Mohegan Sun Baccarat Dealer Allegedly Fixed Decks to Help Player Win $124k
While land-based casino baccarat and online baccarat offer some of the most favorable odds in a casino, there will always be some who feel the need to improve them further by any means necessary. For instance, a baccarat dealer at the Mohegan Sun casino resort in Connecticut was recently charged with manipulating cards to aid a player, resulting in a $124,000 loss for the casino.
Casino Cameras Catch Dealer Manipulating Cards
On April 21, 2023, a pit manager at the casino became suspicious of the way that dealer Yu Wen Fu was handling the cards. Upon reviewing the casino’s CCTV, tribal police determined that he was ordering the cards in a particular way before a certain player, Haoen Jiang, came to play at his table.
The dealer is supposed to perform a Wash Shuffle. When washing the cards, they are placed face down in two rows and then moved around in circles for at least 5 seconds to mix them up. This is repeated at least three times. After a couple of minutes, the cards are gathered together and shuffled with the standard riffle-strip-riffle-cut shuffle a few times before the game starts.
However, Fu did not follow the standard procedure. Instead, he arranged the cards in a specific order, so Jiang knew what cards were coming when playing. The police analyzed their games and determined that as a result of the scheme, the casino lost $124,260 between March 29 and April 20, 2023.
Manipulating the Naturals
Readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware that the aim of baccarat is to bet on which position, banker or player, will have a total closer to nine. The police believe that Fu was alerting Jiang when a nine was due to appear using strategically placed face cards. Using the surveillance footage, the casino was able to determine exactly how much was won on each hand.
When questioned, Jiang denied any form of cheating. However, he was found to have Fu’s telephone number saved on his own telephone. He claimed that they were simply talking about concert tickets and at the time, he was removed from the casino without facing any formal charges.
Dealer Claims Innocence
While the investigation took place, Fu was suspended from work and, all the while, claimed that the cards were accidentally flipped face-up during the wash and all he was doing was turning them face down again.
Fu was eventually arrested on November 15, 2023 and was charged with first-degree larceny, second-degree larceny (four counts), and third-degree larceny. He was released on a $25,000 bond and arraigned in New London’s Part A court on January 8, 2024, on charges of serious crimes (felonies).
Cheating in Las Vegas
The Mohegan Sun isn’t the only venue to have suffered from cheating baccarat players. Two dealers in Las Vegas at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa were arrested in November for helping players cheat and win thousands of dollars.
Yuxuan Leng and a second unnamed dealer are accused of revealing cards to players on six different occasions in May 2023, helping each player win more than $5,000.
According to court documents, investigators found that the dealers revealed the cards to the two players in order to give them an advantage. Staff at the casino noticed that two regular players were winning more than usual and after reviewing surveillance footage, table managers became suspicious that Leng and the second dealer were revealing cards to the players.
Leng is alleged to have revealed cards to the two players before their final bets on two occasions. She would flash the cards in one of the positions to the players so that they could place larger bets and maximize their winnings. The second dealer’s name was redacted in court documents, but they are alleged to have revealed cards to the players on four occasions.
An investigation was carried out by the casino’s security and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, during which one of the baccarat players admitted to cheating with the help of dealers.
The unnamed dealer denied receiving money from players. Still, he was arrested by investigators from the gaming control board. In contrast, Leng was arrested by police in November and charged with cheating and attempting or conspiring to cheat in a gambling game.
