End of road for gambler

Price's close friend Graham 'Steel Balls' Bruton recovered from his gambling loses and won big with his champion trotter, Lyell Creek. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A crooked travel agent convinced his business partner they could win the Blues Super 14 team contract while stealing thousands of dollars to feed a gambling addiction.

Dennis Price charged $28,000 to colleague Reg Caldow's credit card for what he claimed was a pre-season Blues trip to South Africa in 2007.

But Price pocketed the money to fund his gambling addiction and then tried to cover up money he had stolen from a second travel agency.

Price used his connections in the harness racing and sports industries to build up The Travel Practice into a business turning over millions each year, said Caldow. But at the same time Price stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his friend of 15 years which he gambled on horses.

The offending only came to light when Price, 55, was sentenced to three months for stealing money from McCrory Thomas Travel Ltd.

Price is now facing a second prison term when he is sentenced next month for five new deception and theft charges.

Caldow, 66, from Wellington, said: "He has caused my family intolerable stress. I set him up in business and he stole from me.

"We hired a lawyer to try to pursue exactly how much was taken but we dropped it in the end. It was too much stress."

Caldow said Price was golfing buddies with cricketing legends Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell and Clive Lloyd, whom he met playing county cricket in England.

"The guy was incredibly well-connected," he said. "He could tell a joke in 20 dialects and was very learned in so many areas. A good guy to be with, but he has completely stuffed himself up."

"He even convinced customers to pay money directly into his TAB account."

Speaking from his parents' Christchurch home where he is on bail awaiting sentencing, Price said he was remorseful, and had decided that his punting days were over: "I'll never bet again. I don't watch the races any more," he said.

"I'm at a point in my life where you can't get lower or darker. For a 55-year-old, white, non-tattooed guy to go to jail was a hell of a shock."

Police said Price had gambled up to $600,000 at the TAB. He also had owned horses including Mi Galleon, co-owned with former Crusaders captain Todd Blackadder, Alien Waits and Student Prince.

His offending prompted the Travel Agents' Association to pass a resolution that people with dishonesty convictions could not work in the New Zealand travel industry.

The new charges came about after Price was jailed last year. His new business partner, Reg Caldow of Wellington, checked his accounts and found Price had been ripping him off since day one.

Price said: "I think when you're struggling you do things you obviously regret afterwards. If I have to go back to jail, I have to go back to jail."

Price was close friends with New Zealand's most well-known punter, Graham "Steel Balls" Bruton.

But for Bruton, too, the luck ran out. When he fled to Singapore in 2002, unable to pay a $20,000 credit bet he made with a Christchurch TAB, Price spoke out on his behalf.

After a crushing run of losses, Bruton told him high-stakes gambling had become "like a heroin addiction that I couldn't handle" - but Price said his friend was strong enough to bounce back.

Sure enough, Bruton recovered from his losses and ended up winning big with his champion trotter Lyell Creek.

Meanwhile, Price was secretly plummeting into debt with his own gambling habit.