Twelve ex-employees of the Golden Crown Daegu Casino in South Korea have received sentences for deceiving foreign customers during rigged games.
Included are the prior CEO and two additional executives from the casino, located within the Hotel Inter-Burgo in Daegu, a city in the southeast region of the nation.
The local press reports did not name the defendants due to South Korea's stringent privacy laws, which deter the identification of even those found guilty.
Piled Cards
The group plotted to deceive two affluent Chinese baccarat players out of $4.5 billion won (US$3.5 million) in September 2017 by employing stacked decks and a card manipulation method referred to as “bottom dealing,” as per local reports.
This is the moment when a fraudulent dealer takes a card from the bottom of the deck with sleight of hand, making it seem as though the card was dealt from the top. Prosecutors referred to the fraud as “extremely proficient.”
The group employed the same method to defraud a Japanese tourist of 54 million won (US$42K) in July 2017, as stated in the allegations.
The defendants faced allegations of exploiting the casino's complimentary services to entice dealers to take part in the scheme. This happened 732 times, resulting in a total loss to the casino of approximately US$160K, which constituted embezzlement.
According to prosecutors, the three executives headed the illegal gambling operation and directed the subordinate defendants to take part in the crime. These consisted of sales directors, managers, pit bosses, and dealers.
No Remorse
“The crime was carried out very intelligently, with considerably egregious methods, such as employing prearranged card sequences or playing the game using cards that were shuffled to the disadvantage of foreign victims, deceiving them into thinking that they had used normal cards,” said Chief Judge Lee Jong-gil during sentencing. He also noted that the main perpetrators had shown “no remorse.”
The judge handed down prison sentences that varied from one year to three years. Some were given probation terms lasting up to five years or community service assignments that varied from 160 to 200 hours.
This isn’t the first occasion the casino has faced issues due to rigged games. It was earlier charged with stealing approximately US$2 million from three baccarat players between May 2012 and April 2014 through card manipulation.
It was additionally penalized US$8,000 for permitting South Korean citizens to gamble on its premises between September 2011 and March 2012. The sole exception is Kangwon Land, a state-owned entity located approximately 80 miles from the capital, Seoul.
