Bettie: Baccarat Hustler Swindles Sands Macau

[Bettie]

Found this story on a South African news web site. Is there an international version of Griffin?

Macau's first Las Vegas-style casino has been cheated out of $3.8 million (about R22 million) by a baccarat hustler, a news report said on Wednesday.

The middle-aged man spent several days playing baccarat and is believed to have cheated the month-old multi-million dollar Sands casino by collaborating with a partner.

At least one senior executive at the casino, owned by Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson, has been fired over the "highly embarrassing" incident, according to the South China Morning Post.

The hustler is reported to be from Hong Kong and has already been banned from a number of other Macau casinos because of his "notorious reputation", the newspaper said.

Supervisors at the Sands casino studied video footage after detecting unusual winning streaks at the baccarat tables last week.

The casino then blocked a cheque made out to the suspect, who later came in complaining loudly that he had been unable to cash his cheque.

Police were called in and the suspect was detained briefly before being released on bail and ordered to report back to police.

Sands is the first foreign-owned casino to open in Macau which for the past 40 years has had its gaming industry monopolised by tycoon Stanley Ho, one of Asia's richest men.

At least two more new Las Vegas-style casinos are due to open in the former Portuguese colony which attracts millions of gamblers a year from China, Taiwan and neighbouring Hong Kong.

[Dog Hand]