A book-keeper has admitted stealing more than £1m from a construction firm to fuel his online gambling addiction.
Dorchester Crown Court heard Bryan Benjafield stole the cash while working for Charminster Limited in Dorchester.
The cash was stolen through electronic transfers, withdrawals and 23-year-old Benjafield writing cheques to himself.
The Dorset firm has been liquidated because of his actions, the court heard. Sentencing was adjourned for reports later this year.
"Benjafield spent all of the money online gambling"
Benjafield pleaded guilty on Monday to obtaining a money transfer by deception of £763 and two charges of theft, of £613,170 and £3,320.
He asked for a further count of handling a money transfer by deception worth £452,027 to be taken into account.
He stole the money between 1 January 2004 and 28 October 2005.
Det Con Paul Carpenter, the officer in the case, said outside court that Benjafield was caught after a VAT bill went unpaid because there were insufficient funds in the company account.
Bosses investigated and discovered more than £400,000 was missing before they contacted Dorset Police.
£17,000 a day
Sadie Rizzo, prosecuting, said: "Benjafield, who admitted to police that he had a gambling addiction, spent all of the money online gambling through Ladbrokes and Skybet, and now has no money left in his account with them.
"Benjafield betrayed his employers who had known him since he was 17 years old. He was their first employee and had worked for the company since 2003 as a book-keeper.
"The thing that astonished us was that he had no idea about the scale of it"
"Because of his actions the company has been forced into administration and they have been forced to make redundancies."
Det Con Carpenter said Benjafield spent it on internet poker games, online casinos, races and sports of every kind.
He was stealing every day, sums up to £17,000 at a time, just before he was arrested.
He said: "The thing that astonished us was that he had no idea about the scale of it. It wasn't until accounts were examined that the full extent was revealed."
He said Benjafield was now seeking help for his addiction.
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