SkyCity worker stole more than $45k of casino chips

Empty pokies machines at SkyCity casino. Photo / File

A SkyCity worker has admitted stealing more than $45,000 of casino chips from his former employer.

For nearly a month Chandra Komati Reddy, 34, swiped the tokens and handed them on to associates who would cash them in; before the funds were split between the men.

The Mt Roskill man appeared in Auckland District Court this afternoon where he admitted multiple charges of theft by a person in a special relationship.

Judge Nevin Dawson said he may have got away with it had it not been for the stringent security protocols employed by the casino.

Reddy has since been dismissed by SkyCity, it is understood.

Rajini Kanthreddy Suskandla, 26, also acknowledged his role in the scam today.

His offending was limited to the first week of the enterprise at the end of 2015, from which he gained $4345.

Defence counsel Fraser Hawkins said his client could repay $3000 immediately with the rest to be drip fed at $50 a week.

Judge Dawson said Suskandla - also from Mt Roskill - had only been involved in four of the 20 incidents and sentenced him to 220 hours of community work.

Reddy will be sentenced in August.

A 24-year-old man, accused of handling more than $40,000 of the stolen chips, will enter a plea next month.

According to court documents the scam began on Christmas Eve with $990 of chips given to Suskandla and $1485 to the co-defendant.

Over the next three weeks it is alleged the second man was the main recipient of the stolen chips, on one occasion being given as much as $7115.

SkyCity have declined to comment.