Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Australian Casino Cheat Rash Hits Queensland Casinos


Queenland Casino

Source: Herald Sun

Almost 50 gamblers have been caught cheating at Queensland casinos in the past year and dozens of others have been nabbed stealing chips, cash, wallets and mobile phones from punters.


Thieves have found rich pickings from casino gamblers accidentally dropping chips worth up to $1000 on the floor, documents released under Right to Information laws reveal.

Queensland Police Service's Casino Crime Unit laid charges for 236 offences in 2011-12, including 49 for cheating, 59 casino exclusion offences, 68 identity offences, 22 thefts, six drug and three fraud offences.

At Brisbane's Treasury Casino, security cameras caught a woman picking up a $1000 chip that had been dropped near roulette tables. Her female accomplice then cashed it in.

The pair later were arrested after one of the women was spotted returning to the casino.

One woman went on a shopping spree with the proceeds of two $500 chips dropped by a gambler in the Treasury Casino in February.

. Casino cameras caught the woman playing gaming machines and then cashing in the remaining chips.

When she returned to the casino two hours later, the woman told police she had gone shopping with the cash and had only $255 left.

Security footage helped police find a man who left Treasury Casino with a $500 chip dropped from another man's pocket.

When police later found him in a Brisbane square, the man admitted he had planned to return to the casino and cash in the chip to play poker machines.

Some gamblers found out they could not claim "finders keepers" at the casino.

One man was charged with stealing as a result of picking up a $50 note that had been spat out of a note-breaking machine at a casino, while another man was charged after using $50 he had picked up off a casino floor to bet on greyhounds.

Conrad Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast was stung with an unpaid bar tab of $207 after a man left the casino after shouting his mates dozens of drinks. The credit card he left behind had been cancelled by a bank.

Dodgy counterfeit notes also have been offloaded for casino chips.

My take: Even back in the day when I was in business cheating casinos, Australian casinos were ripe for the pickings.