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AVictorian woman defrauded of her life savings by her accountant, who gambled it away in a frenzy of online betting, is about to launch legal action against wagering giant Sportsbet.
The case could expose Australia’s online betting industry to unparalleled scrutiny and has the potential to establish new legal benchmarks for their accountability to customers who lose millions of dollars each year.
Kym Cavigan, 53, has also found an unlikely ally in her fight – teaming up with the man who defrauded her to compile a dossier aimed at bolstering her case.
Kym Cavigan lost more than $800,000 after her accountant gambled away her life savings. She is now taking on wagering giant Sportsbet.Credit: Simon Schluter
In June 2023, accountant Andrew Marshall arrived sobbing and shaking uncontrollably on the doorstep of Cavigan’s Macedon Ranges home.
The bankrupt accountant and former thoroughbred owner told the mother-of-two he had gambled away her life savings, about $820,000, to fund his out-of-control online sports betting addiction.
“He reported to the police and the next day he came and told me,” Cavigan says.
“He came in … and he said ‘I just want you to know that I’ve done some terrible things, and I’ve stolen clients’ money, and you’re one of them.’
“He was crying and sobbing and carrying on and said, ‘You are such good people, and I was trying to win it back’. He said it’d all gone to Sportsbet.”
Marshall told the horticulturist gardener he blew $2 million of his own money before dipping into clients’ accounts.
Andrew Marshall amassed debts of more than $4 million.
“He said, ‘I’ve told the police’, and he wanted to talk to me and tell me face-to-face,” Cavigan recalled. “I just went off my head... I said ‘blow your own $2 million, but you could have got help, you crossed a line when you started helping yourself to other people’s money’.”
Marshall is alleged to have moved the money between two bank accounts before it was transferred to Sportsbet, where he was placing as many as 80 bets a day, ranging from $300 to $66,000.
“Everyone who knew him, knew that he had race horses and loved the races and that he bet, but no one knew the extent of his problem and what was actually going on in his life,” Cavigan says.
“The thing is, Sportsbet never stopped him.
“Millions of dollars were flowing into their accounts, but they never did a thing.
“How dare they hang on to the proceeds of crime. It’s not their money, and they should have known that the money they are profiting from was stolen from us.
“They have a duty of care. There seems to be a red flag with accountants and financial planners, who always seem to be the ones involved.”
Marshall, a former director and shareholder of Langley McKimmie Accountants in Woodend, is alleged to have siphoned more than $4 million from clients including Cavigan, in the Macedon Ranges region over several years.
“They [Sportsbet] just kept luring him,” says Cavigan, who had her entire savings locked up with Langley McKimmie in an investment account and a self-managed superfund.
Cavigan said she trusted Marshall who she knew through a local running group and who had introduced her to a business networking association.
She also knew his parents and extended family and says many of his victims were “soft targets” because they were former friends.
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Marshall, 45, was dismissed on June 6 last year, after allegedly misappropriating funds from five clients, according to documents filed in the Supreme Court.
Marshall has been charged with stealing sums exceeding almost $4.2 million.
One client lost $1.2 million from her Commonwealth Bank account, while the trustee of a superannuation fund had $1 million misappropriated from a Macquarie Bank account.
Marshall pleaded guilty to all charges in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in May and will appear in court again in November.
The case has again placed a spotlight on the conduct of online gambling operators, as experts warn of the predatory tactics betting companies are using to get, predominantly, men hooked to the punt.
Earlier this year, Melbourne man Anthony Del Vecchio was jailed for seven years for defrauding $4.5 million from his former partner, cousins, relatives, primary school friends, clients, his own colleagues and a couple whose child had cancer, to fund a voracious online sports betting addiction.
In sentencing Del Vecchio, County Court Judge Gabriele Cannon described the conduct of Australia’s online betting companies as the “the banality of evil”.
“The various betting agencies were apparently happy to take that money without any qualm or enquiry,” Cannon said in April.
“It is staggering that they are able to operate in our community in the ways that I have described with impunity.”
Financial planner Anthony Del Vecchio defrauded almost $4.5 million from his former partner, cousins, primary school friends and several clients of Freedom Finance Australia to fund a “voracious” online gambling addiction.
Australian betting companies fed his habit with free tickets to sporting events, showered him with VIP client managers from eight to 10 betting agencies along with a bombardment of push alerts and reminders to punt pinging in his phone.
Melbourne solicitor Michael Hazell, from RBK Legal, says online betting agencies are increasingly the beneficiaries of stolen funds.
“Over the past two to three years, there has been a very concerning upward trend in my practice regarding the issue of online gambling sites,” Hazell says.
The experienced lawyer says clients lose substantial sums, and in some cases their entire life savings, to gambling, despite there being red flags that online gambling companies should have acted on.
“Second, the gambler steals money from innocent victims to fuel the addiction,” Hazell says.
“It’s very clear to me that online gambling companies need to be much more accountable than they are at present.”
Monash University gambling expert Associate Professor Charles Livingstone says that once a person has a gambling account, betting companies use mechanisms to understand the individual’s profile and then market to them “incessantly” without restriction.
Many betting agencies source their income from a few high-spending gamblers, who are individually managed to bet excessively.
Those who “bet big” are often given sweeteners and inducements such as free tickets to sporting matches, interstate trips to events and their own account manager to stay in the grips of the cycle of gambling.
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Others who might try to control their habit by betting less will suddenly get a surge of special offers or be “chased by VIP managers”, which Livingstone says is just enough to get them back on the punt and into the spiral of gambling.
“They might even get a phone call from an account manager if they’re big enough,” he says.
Social media platforms will also begin to bombard them with aggressive, targeted gambling advertising.
“They will know what you like to bet on … particularly high-stakes gambling,” he says. “If you’re someone who puts big bets on particular types of events, then they will market those to you really, really aggressively.”
Martin Thomas, chief executive officer of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, says Australians squander $31.5 billion every year – the biggest losers in the world for gambling per capita.
“The reason why we have such a huge problem here is because we have some of the laxest gambling legislation in the world,” Thomas says.
“It causes immense social harm, and we know from all the evidence crimes are being committed at an industrial scale.”
As Australia continues to trail the rest of the world in gambling regulation, the number of young men placing sports bets is soaring, with the latest data suggesting it has surged by 57 per cent in the past 7 years.
Research from the University of Melbourne shows most of those are men getting hooked between 18 and 34, but experts also warn growing research indicates teens as young as 14 are being targeted with advertisements and promotions through social media.
Cavigan intended to buy a house with the money that was stolen, which comprised a financial settlement from her separation, superannuation funds and savings. Instead, she’s been left in financial ruin.
But in a twist, she is now working with Marshall in her battle against Sportsbet.
Marshall has met with Cavigan several times and provided six months worth of his own bank statements, SMS messages and documentation to support her case against Sportsbet.
“He’s been very helpful and he’s been very co-operative. At the end of the day, as much as I’m devastated at what he’s done, he’s actually been very helpful when we needed information.
“It’s tragic and so sad what’s occurred, and it should have been stopped by Sportsbet.”
Marshall placed himself into bankruptcy on July 26, after amassing debts of more than $4 million.
Langley McKimmie says the alleged actions of Marshall do not in any way reflect the integrity and dedication of their organisation.
“Langley McKimmie’s focus remains steadfastly on serving our clients, and we are working diligently to remediate affected clients as soon as possible,” it said in a statement earlier this year.
There is no suggestion other staff were involved or aware of Marshall’s misconduct.
Cavigan says the financial firm has not been in contact with her since the money was embezzled.
Sportsbet chief executive Barni Evans told an industry conference in Sydney earlier this year the company had initially done “a terrible job” of alerting sporting bodies to betting transactions that might have posed serious integrity threats.
He said the company “forgot to do some grown-up things” and had “stuffed a lot of things up”.
“That took three or four years to catch on and a few incidents to alarm us, or shock us into [realising], actually, we have got a role to play here, and we can help sports do a much better job,” he said.
When asked about the Marshall case, a spokesman for Sportsbet said it could not discuss the circumstances of individuals customers.
“We adhere to our regulatory obligations and are committed to continually evolving our systems and processes to support safer gambling and mitigate financial crime,” he says.
Cavigan says Sportsbet’s conduct is inexcusable.
“They had the power to stop Andrew Marshall’s addiction, but chose not to.”
Gambler’s Help: 1800 858 858; Lifeline: 13 11 14.
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