Sports admin stole $133k to fuel gambling addiction, impacting deprived families

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

For nearly a decade, a long-standing and high-trusted employee of the Auckland Rugby League managed to defraud more than $133,000 from the organisation by transferring the money into her own bank account.

Marie Harper, 76, used that money to fuel her gambling addiction: an addiction that saw her gamble approximately $6 million at Sky City casino, spending thousands of hours on their gaming machines.

Harper escaped jail when she appeared for sentencing on Tuesday at the Auckland District Court after admitting a charge of obtaining by deception.

“Your offending merits a prison sentence but I cannot ignore your age, your health difficulties and the conclusion in the pre-sentence reports that you are unlikely to re-offend given your work life has now come to an end,” Judge Andrea Manuel said, in sentencing Harper to 12 months’ home detention.

The court heard how the Auckland Rugby League (ARL) - a non-profit organisation which governs the sport in Auckland - didn’t want any further publicity about the matter.

The ARL had, through the police prosecutor’s submissions, opposed Stuff being granted access to the agreed summary of facts. The ARL said previous reporting had been harmful and “any further publicity was unwelcome”.

However, Judge Manuel granted Stuff’s application.

The judge said the ARL wasn’t the sole victim, but the real victims were some of Auckland’s most disadvantaged families who choose rugby league as a sport to provide opportunity, community and structure.

According to the agreed summary of facts, Harper was employed by the Auckland Rugby League between 1990 and 2022.

She was initially employed in a part-time capacity carrying out general administration work, however her duties expanded and eventually she was doing all the administrative work, which included arranging payments to vendors.

Between April 2013 and May 2022, Harper accessed the computer system, but after uploading the vendor details, she would upload her own bank account number and arrange for payments to be deposited there.

She would then change the bank account number to that of the vendor and submit invoices for payment.

Harper did this 332 times.

At the sentencing on Tuesday, her lawyer, Sarah Dickson said the defendant had never been before the courts before and was genuinely extremely remorseful.

“She is recovering from a significant gambling addiction,” Dickson said.

“It is perplexing how Sky City continued to allow Ms Harper to come into the gambling facility…this doesn’t offer her addiction as an excuse,” Dickson added.

Dickson said there was a clear link between the addiction and the offending.

The lawyer said Harper could offer $620 in reparation and has engaged with the support services at the Problem Gambling Foundation since early 2025.

Harper has also self-excluded herself from more than 200 gambling venues across the city.

Judge Manuel said ARL were made aware of the offending after an internal audit which then resulted in a costly forensic investigation.

There were concerns raised through the investigation that board members were passively involved in the fraud but Judge Manuel said there was no foundation to this suggestion.

“During the investigation you sought to deflect from your own conduct by raising serious claims about former board members…the claims were unrelated to your offending but the victim had to take a separate investigation process at additional significant cost.”

ARL said it suffered reputational damage because of media attention and a reduction in funding may have been linked to this.

On Tuesday, Judge Manuel said Harper’s offending involved a serious breach of trust and a moderate level of sophistication.

The judge said it was unrealistic to make Harper pay the total in reparation, but ordered an immediate payment of $620, and then payments of $25 a week until a total of $10,000 had been reached.

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton from the Auckland City Financial Crime Unit , told Stuff his investigation team had worked closely with the organisation to bring this case to a successful conclusion.

Over the last three years, the team have prosecuted about 50 cases of employee fraud totalling $9.6m in financial losses.

“In a majority of these cases the employee’s fraud was their first time in trouble with the law, resulting with detectives arresting them at their home address.

“In many cases it’s their first experience, and we can only hope it is the last time.”

Many of the defendants have been long-serving and trusted employees - this has made their deception a “bitter pill to swallow”, Bolton said.

“I want all employers to make sure they are taking steps to avoid being ripped off, no matter how much you trust your people.

“The moral of the story is that there must always be multiple layers of financial checks and oversight in place.”

The ARL declined to comment on Harper’s sentencing.

Problem gambling: where to get help

• Gambling Helpline Aotearoa 0800 654 655 or text 8006 (available 24/7)

• Problem Gambling Foundation 0800 664 262

• Māori Gambling Helpline 0800 654 656

• Vai Lelei Pasifika Gambling Helpline 0800 654 657

• Gambling Debt Helpline 0800 654 658

• Youth Gambling Helpline 0800 654 659

• Asian Family Services Gambling Hotline 0800 862 342

• Further problem gambling services can be found at the Ministry of Health website

• If it is an emergency or you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 111.

An earlier version of this story included inaccurate references to the ARL life membership status of several individuals. The paragraph has been removed. Amended: 12.34pm, May 6, 2026