Gambling prison sentence focuses attention on pokies

A woman has been jailed for at least two years for stealing more than $800,000 from her employers to feed her gambling habit.

Leanne Michelle Scott, 42, had pleaded guilty in Adelaide Magistrates Court to 41 counts of theft.

She admitted stealing from two employers over more than seven years.

On her way into court, Scott said she knew she would be jailed but wanted to use her case to highlight the wider impact of problem gambling.

"Until this happened, I've never been in trouble with the law," she said.

"I'm not here to make excuses or ask for any sympathy. I just want to warn people that this can happen to anyone."

She said she again wanted to ask the hotels why, in all the times she gambled and lost heavily, she had never been approached once to ask if she had a gambling problem.

"No-one, not once, ever approached me to ask me if I had a problem even though the staff knew I had just an average job on an average pay," she said.

"I'm here to take my punishment because I broke the law."

Magistrate Bob Harrap jailed the Adelaide mother for six years, with a two-year non-parole term, but stopped short of ordering her to repay the money.

He said it was clear Scott would lose from her offending.

"Upon your release from custody, you will find yourself without employment and will struggle to find work and will not have a house to go back to. I accept that," he said.

"I am particularly conscious of the impact upon your relationship with your daughter."

Nothing left

The court was told all the funds had been lost to gambling and Scott had agreed to sell her house and surrender the profits but had only had about $20,000 of equity to offer.

Mr Harrap said the reality was Scott was never going to be able to make restitution.

"It may be that an insurance company may be out of pocket of this significant sum of money," he said.

The magistrate said he came up with a starting point of more than eight years' jail for the crimes, but was prepared to give Scott a significant discount for her guilty pleas and full co-operation with authorities and the employers involved.

"You being prepared to acknowledge your offending and take them through how you had done it is significant and is entirely consistent with your genuine remorse and contrition," he said.

"You held your hand up very early in relation to this matter."

Mr Harrap said the non-parole term was low.

"I have thought long and hard as to an appropriate non-parole period," he said.

"I am particularly conscious of the [psychological] report and the steps you've taken to resolve the issue, the fact you did not profit personally as such from your offending and I am particularly conscious of the impact it's going to have on your daughter and your relationship with her."

"Definitely there are some people who are profiting out of other people's misery"
- Leanne Scott's father, Rodney

Xenophon angry

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon attended the hearing to support Scott and later spoke to the media, accompanied by Scott's parents Lenore and Rodney.

"Leanne Scott took responsibility for her actions but it seems that others need to take responsibility for their actions as well, including the hotels which never once intervened or asked her a question as she was losing thousands of dollars week after week at those venues," he said.

"The cruel irony here is that the State Government has made something like $400,000 out of Leanne Scott.

"If anyone should be making restitution in addition to Leanne it ought to be the State Government."

Lenore Scott spoke in support of her daughter.

"I'm really going to miss my daughter but she's paying her dues," she said.

Rodney Scott hoped his daughter's bravery in owning up to her crime would help others in the future.

"I hope someone out there can open up admit it (gambling addiction), because she just kept it a secret, don't keep it a secret, get help," he said.

"I think a lot of people have a lot to answer for and you just can't blame one group.

"It's a combination of things but definitely there are some people who are profiting out of other people's misery."

Source: ABC News, 13 July 2012