Canberra event manager guilty of stealing $70,000 to feed gambling addiction

Canberra event manager Luke Lowes has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service after being found guilty of stealing over $70,000 from his employed to fuel a gambling addiction.

Lowes, who worked as an Event Coordinator at Master Builders Association (MBA) of NSW between 2019 and 2022, was yesterday ordered to pay more than $5,000 in reparations and complete community service work in the ACT Supreme Court.

Lowes, who organised ticketed events for the MBA of NSW, siphoned funds raised for multiple events held by the Association into his own bank account.

These included national awards events, golf challenges and a Business Excellence Australia event.

The Court heard that Lowes used the funds to continue gambling in an effort to make up his losses and pay the money back.

He paid back around $11,000 before he was arrested, with insurers paying out more than $56,000 to cover the loss.

In a victim impact statement, MBA Chief Executive, Denita Wawn advised “the fraudulent activity was bad enough, but the fact he went to extremes to cover up the fraud … was even more disappointing."

Wawn went on to explain "the mental anguish and sheer exhaustion for all of us at Master Builders was profound and long standing" adding that Lowes' "sudden departure left a gaping hole in our capacity to organise our biggest event of the year".

She said that while insurance had covered part of the stolen money, the association was still "out of pocket directly" and had been hit with increased insurance premiums."

Agreed facts state that over about 11 months Lowes stole $73,136 from his employer by directing funds into his own personal accounts.