce an average monthly income, before commission, of £310.00. Bets were selected using a software system and collective bets would be placed for all customers who wanted to bet on a particular day.

In addition the investigation found there was a deliberate lack of transparency to mislead customers about who was in actual control and which company they were dealing with. Furthermore, although over £282,000 passed through the companies' bank accounts between November 2008 and October 2009 and betting records showed that bets totalling over £516,000 had been placed, insufficient records were kept to enable investigators to distinguish transactions between the companies, to identify customers, or to establish details of “investments”, wagers and winnings. In the absence of such information, there was no evidence to support the claims made in the mail-shots.

Investigators were also unable to find any evidence of the companies paying any monies at all to customers in respect of winnings. Winnings were allegedly paid in cash to customers and no copies of any letter which might accompany such winnings to support this claim was produced during the investigation.

The petitions to wind up all three companies in the public interest were presented on 1 June 2010 and they were wound up by the High Court on 21 July 2010.

Posted Friday July 23^rd 2010
By Insolvency Service