Chip scam at part-owned GEG casino lasted year: report

Dec 23, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World  

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Three Britons have been jailed for cheating – in a year-long scam – a European casino that is now part-owned by Macau gaming operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.

The trio were found guilty of switching casino chips bought for EUR10 (US$11), with ones worth EUR1,000 while playing roulette at Casino de Monte-Carlo (pictured) in the Mediterranean principality of Monaco, reported the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The professional gamblers were handed prison sentences of between 10 and 30 months by a Monaco court on Monday and ordered to pay back EUR850,000 of the EUR3.66 million they were accused of pocketing from the fraud over a year, the media outlet added.

It was only in July that Macau gaming operator Galaxy Entertainment acquired its 5-percent stake, for EUR40 million, in Monaco casino firm Société des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Étrangers à Monaco, also known as SBM. The latter company operates four casinos in the principality, including Casino de Monte-Carlo, according to its corporate website.

In late August Galaxy Entertainment announced that Michael Mecca, its president, had become a director of SBM.

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