A holidaymaker who stole from a fruit machine he’d just been playing on in a bid to get back the family holiday fund has been handed an 18-month community order.
Robert Bernal-Soria, 41, of Coriander Crescent in Guildford, appeared at the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court today (Friday) having previously admitted theft from a meter/automatic machine and criminal damage to property valued under £5,000 when he appeared before Magistrates back on 26th April.
At the April hearing, Ann Smout, prosecuting, told the court that on the evening of 7th April, at around 23:40, management at Lower Hyde Holiday Park in Shanklin noticed a man acting suspiciously around a fruit machine in the entertainment complex. It was seen that the 41-year-old had some tools in his hand which he was using to open the locked machine.
Security, and the manager of the complex, approached Bernal-Soria and detained him. At first, he resisted, however, he soon came to reason and reached into his pockets producing a large amount of change worth around £136.
The fruit machine in question had sustained significant damage.
In Police interview, Bernal-Soria said that he had gone into the bar at around 18:00 and had started drinking. In the following hours, he played on the fruit machine before he headed to his car and grabbed some tools – namely 2 screwdrivers – and broke into the machine in an attempt to get his money back.
Ann Smout told the court that Bernal-Soria had a list of previous offences, including several of this exact nature.
Defending, Amy Hosell said that Bernal-Soria had spent most of the holiday money on the machines and lost it all, adding that the 41-year-old made the decision to try and recoup his losses. She also added that the 41-year-old admitted that he had always had a problem with gambling and that when alcohol was involved it made things a whole lot worse.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Magistrates handed Bernal-Soria an 18-month community order with 180 hours of unpaid work, 25 rehabilitation activity days and a 20-day thinking skills programme attached. He was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge fee of £114.
Fruit machine Arcades are actually robbing people.
For example go on Sandown Pier and so many fruit machines go wrong
when you insert a coin, so many machines eat up money
without getting a credit, so many machines pay out poor percentages
The real robbers are the Arcade owners, not the players,
Do Authorities ever check percentages Fruit machines payout
to what they actually take.
Regulation under section 240 of the Gambling Act (opens in new tab) requires that all non-remote gaming machines display information about:
the proportion of amounts paid to use the machine that is returned by way of prizes; or
the odds of winning prizes from use of the machine.
This requirement is typically met by including a statement of %RTP (return to player percentage) on the face of the gaming machine or within a software help page. There is no statutory minimum %RTP figure, and for gaming machines which include multiple games, each separate game must state (and meet) its own individual %RTP figure.
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/authorities/guide/page/la-bulletin-august-2020-feature-article
Well said keeps eating pound coins and 5 pounds jackpot if u put 15 to 20 pounds in you should get a jackpot bit then again who puts more than 8 pounds in a 5 pounds jackpot x
I was on the Pier a few weeks ago because the children
like playing the 2p pushers.
I saw a chap playing some machines along the side of the Arcade
facing towards shanklin.
The Party time machines outside the Cafe doors.
He appears to have lost a lot of money and then the machines went offline,
rather convenient for the Arcade Owner, but not for the player.
So many machines on the Pier are faulty / out of date.
Not fair
Nor is life, fair, Andy. We don’t have to drink, gamble, take drugs or smoke or live beyond our means. If we choose to, it’s our responsibility. The law should try to make things as equitable as possible and there will always be dishonest traders, but taking the emphasis away from the individual making his or her choices and blaming the state or ‘them’ for people being fat, uneducated, lazy and feckless is a really big problem now. The more you take the responsibility away from individuals, the worse it gets.
In the current economic climate with high energy bills,
high business rates and higher minimum wage
It’s no wonder such establishments cannot afford people to win.
Their costs have gone up so much they would have to alter the percentages.
Best idea is not to play at all.
Theres no point abdicating personal responsibility, you consume the alcohol and you put the money in the machine, what your saying is so damn obvious I dont put a penny in. Irrespective to the truth that they do rob us you are feeding it, no ones putting a gun to tour head and telling you to do it are they? Pet hate of mine is when people use alcohol as the root cause no the person is, if you cant own that after the fact then what’s the point in being democratic?
Spot on, Sanguinius,
Well said, totally agree
If you don’t like them then don’t play them, simple
Let me guess, witness didn’t turn up to court
Ann Smout told the court that Bernal-Soria had a list of previous offences, including several of this exact nature.
Defending, Amy Hosell said that Bernal-Soria had spent most of the holiday money on the machines and lost it all, adding that the 41-year-old made the decision to try and recoup his losses
So, the holiday money bit was BS as he has done this before when not on holiday
Lucky to have that amount of money to blow on the fruit machines. Must have been free hand out money because a workman wouldn’t have that amount of spare money to waste on such crap.
So how did he pay the fine and fees? He apparently had no money! Hope they shipped him back to Guildford and have banned him from coming back to the Island.
It is well recognised that compulsiveed gambling is a psychiatric condition’ People should join Gamblers Anonymous and present themselves for treatment.
He should be banned from ever stepping foot here again. He must be a half-wit anyway, serious fruit machine gambling is for idiots.