Court Orders MSport to Refund GH¢364k to Company After Employee Used Work Account for Betting
- MSport was ordered to refund GH¢364,000 to Gafat Consult Ltd due to monitoring lapses by the gambling company
- Gafat lodged a complaint with the gaming commission, seeking to recover its funds squandered by an employee
- The court held that MSport failed to observe regulatory guidelines on its platform, in line with the Gaming Commission
Global betting company MSport has been ordered to refund GH¢364,000 to Gafat Consult Ltd after being successfully sued.
The high court ruling followed a Gafat employee, Benjamin Boateng, using an official mobile money account for his gambling activities.
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The Law Platform reported that the company had lodged a complaint with the gaming commission, seeking to recover funds Boateng used for gambling.
The court held the view that if MSport had verified the employee's personal information as claimed, they should have detected that he was making bets from a corporate account.
“If they had done their verification well by undertaking a proper Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure, they would have found that the MTN Mobile number used by Mr. Boateng in signing up on their betting platform was a corporate mobile number and would also have conducted further checks to verify whether Mr. Boateng was a director or secretary of GAFAT or not as stated in Exhibit G by the regulator Gaming Commission.”
The court thus held that MSport had failed to observe regulatory guidelines on its platform, in accordance with the Gaming Commission of Ghana.
The court also ordered the global gambling company to pay interest on the GH¢364,000 from August 2022 to the date of the final payment.
Similar cases of gambling losses in Ghana
There have been previous instances of people squandering corporate funds on gambling.
In a similar case, an accountant who stole GH¢40,433.50 from the Ghana Police Church had been sentenced to two years in jail.
GNA reported that the convict, Edward Unicorn, was charged with stealing and pleaded guilty at an Adenta Circuit Court.
He was directed to pay back GH¢5,000 and GH¢2,775, respectively, retrieved from him and given back to the Ghana Police Church.
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In January 2025, the Sales and Marketing Manager of DPS Industries Limited was dragged to the Dansoman Circuit Court for allegedly investing the company’s GH¢491,000 in online sports betting.
Graphic Online reported that, according to court documents, the suspect, Depak Sonar, had been accused of appropriating GH¢681,000 from the company.
He said to have used the GH¢491,000 on betting while using the remaining GH¢190,000 to settle personal debts.
Betting addict speaks out on gambling habits
YEN.com.gh also previously reported on a video of a young man talking about his gambling addiction, which went viral on social media.
The man explained that his impulsive betting habits had negatively impacted his finances and his relationship with his family members.
Netizens shared varied opinions on the young man's concerns, after he admitted that he wanted to stop but was struggling to let go.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
