A former senior bureaucrat in Alberta's addictions treatment agency has been formally charged for allegedly defrauding the province of more than $630,000, some of which he admitted spending on a gambling habit.

The RCMP said Lloyd Carr was arrested on 10 outstanding fraud-related charges Wednesday in Swan River, Man. He was granted bail in an Edmonton court Thursday.

Police began a criminal investigation after Alberta's auditor general, Fred Dunn, found evidence suggesting Carr diverted almost $635,000 over two years by setting up five fake contracts.

Records show he made cash withdrawals of $156,000, which he admitted to Dunn was mostly spent in casinos. He also spent $91,000 on a house and $60,000 on a vehicle.

The auditor general's report last November also discovered Carr lied about his credentials to get hired by the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) in 1997, and that the agency failed to finish a criminal background check on him.

Carr was fired from his job as head of AADAC's tobacco reduction unit in September 2006.

He is scheduled to appear in court Jan 3.