Trio ran illegal betting outlet

THREE Gold Coasters helped run an illegal betting business, which was allegedly the front of a boiler room scam.

The trio were charged under an obscure law not prosecuted since 1986 and the Fitzgerald era after attempts to establish their part in an alleged fraud were unsuccessful.

Bartholomew Gerard Darmody, 59, Nigel McWilliams, 59, and Ruth Elaine Sullivan, 54, pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to the little used charge of unlawful bookmaking other than by racing bookmakers between March 12, 2013 and May 9, 2015.

The group worked for fake racing gambling company Betjack.

Betjack is alleged to have been part of a boiler room scam run by Gold Coasters Jack and John Doumani.

The father-and-son duo are still before the courts in relation to the alleged scam.

Jack Doumani was a school friend of Melbourne underworld figure Tony Mokbel.

The court was told yesterday Darmody, McWilliams and Sullivan were all working at Parkview Corporate Services which shared offices with Betjack when the Bundall offices were raided by police in May 2015.

“Multiple television screens on the walls of one office area displayed live racing and sporting events,” documents tendered to the court said. “It was an operational betting facility.”

The court was told Darmody said to police Parkview was a marketing company that sourced corporate clients for Betjack, which was not a licensed gambling company.

Darmody and McWilliams both told police Betjack was set up to take punts online but the “odd phone bet” was taken by them in the office.

The group’s barrister, Bernard Reilly, instructed by Jacobson Mahony Lawyers, urged for no conviction to be recorded as it would impact on their careers.

Judge Julie Dick fined the group $1500 each. No conviction was recorded.