A Real Law & Order Casino Cheat Case!

Most casino cheating cases that end up in court usually take little of the court's time. Normally it's an hour-or-two hearing and the judge makes his decision and slams his gavel.

But a very interesting baccarat-cheating case from Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut is making a lot of noise in a State Distict Court.

Back in 2014, a Chines couple and a Foxwoods baccarat dealer were charged with cheating Foxwoods out of $500,000 using the already infamous false-shuffling scam, which has the dealer faking the shuffle and preserving the order of the cards from the last shoe so that the players can know what the outcome of the upcoming deal will be.

The actual charges are cheating at gambling and first degree larceny.

The Chinese couple, Yan Wang (woman) and Bohen Zhang (man), rejected the state's plea offer of three years in prison followed by five years of probation, plus restitution. The Chinese dealer, George Zhu, was offered one year in prison followed by five years of probation, plus probation.

The plea-offers seem strange to me because the dealer or casino-employee in casino-cheat cases is usually given the stiffer sentence than his cohorts who took the money off the table. The state and casino usually want to punish the dishonest inside employee who sets up these casinuo-scams and puts them in motion. The cohors taking the money off the table usually are offered deals to testify against the dealer.

Well, in spite of all that, all three of them have decided to fight the case in court rather than accept the pleas. They each are risking as much as 25 years in state prison.

My take: Who said the Chinese aren't gamblers!