Two IT workers steal £33000 from Casinos

It really is no wonder that online casinos keep a watchful eye on mysterious transactions as there are always people who will try to cheat the system as the latest to come to light where two IT contractors stole as much as £33,000 before getting nabbed by the alertness of a cashier. The two men, Andrew Ashley and Nimesh Bhagat had been working with the gambling software for some time but in 2007 decided to put this intimate knowledge of the systems of Gala Casinos to use by rigging remote Roulette terminals to print out winning slips of £600 which could then be cashed in. The system is intended to allow punters to bet on a roulette wheel remotely, ie from any Gala outlet such as Bingo halls and if a winning number drops, the machine prints out a slip which can then be cashed in. The two however rigged the machines to print a winning slip for £600 no matter what number dropped on the wheel and over a 3 month period at four casinos managed to walk away with a lot of money. The scam only came to light after an alert cashier noticed that the £600 slip was for a £10 bet placed at 35 to 1 and the investigation started. Scotland Yard seized computers from the homes of the two and studied video footage which placed the two at the locations at the time of the crimes. The men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 200 hours community service as well as paying back the money they stole and to deter further action they also received a 12 month suspended jail sentence..Detective Inspector Ann-Marie Waller said “The £33000 might easily have rolled into hundreds of thousands. These men not only used their intimate knowledge of two complex systems to break the law and make these fraudulent claims, they also breached the trust of their employers and any semblance of professional integrity”. It is not known what happened to the cashier but we hope he or she got a goods bonus.