Swedish Gambling Monopoly Helps Uncovers Fraud

Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan is reporting that a local store owner collaborated with the Swedish Gambling monopoly Svenska Spel in catching an employee who was stealing from his store.

The owner of the Vellinge, Sweden store was going through his ledger when he realized that hundreds of thousands of kronor were missing. Suspecting one of his store clerks, the owner approached Svenska Spel.

The Swedish Gambling Monopoly was then able to to track the 30 year old clerk's gambling activity and had seen that she had wagered SEK 418,400 in the past year of gambling, over which time SEK 300,000 had been won. Analysts at Svenska Spel noticed that the clerk had an unusual gambling pattern that almost guaranteed personal profit; the clerk was not gambling with her own funds.

After detecting the fraud, the case was sent to the local police, who in turn questioned the clerk. They asked how she could afford to wager such vast amounts on SEK 8,000 salary monthly. The clerk would not admit to stealing the money, but instead claimed her mother gave her funds to use in gambling.

The clerk is facing criminal prosecution of her crimes, and she will be required to explain how she funded her gambling.