Biggest, Most Unbelievable Casino Heists in History
Millions and Millions Were Robbed
Crown Casino Gets Fleeced
The biggest casino heist took place over eight hands of blackjack for money in 2013. Hard to imagine, but yes, New Zealand businessman James Manning pulled a fast one on the Crown Casino. Imagine how confident you would have had to be to play for this kind of dough?
Somehow, a VIP services manager and Manning were in cahoots and the Kiwi played eight hands of blackjack, winning them all to the tune of $32 million. The services manager was helping Manning in a big way, tipping him through a breach in security devices. Rather than absorb the mortifying PR hit, the cash casino quietly had Manning removed after a security person caught on to the caper.
“We could not believe what he had won and some of the bets he placed were very, very suspicious,” a former Crown executive told The Sydney Morning Herald. “Those eight hands, in particular – he bet against the odds and won, so one of our surveillance guys decided to take a closer look. It was very elaborate and they nearly got away with it.”
In the long run, it was reported that Manning did not escape with all his millions and the Crown Casino minimized damage through some clever PR trickery.
MIT Students Pull off Brilliant Moves
Bill Kaplan realized that blackjack was the only game you could win at in a brick-and-mortar or online casino. So, he decided to reach out to the highest levels of American colleges—Harvard, MIT, Princeton, etc—and talk to some of the brilliant minds about how to count cards.
Card-counting is more than frowned upon by casinos. One can be booted from the spot they are playing, and messages travel from casino to casino warning other businesses about the treachery of these card counters.
It was too little too late for casinos when they caught up. There were as many as 70 people involved at different points. In casino news, reports suggest the scheme, which played out over more than a decade, reaped anywhere from $22 million to $57 million. The winners scored anywhere from 4% to 300% a year.
Quite the Thrill Ride
What happens when you pair a released convict – murderer, no less – with someone who is driving around casinos picking up and dropping off money? Big-time thievery.
Circus Circus was the victim in this scam. It involved a driver named Heather Tallchief and her boyfriend, Roberto Solis. On a Friday when the armored truck was packed with cash—this was 1993—Tallchief was the driver and her unknowing people in the truck went in to drop off money at the hotel casino in Las Vegas.
The people charged with giving the casino took the money and headed into the shop. Tallchief’s responsibility was to pick them up in 20 minutes so they would continue their rounds.
The workers came out and there was no Tallchief. She had made off with the truck and the money in it. To the tune of $3 million.
There was all sorts of espionage and mystery involved as the pair took a charter flight out of Vegas and the country. They even dressed the young Tallchief up as an old woman in a wheelchair at the airport.
They wound up in Amsterdam before Tallchief became pregnant and broke away from Solis. Long story short, she stopped running and turned herself in more than a decade later. When she left Solis, she took only some money and jewelry, which proves even the perfect crime doesn’t pay.
Comments (0)