Steve Girling, a finance boss pleaded guilty at Norwich Crown Court recently, to taking £1,000,000 from the company that he worked at as chief finance officer. The theft wasn’t just a one-off, the total embezzled was taken over a three-year period from March 2017 to October 2017. The cash was transferred from the company’s accounts to his personal accounts, before he blew the lot on online casino slots.
The father of two has spoken out about the devastating impact of gambling addiction, which would see him gambling £18,000 a night and due to the sheer volume of gambling, he was handed VIP treatment from three gambling operators he used. VIP status came with its own luxuries; all expenses paid trips to watch horse racing in Dubai, Ascot and Cheltenham.
Thanks to seeking help from a qualified life-coach, Steve claims he has been clean for a year now and hoes to break the stigma of gambling addiction. A jail term is looking for Mr Girling in January, but he insists that he wishes to educate people on the dangers of gambling and plans to open a mindfulness retreat in his home town of Norfolk.
Stressed Out
Stress at work is being blamed for the start of his addiction, which led him to escape through online gambling. He sought help from his GP and moved jobs, but nothing helped.
“I turned to gambling because I liked the fact I could do it on my phone on my own and it was my way of shutting myself away from my everyday life and my worries. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to stop.”
March 2014, he had his first win and was hooked from there on in;
“When you have that first win, the release of dopamine from your brain is very strong and you want to go back to have more of that, so you carry on playing, trying to get back to that first hit but you never can.”
After his own funds dried up, he stole from his employer;
“In the days after I first did it, I was on edge. Every phone call, every email I was expecting someone to say, ‘can you come and see me, we have found out’. I would play £100 spins on slot machines and you can spin every few seconds. One evening I lost £18,000. There are new products coming out all the time and it was just a spiral for me.”
Mr Girling said in court that he took full responsibility for his actions but believes that the gambling industry can do more to put a stop to addiction once and for all.
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