A shocking new study has found that half of all Tasmanian gambling addicts who committed a crime as a result of their habit were first-time offenders who held senior management positions or positions of trust.

In the past five years, 41 people have appeared in the Tasmanian Supreme Court charged over gambling-related thefts involving $6.8 million.

The largest theft was $4.5 million and the smallest $539.

The cost to the Tasmanian taxpayer to jail the offenders was $3.8 million, or an average of $263 a person a day.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/01/21/122951_tasmania-news.html