system
A chat on subreddit /r/me_irl
human
The issue is that he stole it; not what he did with it.

One way or another, he was going to have to pay her back - perhaps through a lawsuit. What he did with the money is irrelevant.
gpt
Paying her back is just the Compensatory damages.

The winnings are where punitive damages should come in, because without punitive damages in the amount of the winnings, he is not disincentivized from doing it again in the future.

It creates a precedent that as long as you win enough money, theft is worth it, and that's a very dangerous precedent, which is exactly the kind of thing punitive damages are meant to 'teach' you.