How This Town Became a Hub for Poker and Porn

Perched at the top of a valley, this town with a population of around 25,000 suffered badly after the closure of its steelworks in 1980 with the loss of 4,500 jobs.  It was in need of a new industry and in recent years got one………. porn and poker.

That town is Consett, located in the United Kingdom.  It was there that Simon Dowson set up hundreds of companies for businesses that credit card firms view as “high risk” including porn and online gambling.

In 2009, the U.S. Secret Service found that a company serviced by Dowson’s business with a Consett director had breached money-laundering laws. A German who confessed to being behind the operation was fined and jailed in the United States. Dowson and the firm’s director were not named in the U.S. complaint.

Britain’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) found other firms serviced by Dowson and the Consett directors were luring consumers into excessive credit card charges. One was concealing profits. Others used UK addresses while their operations were in Africa or Central America.

While having operations overseas is not in itself illegal, the regulator found the directors had violated UK company law by not fulfilling their duties, and said some had not cooperated with a government inquiry. They closed those companies down, but no one in Consett was sanctioned.

Read the Whole Story Here at Reuters

- Ace King, Gambling911.com