Some asylum seekers have been misusing payment cards for gambling instead of their intended use for food and essentials.
A Freedom of Information request made by PoliticsHome revealed more than 6,500 payments in gambling settings were attempted by asylum seekers in the past year.
The payments were made on ASPEN cards, given by the Home Office to asylum seekers awaiting a decision to avoid them becoming destitute, with small weekly top-ups.
A Home Office spokesperson said they were looking at the transactions and if any cards had been misused, urgent action would be taken.
When asylum seekers first arrive they are usually first put up in fully catered hotels – and given £9.95 a week on their ASPEN card, rising to £49.18 a week when they’re moved to self-catered accommodation.
However, rather than buying necessities, some asylum seekers have successfully used the chip and pin ASPEN cards to gamble at physical sites such as casinos, slot machine arcades and national lottery retailers.
Attempts to gamble online using the cards were made, but were blocked each time, and in some cases, cash withdrawals were made in or near gambling sites, located using the terminal’s ID number.
The FoI showed a peak of 227 attempts to use the cards for gambling in one week last November and the lowest number of attempts was 40 in a week last July.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “It is shocking that over 6,000 illegal immigrants have attempted to use hard-working British taxpayers’ money to gamble.
“The British taxpayer has put them up in hotels, and now they slap us in the face by using the money they are given to fund gambling.
“These illegal immigrants clearly don’t need the money they are given if they are squandering it at casinos and arcades.”
There are currently around 80,000 ASPEN card users in the UK and there are strict controls and limits on their use.
The understands action will now be taken to ensure physical gambling is not possible in future.
A Home Office source said: “If any individuals issued with Aspen cards have succeeded in misusing them in the way suggested, then urgent action will be taken to correct that fault.”