Joy turned to shock for a newlywed couple in Singapore when a thief took off with nearly S$50,000 ($39,083; ?28,705) worth of red envelopes from their wedding reception.

The culprit, Lee Yi Wei, who later gambled the money away, was sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday, and ordered to compensate the couple. His prison term will be extended by 100 days if he is unable to pay the money back.

The 36-year-old used to serve tables at the hotel where the wedding was held and was familiar with its layout, a Singapore court heard.

In many Asian cultures, wedding guests typically give newlyweds money, usually in red envelopes, as a sign of good luck.

These envelopes are usually slotted into large boxes that are placed at a clearly demarcated table that guests will pass by before entering the wedding hall.

Lee, who was not a guest invited to the April wedding, had made off with two such boxes while they were unattended. The wedding organiser made a police report after realising the boxes were missing.

The court heard that Lee swiftly spent a few hundred dollars on clothing and gambled away S$12,200 in just four hours.

He then converted most of his loot into online gambling credits and placed 195 bets with those credits over three days.

By the time he was arrested a few days later, police managed to seize just S$3,000 from him.

In Singapore, the practice of gifting red envelopes to newlyweds has in recent years been shaped by unspoken rules such as how much to give, with some couples seeing it as a way of helping them pay for the wedding.

Online guides, which provide information on how much to give depending on where and when the event is held, are published and updated annually.

In many Asian cultures, red envelopes are also given out to children or younger unmarried relatives during the Lunar New Year. (BBC)

? In Asian cultures, guests gift red envelopes stuffed with money to newlyweds as a sign of luck and good fortune (Photo: BBC)

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