Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lost billions, bankruptcy and prison: Dundee United new shirt sponsor’s links to controversial businessman

Sean Quinn arriving at the High Court in Dublin in 2011 where he was jailed for a nine-week jail sentence over his role in an multimillion-euro asset-stripping plot.
Sean Quinn arriving at the High Court in Dublin in 2011 where he was jailed for a nine-week jail sentence over his role in an multimillion-euro asset-stripping plot.

Dundee United’s main sponsor next season has several links to a controversial former billionaire, who has served jail time, and his family.

The club confirmed QuinnCasino as the name on the front of the team’s strips next season. It is the online casino wing of bookmaker QuinnBet.

Until recently the gambling firm was wholly owned by Sean Quinn, a man named Ireland’s wealthiest person in The Sunday Times Rich List in 2008.

The 75-year-old’s business empire started with a gravel business on his family farm in Fermanagh.

From humble beginnings, the Quinn Group grew to include cement, glass radiators, financial services and property development.

In 2008 his fortune was estimated at £3.7 billion (€4.7bn).

Bankruptcy and jail

The financial crash brought a sharp reversal in fortunes.

He built up a stake in Anglo Irish Bank, which collapsed in value due to exposure to the property market.

The bank was effectively nationalised in 2009 after its shares fell 98% from their peak. Quinn’s exposure was estimated at more than one billion euros.

Ex-billionaire businessman Sean Quinn.
Ex-billionaire businessman Sean Quinn.

The bank’s nationalisation led to another problem. Quinn was pursued in 2010 for the bank’s loans to his companies worth around €2.9bn.

Unable to repay the loans, in April 2011 the bank took control of the Quinn Group.

Sean Quinn and his family were removed from all management positions. Mr Quinn was declared bankrupt in January 2012.

The extraordinary fall from grace continued in when in November 2011 he was jailed for nine weeks for contempt of court. He was sent to prison for preventing the seizure of assets.

But among some people in Ireland, Mr Quinn was still held in high regard, particularly for acquiring health insurance provider Bupa in 2007.

This secured 300 jobs and protected 475,000 health insurance contracts.

Between 2011 and 2019 the Irish Times found there had been 70 acts of violence and vandalism on Quinn Group firms. The Quinn family has condemned these incidents.

QuinnBet

QuinnBet is the trading name of Belbridge Consultancy Ltd, a company incorporated in 2016.

A holding company, QuinnB Sports Ltd, was set up a year later. The most recent filing at Companies Registration Office Ireland, for 2020, shows QuinnB as owning the entire shareholding of Belbridge.

Mr Quinn held all the shares in QuinnB until 2019, a year he stood down as director.

Between 2019 and 2020 he transferred his shares to daughter Brenda and accountant Eoin O’Shea.

QuinnBet’s managing director Stephen Kelly is married to another of Mr Quinn’s daughters, Aoife.

The Belbridge accounts show QuinnBet has experienced strong growth, with pre-tax profits of more than €1.6m in 2020, up from €388,000 in 2019.

Its website offers bets on real and virtual sporting events, as well as the online casino.

QuinnBet is an ‘official partner’ at Hibernian FC and a betting partner for AFC Bournemouth, who will play in the English Premier League next season.

Dundee United describe the QuinnCasino deal as “lucrative”.

Mr Kelly said Quinnbet will work with Dundee United Community Trust to promote “wellbeing, education and awareness” around gambling.

Conversation