Virgin Media Staff’s X-Factor Betting Scam Exposed
It has recently been reported that a Gambling Commission investigation into a betting scam involving the reality TV show The X Factor has led to three members of the Virgin Media staff being fired for using inside information on telephonic voting patterns during the season to place bets valued at over £16,000 on the results of the hit series.
According to the inquiry, the investigation found no evidence that the integrity of the public voting on the show had been compromised; it did however find that the employees had accessed restricted company information on the show’s results and used to place wagers at Betfair before these were released to the public. The team at Betfair did however pick up suspicious activity and duly reported it to the Gambling Commission.
A statement by the Gambling Commission’s director of regulation, Nick Tofiluk declared that, “Following a multiagency investigation led by the Gambling Commission, we are satisfied that the bets placed were substantially unfair as the individuals involved had inside information”. Due to the outcome of the investigation, all bets have been voided.
In order to prevent future scams, the Gambling Commission has been in consultation with both Virgin Media and media regulator Ofcom who stated that, “While we take this matter extremely seriously Ofcom and the broadcaster are confident that TV viewers did not suffer any financial harm, nor were the outcome of any shows or votes affected.”
In addition to terminating the employment of the individuals involved, Virgin Media has also take steps for better monitoring and data security to ensure that repeats of this situation are not possible. In a statement released by the company they reiterated that this was an isolated incident and that no individual customer data had been shared and also that the results remained unaffected by the betting scam.
Betfair who has offered a market on The X Factor since 2004 echoed this sentiment claiming that scams and suspicious betting behaviours were a “rare” occurrence on its service.
