Craig “Nepenthez” Douglas, co-owner of Fifa gambling site FUTGalaxy.com has spoken out for the first time since pleading guilty to gambling offences, costing him £91,000 ($113,668) in fines. He had promised to provide a no-holds-barred explanation of his side of the story, but opted not to on the advice of his lawyers who warned that it might land him in yet more legal trouble.
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Speaking in a video on his Youtube channel, the gamer turned entrepreneur stated simply that “a lesson has been learned. A very valuable lesson. It wasn’t like I set out to break the law,” he continued, “but I do have to accept the judgment of the courts, which I do fully, and I did break the law. I’ve been punished for that.”
Along with his partner Dylan Rigby, Douglas was found guilty of breaking several UK gambling laws. However the website is still in operation internationally and although it has been blocked in the UK, can easily be accessed via a proxy. Much of the dialogue surrounding the case centered around the issue of children using the site to gamble, with judge Jack McGarva asserting that “children were gambling on your site. It’s impossible for me to know how many or the effect on them.” Certainly, the UK Gambling Commission’s case hinged heavily around the issue of children and their access to the site.
While Douglas has been extremely apologetic, his fans seem to have remained universally loyal, with many of them echoing sentiments such as “all you did was make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes.”