British Poker Player Convicted Of Threatening Online Room Staff

An online poker player from the United Kingdom will be serving jail time following his ill-advised threats against the support staff of an online poker room.

An article in the Darlington & Stockton Times details out the story of Michael Gallagher, a 35-year old unemployed online poker player from East Cleveland, who apparently wasn’t happy with how an unnamed online poker room’s Random Number Generator (RNG) was treating him. The RNG is what determines which cards go to which players, from the initial deal to the board.

Over the span of almost a year – from June 2010 to May of this year – Gallagher lost somewhere between £15,000 and £20,000 at the online room. The player contacted the site regarding the way that particular hands had played out and, once he didn’t get the response he was looking for, sent an emotionally charged e-mail to the support staff where he made several incriminating statements.

In that e-mail, Gallagher demanded $50,000 (£33,000 British) from the site in compensation for the alleged dealing discrepancies and, if his demands weren’t met, he would travel to the company headquarters and “blow the f*****g brains out of every single person who crosses my path.”

“I hope you take me seriously because I swear to God I’m going to do it,” Gallagher’s e-mail continued. “I will have my vengeance. I have planned this for six months. It’s what makes me sleep at night. Drifting off to sleep, thinking about what I am going to do, knowing full well that the butchering I will do will get you exposed for what you are…I will gladly take a life sentence for that.”

“Believe me, it will be my finest hour…$50,000 in my account, or believe me, you will all be dead,” Gallagher concluded.

Understandably, the support staff for the unknown online site was a bit disturbed by such a vitriolic e-mail and, presumably because it was from a source close to the company’s location, alerted the authorities. Although Gallagher sent an e-mail to the company the next morning to apologize for making such outlandish statements and blame the previous night’s explosion on a drinking binge, it still was enough for British authorities to arrest him later that day and charge him with blackmail.

After spending several months in a British jail, the case was heard before Judge Peter Fox last week, with Gallagher pleading guilty to a lesser offense under the U. K.’s Malicious Communications Act of 1988. This law is effective in England and Wales and makes it unlawful to send or deliver letters or other articles (e-mails fall under this area) for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety. This law has been used on several occasions, most notably in a case following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A man sent e-mails to approximately thirty families notifying them that they had lost a relative in the disaster. The maximum punishment under the law is six months imprisonment, which the tsunami hoax perpetrator received and which Judge Fox handed out to Gallagher.

In making his decision, Judge Fox told the court that he was “surprised” that blackmail charges, which could have net Gallagher up to fourteen years in jail, were dropped in favor of the lesser charge.

Barrister Rachel Dyson, defending Gallagher, tried to mitigate the circumstances of the case by stating that he was quite lucid, not a threat to any persons and never intended to act on his statements. Barrister Dyson also employed the drinking defense, which had no effect on Judge Fox, who said to Gallagher, “It is no excuse, at all, that you were affected by drink.”

The case is an example of the perceived notion of internet anonymity. Many people, on message boards or through other electronic communication, may take a more aggressive tact than if they were physically in the presence of whom they hold a grievance against. In this case, it cost a British man his freedom and marks him with a criminal record.