Accountant Steals Money to Fund Online Gambling Habit

Online gambling can be fun and profitable. Just some fellows in charge of money lose control.

A British accountant, responsible for keeping the books for a south English town council, has been exposed stealing well over 300,000 GBP ($500,000) from the taxpayers as the latest casino gambling news report.

The man has carried out 17 fraudulent transactions to fund his voracious online blackjack playing. The gambler started small, first by stealing in the neighborhood of 2,000 GBP.

Soon after his losing black jack strategies led to bigger fraud. At one time, the bookkeeper withdrew as much as 55,000 GBP ($85,000) in a single transaction.

Even colleague’s passwords were stolen to make the withdrawals appear as done by the other person. During the investigation it was revealed that the person who’s passwords were stolen wasn’t even in the office at the time of fraud.

This massive fraudulent activity lasted for 9 months during which the accountant became known in the online blackjack community as ”Stupid Joe the Money Donor.”

The attorney’s line of defense portrayed a man out of control who, to fix his mistakes, began attending Gambling Anonymous meetings. Out of the 17 counts of fraud, the accountant pled guilty to one. As a typical criminal, hoping for a shortened sentence, the deranged gambler stated that he was sorry. Ooops!

Benign British justice system handled a sentence of 2.5 years, a tenth of what an offender would be given for the same crimes in the United States. In fact, one fraudster there is facing 360 years in prison for casino fraud. Quite a difference to Britain.