Per David through a mutual friend:
The actual sentence was 6 months in jail and 5 years probation. He was released after 3 days to some form of house arrest for the 6 months.

The $250,000 was put in poker machines and the crap table. This was not a one time theft. He was robbing peter to pay paul for quite some time. Paul got too big to cover.

IMO he would have a problem getting a work card.