Aussie finance manager blew millions on internet and land gambling

Australian finance manager Jason George McGregor (40) of Point Cook, Melbourne threw away a promising career in finance management, having risen from being a delivery driver for a leading Melbourne dental laboratory to a management position in the finance and pay-roll department over a sixteen-year career.

But he stole A$2.148 million from the company to fuel a penchant for punting at land and online casinos and sports betting sites, plunging his family of a wife and three children into debt and ending up before a criminal court for his felonies.

This week Melbourne County Court Judge Christopher Ryan sentenced McGregor to 7 years in jail, with a requirement that he serve at least four years before being considered for a parole.

Earlier McGregor had pleaded guilty to six counts of obtaining property by deception related to 364 transactions he made from his employer’s bank account over a five-year period from April 2008.

The court heard that McGregor had earned the trust of his employer, who regarded him as a member of his own family, but McGregor’s betting ran out of control as he wagered more in an attempt to win enough to pay his debts and the money he had unlawfully taken from his employer’s business accounts.

His gambling problem was aggravated by a liking for wine which saw him consume up to three bottles a night, and develop a chronic depression the court heard.

Judge Ryan said McGregor’s behaviour had hurt a lot of people, as some staff at the dental laboratory had been retrenched, and the owner of the business and his wife were now working harder than ever before, with their relationship deteriorating.

“You knowingly exploited the accounting systems, safe in the knowledge you were the only one person in charge of this system,” Judge Ryan told McGregor.

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