Ex-casino worker handed a second jail term
Former Bad Homburg Casino Employee Sentenced for Embezzlement
A former employee of the Bad Homburg casino has been sentenced to a prison term of two years and ten months for embezzling 1.8 million euros from the casino. The fraud was discovered in January 2019, when an employee noticed that around 300,000 euros in currency was not deposited into the casino's bank account.
The control mechanisms at the Bad Homburg casino had serious flaws, facilitating the defendant's criminal activity. The casino typically had segregation of duties, surveillance systems, audit trails, internal audits, access controls, and compliance policies in place. However, lapses such as insufficient oversight, collusion, or weaknesses in system enforcement allowed the employee to carry out the fraud.
Once the fraud was detected, the casino promptly reviewed and strengthened their internal controls to prevent similar incidents. The former employee was filmed by surveillance cameras during the withdrawal, facilitating his identification.
Despite his gambling addiction, the judge did not find it to be a mitigating factor in determining guilt. The former employee has only been able to repay 700,000 euros of the stolen amount. He will serve his prison sentence in a regular prison and will not be referred to a psychiatric facility.
In a second instance ruling, the judge in charge of the retrial noted that the convicted person had meticulously planned his actions and was fully aware of his actions at all times. The former employee was already serving eleven months in prison before the second sentencing.
It is worth noting that the former employee was not involved in a case of fraud by external persons, unlike the Casino Luzern or the Casino Schloss Kleßheim. The former employee managed to win back some of the stolen money at the Wiesbaden casino, but this did not affect the outcome of the trial.
The case serves as a reminder of the importance of robust internal controls in preventing fraud and embezzlement in the casino industry. It also underscores the need for continued vigilance and monitoring to ensure the integrity of casino operations.
Online casinos in Germany, such as the Bad Homburg casino, should implement stricter internal controls to prevent incidents of embezzlement like the one that occurred. The case highlights the need for stronger casino-and-gambling regulation, particularly in regards to casino-games like slots. General news outlets should continue to cover crime-and-justice stories related to gaming establishments, as they provide valuable lessons for both casinos and the public. Despite the former Bad Homburg casino employee's gambling addiction, his actions were deemed criminal and were not used as a mitigating factor in determining guilt.
