Gambling Scam at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore Doesn’t Work, So Police Go on the Hunt

A group of con artists made a complicated plan to cheat the Marina Bay Sands casino resort in Singapore. They did this to disprove the idea that the house always wins. The house still won, though.

Marina Bay Sands

The Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands, at night. When someone tried to cheat at baccarat by counting cards, the casino moved quickly to stop them. (Image: Pinterest)
Channel News Asia says that the plan was made at a baccarat table in the casino on December 23 by a group of people, some of whom were from outside the country. Hung Jung-Hao, a 27-year-old gambler from Taiwan, was at the center of the plan. He used a cell phone to send information to his co-conspirators who were not on-site.

The suits and values of the cards that were dealt were part of that information. He gave the information to the group so they could figure out how to increase their chances of winning, but Hung’s winning streak didn’t last long because the casino caught him.

Partners on the Run

The group tried to trick the Las Vegas Sands (LVS) property by using an online chat group called 15/12 Work in Singapore Chat Group (9). The group was made by the gang so that it could carry out its plans.

The game was 7 Up Baccarat, which is a type of baccarat that makes it easy to count cards. As the name suggests, the first card that each player gets is always a 7. This card is printed on their place at the table.

This changes the possible outcomes and the ways to win. The group of thieves thought they could use this to their advantage to make the most money, but they didn’t think about the experience and knowledge LVS brings to all of its properties.

Channel News Asia says it only took the casino three minutes to realize something was wrong. The group then caught Hung and went to look for his helpers.

That turned out to be hard, since all six of the people involved are in the wind. The police knew the names of three people in the chat group, all of whom may have left the country. They don’t know who the other three people are.

Hung was given to the police, and they are still holding him. He is from another country, and prosecutors and the judge think he could run away based on what the other people in the group have done in the past.

It’s never a good idea to count cards.

Card counting isn’t against the law in the strictest sense of the word. Only because casino owners have a lot of power with regulators have they been able to get it written down. On the surface, counting cards is nothing more than using your memory and math skills to figure out what will happen.

But that’s not how the casinos see card counting. They know that people with this rare skill will always win against the house. In the 1990s, the MIT Blackjack Team became famous. This is a good example of how knowing the math behind a game can change the odds.

Using technology instead of natural skill to beat a game, on the other hand, goes too far. Technology can give players an unfair advantage over the house, and doing this is against the rules.

Casinos have been around for too long and know almost all of the tricks, especially when it comes to finding ways to cheat like card counting. LVS has been doing this for a long time, so it’s not surprising that Marina Bay Sands found the con artists in less than three minutes.

Now, Hung is waiting to see what will happen next. For his crimes, he could go to prison for the next seven years. However, a different sentence is likely to be on the table. Since the police want to know who else was involved, he could make a deal if he turned in his helpers.