Posted on Mon, May. 2, 2011
* On April 8, a man sat at the center seat of a blackjack table at SugarHouse where a dealer had just laid five columns of $20 bills totaling $500.
The man stretched out his arms and in one fell swoop brought all but one of the bills toward his body, hugging his stash tightly as he ran from the casino.
“Not knowing what to do, no one tried to stop the suspect,” a state trooper wrote in the public information report. The thief remains on the loose.
* Last month at SugarHouse, casino security and State Police busted two dealers – Thai Trung, 46, and Jennifer Beatrice, 34, both of Philadelphia – for allegedly conspiring with three players – Sam Lau, 40, Zeming Huang, 23, and Yuan Yang, 26, all of Philadelphia – to cheat at blackjack.
The dealers allegedly let Lau see their “hole” card so that he could signal to his comrades whether it was safe to bet.
All five were arrested and charged with theft, conspiracy and related offenses. It’s believed that their scam netted $5,000, police said.
* Gamblers are often caught “capping” (adding money to a bet after a winning hand) or “pinching” (taking money away from a losing hand) bets.
A 47-year-old King of Prussia man, who spoke with the Daily News on the condition of anonymity, was charged with pinching $125 off a bet at Parx last month. He denied the charges.
“I didn’t have any reason to take chips off,” he said. “Especially if I was losing $3,500, what is $125 going to make a difference?”
The man, who has lived in the country for 26 years without even a speeding ticket, said the ordeal helped him decide to never set foot in a casino again.
“I believe in God and sometimes God do different things for different reasons,” he said. “I think this was the light.”
* At Parx in February, a man stole $230 out of a wallet he found that belonged to an 85-year-old man. An “unsuspecting friend” turned it in. Another stole a purse from a 76-year-old woman’s walker at Parx, according to police.
But senior citizens aren’t only victims at casinos. They can also be the perpetrators.
In February, a 71-year-old Trenton woman picked up a wallet with $140 inside at Parx. The wallet was later found in the women’s bathroom without the money and the grandma gambler was charged with theft, police said.
- Stephanie Farr
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters featured article: If At First You Don’t Succeed – Four Decades Of US-UK Attempts To Topple Gadafi.
