Saturday, January 26, 2008

Casino Cheat Ordered to Pay Back Casino He Cheated!

Cheater ordered to reimburse casino; Supervisor of Rama mini-baccarat scam enters guilty plea
Posted By Tracy McConkey
Posted 1 day ago

One of a slew of people charged in a high-stakes gambling scam at Casino Rama has pleaded guilty.

John Tran, 27, who was considered to be one of the supervisors in a sophisticated criminal organization that targeted Casino Rama, as well as several casinos in the U.S., was ordered to pay back money he pilfered from the casino.
That's a laugh! I think it's the first time I ever heard of anyone having to pay back a casino money he stole from it without having been an employee. So here's my advice to all you potential casino cheaters: Each time you go out to cheat casinos and cheat, be prepared to say this in the event you get caught: "How 'bout I just give you back the money I ripped off and we call it even???

Yes, I'm only kidding!...Though I did once hear about an Australian cheater who was offered by the courts the opportunity to give back the money he cheated from the Melbourne Crown Casino, and they would drop the charges. He did and they did, so what the heck, but then again, Australia takes casino cheating a bit less seriously than some other locales. Here's the article about the recent court decision:

CHEATER ORDERED TO REIMBURSE CASINO; Head of Rama mini-baccarat scam enters guilty plea

One of a slew of people charged in a high-stakes gambling scam at Casino Rama has pleaded guilty.

John Tran, 27, who was considered to be one of the heads in a sophisticated criminal organization that targeted Casino Rama, as well as several casinos in the U.S., was ordered to pay back money he pilfered from the casino.

Tran pleaded guilty last week in Orillia to one count of cheating at play and one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

He was sentenced to time served, which was 236 days in custody since he was arrested last May 24. He was also given 18 months probation and was ordered to pay back $10,000 to Casino Rama.

Tran and 15 other people were arrested last May following a 44-month undercover investigation by the OPP, Windsor police, the FBI and police from several American states.

Last week, two more casino employees and one former employee were arrested in connection with the same scam, which brings the number of arrests to 18.

Police say the cheat team funnelled away more than $2 million from Casino Rama.