"Last week, federal prosecutors revealed that grand juries had indicted 24 people suspected of carrying out a massive, multi-state scam that targeted 18 casinos and stole more than $3 million.

As it turned out, a “cheat team” accused of bilking the Puyallup Tribe’s Emerald Queen Casino in 2003 was reportedly part of this much larger criminal operation.

According to prosecutors, the conspiracy involved bribing blackjack and mini-baccarat dealers to do “false shuffles,” shuffles that left sequences of cards in their previous, predictable order. The cheat teams would place their bets accordingly and make off with huge sums of money.

Hollywood notwithstanding, casinos are not fair game for clever criminals. However one feels about casinos and their operators, the victims of gambling scams include the other gamblers who lose their bets to the cheaters. Many are problem gamblers who cannot afford to lose more money than they’ve already lost.

Stealing from a tribal casino expands the number of victims. These casinos are not run for profit; they are run to shore up the finances of tribes, which often have few other sources of revenue. The Puyallup Tribe’s casino revenues, for example, are partially distributed among its members; the money also covers scholarships, housing, assistance for elders and other worthy causes."

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Cheating the casino – and countless others (The Tacoma News-Tribune 6/1)
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