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Five workers of an unidentified casino on Macau's Cotai Strip are charged with planning a stacked baccarat deck scheme that defrauded the establishment of HK$4.54 million (US$581,498).
Eight people were detained by Macau's court police on May 25 on suspicion of being involved in the plan. According to a police news release, two were pit supervisors, two were pit managers, and one was a dealer. One of the other three had experience in the junket business.
According to investigators, an organized crime group hired the casino staff, and there are still other conspirators at large.
Having Fun with Decks
T he casino staff is said to have taken brand-new decks of playing cards out of the storage area and given them to their accomplices. The conspirators would reorder the deck in a hotel room at the casino so that everyone in the group would know the sequence.
The "cold" deck would then be given back to the casino staff, who would set it up on a baccarat table so the obedient dealer could use it.
A prearranged or stacked deck is also known as a cold deck because it would be cold to the touch during poker games, having been switched into the action by sleight of hand. Smart gamblers would pay attention to the temperature of the cards to avoid being cheated.
Once the deck was in place at the gaming table, conspirators were able to gamble, increasing their bets when they knew it would be advantageous to do so.
It’s not clear how the casino discovered the existence of the conspiracy, which is suspected of occurring at least twice, on March 29 and May 5. The criminal group paid the casino workers the equivalent of between US$22K and US$64K for each deck preparation, according to police.
Macau Casino Fraud Increases
The information was released when Macau's Security Secretary, Wong Sio Chak, revealed that the city's crime rate had risen in the first quarter of 2023 due to a rise in tourists as the casino industry continued to recover.
With 21.7% of all crimes examined, casino fraud—which is typically connected to illicit money exchanges—was the most commonly investigated crime. Loansharking and telecommunications fraud were also on the rise.
In contrast to the pre-pandemic era, there was a noticeable drop in other serious crimes, such as violent crimes, according to Wong.
In Q1, almost 8.8 million people visited the gambling destination. That is more than 1.8 times the 2023 similar number.
