Casino Dealer Tucks Chips in Pants, Gets Sent to Prison
According to prosecutors in the Southeast Asia island city-state of Singapore, a card dealer at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino made off with at least S$55,000 ($42,800) in chips by setting up a hand scheme.
To evade detection, the man, identified as 35-year-old Oumnakil Thanakorn originally from Thailand, used the help of two women to convert S$37,000 ($28,545) worth of chips into cash.
Sentenced to One Year and Three Weeks in Prison
On October 1, Thanakorn was slapped with a prison sentence of one year and three weeks following his arrest in July 2024 when police recovered casino chips valued at S$10,000 ($7,714) from his home, as well as a locker, and on his person.
Court documents did not reveal how he was discovered.
The Thai national pleaded guilty to three charges, including criminal breach of trust by dishonest misappropriation and instigating others to assist in converting his criminal proceeds.
Two more charges will be taken into consideration for this upcoming sentencing.
Originally, the man risked spending two and a half decades in prison, along with fines.
Nonetheless, prosecutors opted for a less severe sentence of between 12 to 14 months following his agreement to enter a guilty plea.
Upon completing his sentence, Thanakorn is expected to be deported back to Thailand.
An offender convicted of converting criminal proceeds or instigating another person to do so can face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to half a million dollars, or both.
The “Handy” Roulette, Baccarat, and Pontoon Dealer
Thanakorn started his role as a card dealer at RWS Casino in December 2022. He was responsible for dealing cards and managing chips for popular games such as pontoon, roulette, and baccarat.
His theft activity began a few months later, in April of 2024, when he started to take casino chips from the float, the dealer’s stack of chips on the game table.
In an attempt to conceal his actions, the croupier would cover his hand with a piece of paper while placing it on the float, shielding it from view.
He would then take a S$1,000 ($771) or a S$5,000 ($3,857) chip from the float, and move his hand to his trousers to tuck the chip into his waistband or slip it through the zipper.
Between April and July 2024, he repeated this procedure on at least 29 separate occasions.
Help from Gamblers
Since exchanging the stolen chips for cash himself would have raised suspicion, he sought out individuals willing to assist him, offering them a commission for their help.
Between May and July, Thanakorn met with two female gamblers, Buengloy Ananyaporn and Techawattanasakul Warattharin, on seven occasions, handing them chips they exchanged for cash at the casino owned by Malaysia-based Genting Group.
Ananyaporn facilitated the exchange of S$32,500 ($25,073) worth of chips, while Warattharin exchanged S$4,500 ($3,471). The money was not recovered.
Clearing Debts Was Not Enough
Initially, Thanakorn used the funds to settle debts he had accumulated in Thailand and to support his daughter living there.
However, even after clearing his debts and sending money to his daughter, he continued to commit crimes and used the stolen funds for his personal expenses.
In May, we reported on the story of a casino dealer and a woman accused of using an unelaborate cheating scheme at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
At the end of March, the authorities in Ontario arrested four players and a casino dealer for cheating, charging them for counts of fraud, and breach of trust, among others.
