Two New York City men accused of cheating a Connecticut casino out of more than $150,000 in a scam involving crooked dealers and marked cards pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Leonard Hu and Hung Leung, both of Queens, denied felony casino cheating and larceny charges in New London Superior Court. They remain free after posting bail.
State police said two dealers, Jian Ng and Bong Louie, both of Norwich, marked the 7, 8 and 9 cards at mini-baccarat tables at the Mohegan Sun casino in southeastern Connecticut by bending them with their thumbs and helped Hu and Leung win tens of thousands of dollars.
Mini-baccarat generally is played with the same rules as regular baccarat but with lower betting limits. It involves betting on whether players' hands of cards will beat the dealer's hand.
On Feb. 11 and in the early morning hours of Feb. 12, after Louie had marked the cards and left the table when his shift ended, Hu pocketed $101,600 and Leung walked away with $52,000, a state police arrest warrant affidavit says.
The two dealers also were charged with casino cheating and larceny and were released on bail. Their lawyers didn't return phone messages Tuesday.
State police said Ng admitted marking the cards eight times since last fall but told troopers he didn't know if any other dealers were doing the same thing.
A Mohegan Sun spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday.
The affidavit said Hu and Ng met at the nearby Foxwoods Resort Casino last fall and Hu asked Ng to mark the mini-baccarat cards in return for $1,000 a night.
A week after winning the $153,600, Hu and Leung returned to the Mohegan Sun and won more than $30,000 at a mini-baccarat table where Ng had marked the cards, state police said. Hu took in more than $25,000, and Leung won $6,100.
Casino patron win-loss records obtained from the Mohegan Sun by state police showed that Hu won nearly $235,000 at mini-baccarat from October to December of last year after state police said he met with Ng. He won another $119,000 last January, troopers said. From January to September 2010, Hu had $129,000 in losses and $37,750 in wins at the casino.
Leung lost $100 at Mohegan Sun in July 2010 but went on to win $9,870 in November, $51,400 in December and $34,600 in January, state police said.
No one answered phone listings for Hu and Leung on Tuesday. Their cases were continued to August 2.
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