Illegal bookmaker probe leads to arrest as courts apologise to victim for payments delay

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A man has been arrested in connection with a police investigation linked to former black market bookmaker, The Post.

An undercover investigation by the Racing Post in February 2024 exposed the operations of The Post, an unlicensed bookmaker which had been advertising on WhatsApp and claimed to have more than 1,000 customers.

While Haydon Simcock, who acted as commercial manager for The Post, was given a suspended sentence and fined £290,154 last year for his role in its running, the ultimate owner of the illegal bookmaker had not been traced by the Gambling Commission, which had brought the prosecution.

In a statement last week, South Wales police said: “A 40-year-old man from South Wales has been arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering as part of an ongoing investigation. He has been released under investigation.”

A spokesman for the Gambling Commission said it could not comment on an ongoing police investigation.

At Birmingham Magistrates’ Court last year, it was revealed that former racehorse owner Mark Dunphy had lost £280,000 owed to him when The Post bookmaker collapsed.

Simcock was ordered to pay Dunphy £290,154 in restitution, costs and a victim surcharge at a rate of £300 a month until he was able to increase the payments.

The courts initially allowed the start of the payments to be delayed until February. However, once Simcock had begun to make them – and despite assurances that the money due to him would arrive each month – the fines office only issued Dunphy with the £1,200 he was owed for the period until the end of last month on Wednesday.

Dunphy, who was a professional gambler prior to the collapse of The Post, had "believed everything [Simcock] said about The Post", the court was told, and that "his health has been affected by [the case]; stress, high blood pressure and two minor heart attacks”.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) said the delay in payments due to Dunphy would be rectified and that future amounts would arrive when they were due each month.

An HMCTS spokesperson said: “We apologise to Mr Dunphy for the delays in this case and the distress it has caused. We have confirmed that the outstanding instalments to date will be paid within the month."

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