The Big Dealer Casino Craps Scam in Connecticut has a rival inside roulette cheat case going on across the Atlantic in London, England. It seems that inside dealer casino cheat scams are becoming more and more in vogue these days.
The casino cheating croupier in London, Wayne Wagner, apparently used his cheat winnings to fund a party lifestyle for six years while constantly cheating his roulette table. He would stuff chips he stole off his roulette game into his sock and then pass them to an accomplice who would visit the casino posing as a customer to cash them in. Wagner continued the ruse for six years, pocketing up to £1,000 a month.
My first question is: How the hell did he get away with this for six years! Come on, stuffing chips into his sock! Seems pretty amateurish to me. But the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, which I hit several times over the years with big roulette pastpost moves, confirms that Wagner indeed stole up to £1,000 a month from his roulette tables by stuffing chips into his socks.
But luck finally ran out for the 38-year-old when bosses at the Central London casino spotted him making movements towards his socks at a table one night. After monitoring the divorced father of two for a period of several weeks, management confronted him in March last year and he confessed.
Last October, Wagner was jailed for 15 months at Southwark Crown Court after admitting theft of £69,000. The judge told him to repay £36,000. But Grosvenor Casinos Ltd has now served a High Court writ on the croupier, alleging he stole between £250,000 and £300,000. Wagner refused to name his associate who cashed the chips, but a man is named in the writ. After Wagner's arrest, a police search of his home uncovered £11,000 worth of gaming chips and £5,000 in cash. He also had £66,000 in an account he opened with a deposit of £55,000 in May 2007.
Pictures posted on his Facebook account included several taken on wild nights out with women in nightclubs. Wagner, who is in Ford open prison in Arundel, West Sussex, was born in South Africa and came to the UK with his parents as a child.
He married Korean-born casino worker Miri Hong in June 1996, months after starting work in the industry. The couple, who have two sons, aged eight and seven, split a few years ago. Wagner was believed to be living with his father in Lewisham, South London, at the time of his arrest.
A family friend said: "Wayne is a lovely man, extremely honest and kind, and lived for his children. If he's been caught doing anything wrong I'm sure it's because he must have been led astray."
Grosvenor Casinos is seeking damages for fraud and breach of contract. The writ demands an account of all bank deposits Wagner made after cashing in the chips and a full refund.
I think that "full refund" is gonna be a bit tough! And I have one more question about this: Why did this roulette cheat story come out only now and not when it happened? Well, I guess the Victoria casino was embarrassed.
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