Threatening UK Online Poker Player Jailed

October 17 - An online poker player from the UK couldn't reconcile the losses he incurred at an unnamed online poker room and decided that the only way to get his money back was to threaten to massacre the staff who worked at the site.

Michael Gallagher, a 35-year-old player from North Yorkshire was arrested for making threats towards the staff at the online poker room's head office on the Isle of Man.

Gallagher was charged with threatening the poker room employees via email with death if he was not repaid the almost £30,000 he lost over a one year period at the site.

The player was a member of the online poker room from June 2010 until May 2011, and during this time period, he lost the money.

After realizing that he wouldn't be able to recoup his losses, he adopted more drastic means and sent an email to the poker site's headquarters, claiming that he would shoot them with a sawn off shotgun.

"I hope you take me seriously because I swear to God I'm going to do it," he said in this email. "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'm going to do, knowing full well that the butchering I 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 into my account, or believe me, you will be dead."

Charges of Online Poker Blackmail Dropped

Gallagher was initially charged with the more serious crime of blackmail, which could have seen him sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. However, these were eventually dropped when he admitted to the lesser charge of 'sending an electronic communication conveying a threat.'

While the judge was surprised that the blackmail sentence was dropped, he found Gallagher guilty on the lesser charge and sentenced him to three months in prison.

Gallagher continues to claim that the threats were made in a drunken haze and that he sent an email the next day apologizing for his rant. The online poker room, however, took him seriously enough to report the incident to the police. Gallagher was arrested the following day and the online poker player was jailed.

The judge dismissed Gallagher's claim that he was drunk when he made the threats and said that it was no excuse for his behavior.