Jonathan Revill exploited his position at multinational energy firm GDF Suez to order computer equipment, which he then sold on and used the proceeds to place bets online.
He would bet as much as £300,000 on a single sporting fixture - and continued to gamble thousands of pounds even after he was arrested.
The 38-year-old's wife was entirely unaware of his criminal behaviour, which included buying a £500,000 family home with company money, and did not know that he had previously been declared bankrupt.
Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday that father-of-one Revill forged invoices to buy computer equipment while working as a service delivery systems manager at GDF Suez Energy in Leeds.
When the equipment arrived, he would send it either to his home in Huddersfield or to a storage unit, then sell it on to other companies or auction it on eBay.
Although he sold the computers at a loss compared to their original price, he made a profit of £5.6million over the course of three years, in addition to his £55,000-a-year salary and £400-a-month car allowance.
Revill had submitted a total of 104 invoices - totalling £18,976,062 - for equipment before auditors uncovered the fraud in May.
He was arrested and granted bail on condition he stopped gambling and sought help - but just days later, he withdrew thousands from an account based in the Isle of Man and splurged it on an online betting site.
Home: Revill used the proceeds of his fraud to buy this £500,000 family house in Huddersfield
In a three-hour spree on Bet365, he placed high-value bets on football, baseball and the tennis French Open - including an £11,250 bet on Gilles Simon to beat Roger Federer, which he lost.
He won £27,757 during an England v Brazil football match by betting that it would be 0-0 at half time, before losing £17,757 after betting on Brazil to win the match.
The court heard that the only asset Revill purchased from his scam was his house, which he bought outright with money withdrawn from an online betting account.
He lived at the house with his wife and daughter, who knew nothing of the fraud but now face losing their home as it is reclaimed by the courts.
Revill pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud and three charges of transferring criminal property.
Benjamin Hargreaves, mitigating, said that the IT manager's 'gambling problem has got bigger and bigger', adding: 'Winning or losing didn't matter.'
Prison: The former IT manager was sentenced to seven years in jail at Leeds Crown Court, pictured
Revill was made bankrupt in 2005 but did not tell his wife, the court heard, and built up substantial debts during four months of unemployment before starting work at GDF Suez in 2009.
Prosecutor Mehran Nassiri said Revill told police that 'he had a serious addiction to to gambling' and had lost everything.
Jailing him for seven years, judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: 'This was a vast amount of money. This would have gone on if not for the internal audit. You were addicted to gambling.'
Describing his client’s predicament as 'vast case of dishonesty', Mr Hargreaves said: 'The problem is his own and he should have sought help and by his lies and trying to hide it he brought himself to this.
'It is a huge substantial and tremendous fall of a man of hitherto good character.'
A spokesperson for GDF SUEZ said: 'We can confirm that one of our former employees in the retail business based in Leeds has been convicted of fraud.
'We are conducting a thorough internal review of this incident. We have assisted the police in their investigation and would like to thank them for their diligent work on this case.'
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Griffin said: 'Revill abused his position of trust and defrauded his employer on a massive scale to feed his addiction to online gambling.
'His actions have destroyed his life and affected a number of businesses. This case clearly highlights the very serious consequences of gambling addiction.'
A proceeds of crime hearing to be held later this year will decide how much Revill must pay back.
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