A Gala Bingo caller has been sent behind bars after it was revealed the crafty caller was fixing the numbers so that his girlfriends could pocket thousands of pounds. Christian Grant, of Sunderland, was sentenced to nine months prison for the scheme, in which he managed to override the random number generator at the Gala Bingo hall he worked at.
In an elaborate scheme that we feel is begging to be made into a film, Grant managed to fool players and other employees at the Sunderland Gala Bingo Hall, calling out the numbers he knew were on cards bought by two different girlfriends, Samantha Temple and Nandi Ndebele.
Jailing Grant for nine months at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Esmond Faulks said: “You were clearly in a position of trust.
“You deliberately overrode the random number generator and turned it to manual input to deliberately make winners of your two co-accused then took your share.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard Grant, 29, who was working at Gala Bingo in Sunderland, had overridden the random number generator on two occasions and read the numbers manually. As a result he ensured Ndebele, 29, won a £7,830 windfall on September 5 last year and fixing a £1,040 win for Temple, 28 on March 15 this year.
The court heard Grant had halved the £7,830 with Ndebele but had been given just £100 from Temple’s winnings.
It was a customer at one of the games of bingo that raised concerns about Grant’s integrity, nothing that during the games Grant’s behaviour was somewhat suspicious. The woman had mentioned to staff that Grant often moved the microphone away from his mouth when calling out the numbers, and that there were also “long pauses” between each number. Smelling something distinctly rotten, Gala immediately launched an investigation, uncovering Grant’s less than honest antics, as well as those of his accomplices, who had been ironically employed as claim checkers by the firm.
Bridie Smurthwaite, prosecuting, told the court: “Grant accepted he was the instigator. He said he approached the other two defendants and suggested they bought a bingo book and showed it to him so he could override the system and call out their numbers.
“Grant had been in a relationship with both the other defendants and he and Temple have a child together.”
Michael Rose, defending Grant and Temple, of Birch Road, Blaydon, said the couple now live together on benefits after losing their jobs because of the scam.
Richard Bloomfield, for Ndebele, of Pattenson Gardens, Felling, said her winnings paid off debts, including a bank loan.
All three admitted conspiracy to defraud. Temple was sentenced to a community order for 12 months with supervision. Ndbele was sentenced to a community order for 12 months with supervision and 100 hours’ unpaid work.
No Gala Bingo representative commented about the verdict, but it is understood that the bingo operator immediately repaid the winning amounts back into the winners’ pot so genuine customers would not lose out following the results of their investigation.
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