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Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

abc.net.au

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Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#21

Post by aliyfarah »

noodlesUK wrote: post #2

I don’t know what the solution is, but gambling (and particularly online gambling and video gambling) is a scourge on our society. I don’t think it should be outlawed, because adults should be free to make bad choices if they want to, but the level to which it is exploitive and harmful needs to be reduced. Does anyone have any good answers here?

This is not the first story I've heard of employees stealing millions from their long term employer to fund their gambling habit, in fact it is shockingly very common.

A solution is to have casinos track/report customer spending, if a customer is spending (and losing) very large sums of money (say over 50-100k), they should verify their income.

I help run a small money remittence business and we're legally required to verify the payslips/income of customers who send X amount per fortnight (I forgot the limit as it's been a while since I dealt with compliance) and we send the data to a government body. If a small business can verify income and see where the money is coming from I don't see why casinos can't do the same.

After I wrote this I realised this isn't actually feasible as people can just walk in to casinos without being identified (never been to one). Maybe this needs to change, maybe memberships should be required for entry into casinos, just like you would a gym. It's just crazy to me someone can swindle 3.7m without causing any alarms.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#22

Post by booi »

polartx wrote: post #18
nonameiguess wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would set exactly the right precedent. Anyone else who receives stolen goods, whether knowingly or not, has to give it back, and might be found liable.

I wonder if this might unintentionally incentivize _more_ cases of embezzlement. After all, gambling addicts with dysfunctional moral compasses could say, “and if I lose, grandma can still get her money back”. Much in the way that employees/friends/family members justify stealing credit cards because ‘they can just report it as fraud’.

I think this might also incentivize better policy and behavior from casinos, requiring income checks and fraud checkpoints as the gambler spends money

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#24

Post by tartoran »

aliyfarah wrote: post #21
noodlesUK wrote: post #2

I don’t know what the solution is, but gambling (and particularly online gambling and video gambling) is a scourge on our society. I don’t think it should be outlawed, because adults should be free to make bad choices if they want to, but the level to which it is exploitive and harmful needs to be reduced. Does anyone have any good answers here?

This is not the first story I've heard of employees stealing millions from their long term employer to fund their gambling habit, in fact it is shockingly very common. A solution is to have casinos track/report customer spending, if a customer is spending (and losing) very large sums of money (say over 50-100k), they should verify their income. I help run a small money remittence business and we're legally required t…

Gambling is as much an addiction as are hard drugs and it has similar effects on the brain circuitry. Im not a fan of this ‘sport’ at all. I witnessed how a friend ruined his life and aged 20 years within the timespan of 6 or 7.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#25

Post by nonameiguess »

lupire wrote: post #13
nonameiguess wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would set exactly the right precedent. Anyone else who receives stolen goods, whether knowingly or not, has to give it back, and might be found liable.

So I should require a full investigation of every customer's finances before any purchase? If you want to make the victim whole, that's what insurance is for.

I'm not saying this as some sort of matter of moral conviction. I can't speak for Australia, but in the U.S., if you are found in possession of stolen property, you have to give it back. And if a prosecutor thinks they can prove you knew or should have known, they can charge you with a crime. I don't see why businesses should get a pass on this when individuals don't.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#26

Post by tartoran »

polartx wrote: post #20
bjourne wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the casino is the #1 scumbag not the employee. The employee was a gambling addict and the casino willingly exploited her addiction: > Clerke is now in prison and none of her close relatives would talk to ABC Investigations for this story. The closest we can get to understanding her behaviour is through what was said in court, and through Hannah*, a gaming attendant who worked in the club back when Clerke was…

There are many vices in the world. The underlying commonality is that they’re all addictive. In spite of that, I don’t subscribe to the belief that their addictive qualities exonerate their participants. Nor does it transform thieves, addicts, or delinquents into victims.

I wouldn’t hold the casino wholly responsible but it shares part of the responsibility nonetheless.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#27

Post by geenew »

tartoran wrote: post #23

Ouch, that is a horrible way to postpone retirement. It’s still hard to comprehend how that much money was stolen without any suspicion of any kind and over such a long period of time.

I don't quite get how the loss could have such an effect. The article says

"She hid her theft by creating dummy bills for suppliers and paying the money directly into her account."

If I'm reading this correctly, fake bills were created and entered as expenses, which were then paid from the company bank account.

If so, wouldn't the losses have shown up on the income statement? That would mean that the owner had the same amount of money he thought he had, but less than he should have had.

Likely some details are missing from the article.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#28

Post by tartoran »

lupire wrote: post #11
polartx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think everyone can agree that the employee is the #1 scumbag in this story. I think a 4 year sentence is woefully inadequate for someone who effectively stole her employers retirement years, years he cannot replace. Some blame can be assigned the business owner. How can you go so many years without a 3rd party audid, or Some kind of second opinion to your finances? Though trust shouldn’t be so harshly criticized. T…

Make gambling losses refundable unless the bettor posts a bond in advance. Only allow one purchase of chips per day. This prevents bleeding people drip by drip, while still allowing gambling. Mandate that all chips display actual cash value. Require signed disclosures with big warnings about the risks and costs of gambling, every time chips are purchased , like required on mortgages. Apply Accredited Investor rules t…

They’ll never do that, that would spoil their business. They’re in the business of enabling addicts bleed dry

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#29

Post by plorntus »

KYC and Source of Wealth info is pretty common in the gambling industry. For example at the company I worked at when you hit 2k EUR (or equivilent) your account would be locked until you gave information as to where the money came from. It's an overhead for sure but it should be the cost of running a gambling business.

Gambling addiction is real and while it is the responsibility of the person not to defraud others to support their addiction the casino should have picked up on it. Just like you wouldn't expect a bar tender to continue serving someone who is practically on the floor passing out.

Re: Woman earning $750 a week gambles $3.7M

#30

Post by tartoran »

GhostVII wrote: post #10
noodlesUK wrote: post #2

I don’t know what the solution is, but gambling (and particularly online gambling and video gambling) is a scourge on our society. I don’t think it should be outlawed, because adults should be free to make bad choices if they want to, but the level to which it is exploitive and harmful needs to be reduced. Does anyone have any good answers here?

Maybe setup more saving vehicles similar to a 401k that let people put their money into savings before it hits their bank account. Like what if you could have part of your paycheck automatically sent to an account that your landlord/bank pulls from for your housing, have some put in a savings account that you can only access after x years, some that you can only spend on groceries, etc. Then people who know they have…

You’re underestimating the gambling addiction. They’ll pawn the house, they’d even sell parts of their bodies if they could. It’s a horrible affliction
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