A woman stole $ 680,000 and spent it on a gambling game that doesn’t pay real money

WTF ?! One could imagine that if someone were to steal nearly a quarter of a million dollars to spend on a gambling game, a portion of that money would be recovered in winnings. Unfortunately for a woman in Australia, the slot machine simulator she was playing did not pay real cash, just more of the virtual chips that she continued to buy.

ABC reports that Rachel Naomi Perri, a resident of Tasmania, Australia, pleaded guilty to 25 counts of computer fraud and one count of fraud in court this week. The prosecutor says she made 475 fraudulent transactions while working at the Tasmanian Veterinary Hospital between 2016 and 2019, stealing a total of AUD $ 940,221 (USD $ 680,000).

Perri used the stolen money to finance his addiction to the mobile slot machine simulator Heart of Vegas slot. The game, which has more than 10 million downloads and a user rating of 4.1, recreates the Las Vegas slot machine experience, giving players the option to purchase virtual coins to spend on the machines. However, these tokens cannot be converted back into real money; you just keep spending the winnings on the games.

The T&C section of Heart of Vegas Slots explains that players “may have to pay a fee to obtain virtual items”, but “regardless of the terminology used, virtual items can never be exchanged for ‘real world’ money”.

“The games are intended for an adult audience. The games do not offer ‘real money gambling’ or an opportunity to win real money or prizes,” the description reads. “Practice or success in social casino games does not imply future success in” real money gambling. “

The veterinary practice only realized what Perri had done after she was fired in 2019 and the vet found abnormalities in the bank statements. Police also discovered that Perri had fraudulently taken out a $ 30,000 credit card in her husband’s name in 2015 without his knowledge and added $ 24,000 debt to the card through Heart of Vegas expenses. He had also “taken out several credit cards and personal loans” to feed his habit.

Perri, who has a long gambling history, was diagnosed with a severe gambling disorder.

Perri confessed her actions immediately when confronted by police, admitting that she had been expecting “a knock on the door.”

In 2018, US Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife were accused for the misuse of more than $ 250,000 of campaign funds in personal expenses, including $ 1,500 in Steam games. Hunter claimed that his teenage son was responsible for one charge, while the others were for his efforts to block access to the platform. He was sentenced to 11 months in prison, but never spent any time behind bars after being pardoned by Donald Trump the last December.