Craps Dealers and Buddies Rolled the Bellagio for $1mm By Paying Phantom Bets Over 2 Years

[TheFalls]

Pow!

Two former craps dealers at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas and two of their friends have been accused of siphoning more than $1 million off gambling tables over nearly two years by quietly paying phantom bets.

A prosecutor said Thursday that the scheme unraveled after another dealer became suspicious and notified casino investigators. The Bellagio fired James Cooper Jr. and Mark Branco, and they were arrested in July 2014.

A 60-count indictment filed Wednesday accuses Cooper, Branco, Jeffrey Martin and Anthony Granito of theft and cheating at gambling. Both charges are felonies and could get the men decades in prison.

Attorneys for the four men didn't immediately respond to messages.

Prosecutor Jay P. Ramen says Cooper is cooperating with the investigation.

 

[Cheddarforme]

Quite amazing they got away with it that long!

 

[bigwang]

Wow!

Sounds like the supervisors and surveillance dropped the ball on this for some time.

 

[The Guesser]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/four-indicted-1-million-bellagio-craps-scheme

Cheating at gambling? Josh Scobee should be arrested and charged tonight, and the key should be thrown away. hno:

 

[CoachCB]

Wow. The other dealer threw them under the bus!

 

[Betallsports]

Wow. The other dealer threw them under the bus!

other dealers that worked the table had to know as well. unless you get a couple that just don't care and not watching the table.

Easy to pay a player on a phantom wager, on a busy table. But if you get a Good Stickman that's watching.... you will get caught. I'm guessing that was the position of the dealer that told.

 

[cloverleaf]

Amazing these characters try to cheat the casinos.

They always get caught sooner or later....where were the camera observers??

 

[TheFalls]

Must have gotten greedy...or they didn't grease a wheel that needed it.
I guess greed gets most of them...even though 2 years is impressive.

 

[3peet]

So aside from dealer paying phantom bets, how many other guys are watching the payout?

 

[roachman]

What is a phatom bet, is it like a fire bet

 

[slapshot]

What is a phatom bet, is it like a fire bet

don't know if it's like a fire bet or not :think2:

 

[VIEJODINOSAUR]

Happens more often than you think....but I think the rest of the dealers in town got the message...

 

[StraightXRS]

I'm a craps dealer, with a weak box it is extremely easy to mispay/overpay/underpay a player during a full game. The stickman should have caught it to but many times craps crews are the same people or a rotation of about the same people, so its was to wait for the right person to be on stick to make your move.

 

[StraightXRS]

These guys are idiots though, belagio is like the show, these guys the away a cake 90k a year job because they are degenerate idiots.

 

[kidman232]

straight, Bellagio doesn't have any box supervisors, the dice crew is running it all.

a phantom wager is a wager that was never made, but gets paid. base states I booked a $25 hard six next to me as the dice went out. so the player gets $225 on a bet they never made

 

[shdw01]

As stupid as it seems to try and cheat the casino, I bet there is a LOT of casino scamming that we don't hear about cause they don't get caught

 

[kidman232]

players always try to cheat, esp in mini bac

 

[TheFalls]

^how are they trying to cheat at mini bac???

 

[kidman232]

past posting, pulling back losing bonus wagers when a tie hits, saying there is a board error wanting a refund when they lose.

 

[TheFalls]

Ahh.
white people?