Bendigo publican jailed for $4.5m theft

The former publican of a Victorian hotel has been jailed for manipulating nearly $4.5 million from the TAB which he used as an "overdraft".

David John Keogh, 43, was the publican of the One Tree Hill Hotel in Spring Gully, near Bendigo, when the pub struck financial troubles.

In 2008, Keogh, a pub TAB licensee, issued more than 1000 TAB vouchers, each with amounts averaging about $5000, but did not pay for them, the Victorian County Court heard on Monday.

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