So, you're sitting in your lounge room, scrolling through your banking app, when you realise hundreds of thousands of dollars have vanished from your business account.

Your trusted employee has been siphoning money for months, feeding it straight into online betting accounts.

The shock hits you like a physical blow – but here's the real kicker.

Even when the courts prove the money was stolen, the gambling companies get to keep it.

This is the reality that's got Helen Dalton, the Independent MP for Murray, absolutely fired up.

She's been watching this legal loophole play out across Australia, and frankly, she's had enough.

"I think this just highlights how powerful they are," Helen said, her voice carrying that familiar mix of frustration and determination that anyone who knows her would recognise.

"The government won't even support giving back the money to the victims."

Helen's Return of Proceeds of Crime (Gambling Companies) Bill 2024 is straightforward – if a court rules that gambling companies received proceeds of crime, they should return that money to the victims.

Simple, right?

Apparently not simple enough for the major parties, who dismissed the bill without much ceremony.

The stories Helen's uncovered would make your blood boil.

Take the 27-year-old assistant financial accountant from Tasmania who, in 2018, stole $292,955 to fund his gambling addiction.

Every cent went into a Sportsbet account.

The courts issued compensation orders, but Sportsbet?

They kept the money. Then there's the 48-year-old Tasmanian woman who, in 2021, managed to steal $940,221 from the veterinary practice where she worked.

She spent it all playing a social casino game owned by Aristocrat Leisure – Australia's largest poker machine manufacturer – through Facebook.

Facebook took a 30 per cent cut for each transaction. Both companies kept the money.

"The victims of these crimes have got to suck it up," Helen said, and you can hear the disbelief in her voice.

It's the kind of injustice that gets under your skin and stays there. The numbers tell their own story. NSW is home to about 89,000 gaming machines – more than any other Australian state and second only to Nevada worldwide.

Money Management reported that three financial advisors were facing criminal proceedings in 2023 for gambling with clients' money, with over $5.5 million spent on gambling.

Helen's research turned up a South Australian report claiming 50 per cent of gamblers in that state admitted to gambling with proceeds of crime. Half. Let that sink in.

During the parliamentary debate, Helen watched Labor speakers focus on their achievements – removing VIP signs, implementing restrictions – but completely sidestepping the core issue.

"They didn't even touch on the fact to give the money back," she recalled. "You have to ask: 'Is the government running a protection racket for those people?'. I think they'd have to be."

It's a blunt assessment, but Helen's never been one to mince words.

She's got support from MPs in Victoria and Tasmania, and she believes momentum is building.

"I think it's gone on too long, and society is starting to become aware of what's going on," she said.

The gambling companies, Helen points out, are supposed to monitor their customers and ensure everything's legitimate.

"The gambling companies are supposed to keep an eye on gamblers and make sure that everything's all right," she said.

But when stolen money flows through their systems and they get to keep it even after courts prove it was theft, what's their real incentive to look too closely?

Helen's not giving up.

She's seen too much injustice to walk away now.

"We won't be giving up," she said with the kind of quiet determination that suggests she means every word.

"We'll reintroduce the bill again and again until they admit that they should change the law."

It's only a matter of time, Helen reckons.

The question is: how many more victims will have to "suck it up" before the major parties decide that maybe, just maybe, stolen money should go back to the people it was stolen from?

For now, the house continues to win – even when the money never should have been theirs in the first place.

But with Helen Dalton asking the hard questions and refusing to let this slide, that might not be the case for much longer.

Helen Dalton represents the electorate of Murray as an Independent MP. Her office can be contacted for more information about the Return of Proceeds of Crime (Gambling Companies) Bill 2024.