Bingo Benefit Cheats facing Jail

A couple from Walsall are facing jail after cheating their benefits. So far so normal, you say. But this wasn’t an ordinary couple – for two years previously they had banked a cool £50,000 from the unlikely source of a bingo jackpot.

Despite their winnings, they claimed benefits worth over £20,000 over the next two years until they were unmasked by Walsall Council and investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mr. Nayan Patel, prosecuting, said:

“Mrs Bannister confirmed that she had won £52,540 but only had a quarter share of it. She stated that the money was spent on her wedding, a car, breast implants and treats for their children. However, she provided no documentary evidence to support the expenditure.”

Mr Bannister – who had a string of prior convictions for benefit fraud – trousered over 12 grand while his wife pocketed a further 8 thousand pounds. He was sentenced to 12 weeks prison while his wife was sentenced to 80 hours unpaid work and subject to a prison sentence that was suspended for 18 months. When they were arrested, the couple were alleged to have been living “hand to mouth” – having blown the cash on the fripperies described above.

This case is likely to reignite discussion of the ‘undeserving poor’ in the pages of the tabloid press. The most famous example was that of Iorworth Hoare – the convicted rapist who won £7 million pounds on the National Lottery in 2004, but since the easing of restrictions on prize money have been eased over recent years, the jackpots offered by companies for such things as online bingo has skyrocketed – leading to claims that such jackpots encourage indolence amongst the poor.

The suggestion is couched in many of the assumptions that are made about “the poor” by tabloid editors and anyone with a pulpit, but there is little actual evidence that there is a link between poverty and gambling except for the obvious one that too much gambling can lead to poverty, rather than the other way round. Whatever the background, there is little doubt that the Bannisters blew a gift-wrapped chance to better their lives, and instead saw their windfall as a chance to screw over the system and indulge a few short-lived fancies.

Perhaps a spell in jail will give the couple a chance to reflect on the poverty of their aspirations and encourage them to take their lives in a more positive direction.