Two nuns have admitted to embezzling $500,000 (£400,000) from a Catholic school to fund their gambling trips to Las Vegas, their order revealed.

Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who are said to be best friends, stole the money from tuition, fees and donations at St James Catholic School in Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

The pair, who had taken a vow of poverty, were known to make trips to Las Vegas and visit casinos but reportedly told parents at the school that the money for the jaunts came from a rich relative.

Ms Kreuper was the school's head mistress for the past 29 years until she retired earlier this year while Ms Chang was a teacher for 20 years before retiring around the same time.

The pair's fraud was discovered during a routine audit and it is believed they were operating their scheme for at least a decade, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said.

The nuns allegedly got away with their crime by depositing some cheques made out to the school for tuition and other fees into a different bank account to the one used by the school.

"We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account," a lawyer for the school told parents and alumni at a recent meeting, the Press-Telegram reported.