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mar
9

Cheated UK Casinos For Several Years By Bending & Denting Cards
Tags: casino cheating, fraud, marking cards, Mihai Lacatos.
Posted on 09 March 2015 by "T".

For about 6 years, an unemployed 61-year-old Romanian national cheated casinos across the UK for tens of thousands of pounds by marking cards. Mihai Lacatos was so good at his cheating technique (bending and denting cards in 3-card Hold'em) that it went unnoticed for years.

He lived at different locations in the UK and used fake ID documents to lie his way into different casinos. According to Daily Mail, he managed to swindle the Playboy Club in Mayfair, London out of £43,400 in just one week.

He was arrested on March 31 2014 at a casino in Northampton after casino employees recognised him and alerted the police. He admitted 14 fraud offences and four further charged of using false ID documents. He was due to return to court in May 2014 but failed to show up. Detectives eventually found him at Luton Airport and arrested him as he tried to flee.

Lacatos will receive his sentence in Southwark Crown Court on March 16.

Full story here

 

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11 comments on "Cheated UK Casinos For Several Years By Bending & Denting Cards"


 bowie198409/03/2015 12:59:10 GMT
I am sorry I know he is kinda a criminal but I cannot say he wasn't good at what he did. I mean he obviously didn't start this yesterday yet nobody even did a background check nor face recognition on him while playing at these places. In Las Vegas he would've go down within a month - they even get restricted people recognized with wigs and a ton of make-up.
 pochui09/03/2015 14:50:14 GMT
when casino cheats you- it's called house edge,
when you cheat casino- it's called criminal activity.

duh... grass is always greener on the other side, sh1t pile is always bigger in your neighbors yard, you're always out of money when a hot babe offers 25% off sale for a blowjob...
 klash2309/03/2015 15:39:44 GMT
If he was doing this for 6 years and getting away with it then where the hell did all the money go?He must have been living a lavish lifestyle or maybe he had other gambling problems.He shouldn't be too worried about UK courts though,I would be surprised if he got longer than a few months in prison.
 shokaku09/03/2015 19:30:05 GMT
Tens of thousands of pounds over a six year period isn't that much money. The guy surely had his expenses, for example the fake documents. So no need for a lavish lifestyle to use up the money.
 pinotte09/03/2015 23:28:34 GMT
I dont know how the UK casino are running but i just cant understand how someone could tamper with cards and nobody noticed the guy doing that.

I am sure tthat in Vegas,Atlantic City or even Montréal this kind of tampering would be detected in a very short time and the person doing it would be out very fast and could not come back even disguise. Aww crap! Aww crap! Aww crap!
 doubletop77710/03/2015 09:23:46 GMT
How this guy got away with this for so long, i will never know. I have to wonder why he kept going for so long because he was bound to get caught but sometimes people feel untouchable when they get away with it for so long
 bowie198410/03/2015 13:46:21 GMT
Posted by pinotte:
I am sure tthat in Vegas,Atlantic City or even Montr�al this kind of tampering would be detected in a very short time and the person doing it would be out very fast and could not come back even disguise. Aww crap! Aww crap! Aww crap!

Yeah, but even that every casino of the world have some sort of surveillance system in place to watch the players, they still barely got a hold on him. He was that good IMO. And probably didn't win too much every time so he could continue to play there without a hassle.
 klash2310/03/2015 15:45:52 GMT
If he could make 40 grand in one week alone I am sure he could be easily getting a few grand when he went out and he was travelling all over the UK so he obviously put a lot of effort into it.I doubt fake documents cost very much in London as they seem very common these days.
 bowie198412/03/2015 14:20:30 GMT
Posted by klash23:
If he could make 40 grand in one week alone I am sure he could be easily getting a few grand when he went out and he was travelling all over the UK so he obviously put a lot of effort into it.I doubt fake documents cost very much in London as they seem very common these days.

Fake docus are common in every country, just the price different. You could even sell your passport on the black market if you need some money. Then a couple days later you go to the police/goverment saying it was stolen from you, they restrict it's number and you apply for a new one. Boom you had your cake and eat it too at the same time.
 klash2313/03/2015 16:32:38 GMT
I don't think I would be too keen on letting someone have my passport,whether I had sold it or not.The way things are these days I would soon expect to be arrested and find I had taken out 6 mortgages around the world and racked up debts of thousands in an electronics shop in Thailand. Smile
 Skpmorita13/03/2015 20:30:19 GMT
i know this is a crime
but i gotta say that he was good at what he did
i mean doing it for all these years
casinos really take cheating seriously and have experts and professional security
so for him to cheat his way into 40k a week , it is something
still got what he deserved
few years in prison , i am sure it will teach him a lesson
it really surprises me how easy can one get fake government documents
but i guess everything has a price

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