Mathew Paul Coombes, 30, is fighting charges of stealing property as a clerk or servant and dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Coombes says balaclava clad-thieves were responsible for taking $10,566.45 in cash from the venue in the early hours of December 23, 2013.

Police allege Coombes shuffled the pub’s money into the venue’s punters club, which he managed, and wound up a day before the supposed break-in.

Albury Local Court was on Wednesday shown security footage of Coombes doing accounting in an office on December 22, 2013.

Members of the gambling syndicate were paid out that day.

The Thurgoona man was calm as the footage played, giving commentary to the court about what he was doing.

While his back was to the camera and his hands obscured in the much of the vision, the office door was open and employees walked in and out as Coombes made calculations.

He told the court he had earlier taken the cash from the punter’s club tin and put it somewhere he deemed safe, but no-one at the venue had asked to see it.

Much of Wednesday's evidence focused on Coombes’ TAB account.

On October 28, 2013, he was $4096 in credit, which had dropped to just $75 three days later after heavy losses. 

He pumped in $4553 in cash or vouchers into his account in November 2013, and the court heard he gambled without using his account.

Coombes’ losses had been steadily increasing before the cash went missing and he was $40,000 in debt.

He earned about $45,000 a year and told the court his wife didn’t know about his gambling problem.

She recently said she was shocked to learn of his debts. 

The 30-year-old was placing bets while at work and he would duck down to other venues while on break.

“It’s a lot of money … have you continued to bet after December 2013?” defence lawyer Alan Blackman asked

Coombes said he hadn’t, and was asked why.

“After what had happened on the Monday, on December 23rd, I lost interest in a lot of things,” he said.

“I went to the races on New Year’s Eve, that’s when I put the last bet on.”

He left the venue seven months after the cash was taken.

Police conducted a lengthy investigation, with a long wait before Coombes was charged. 

The hearing will return to Albury Local Court for three days in October, with Coombes to be cross-examined by prosecutors.