$1Million Craps Cheats Added to Nevada’s Little Black Book

Nevada’s notorious Little Black Book of casino undesirables has had another two names added to it recently – Bellagio scamsters Anthony Granito and James Cooper bringing the directory up to 34 names of those who can never set foot in any of the state’s casinos again.

As reported by PokerTube a couple of years ago, the pair were part of a 4-man team who rigged a craps game and scammed the famous casino for at least $1.2million.

Granito and Cooper, along with Mark Branco and Jeffrey Martin, were convicted of various charges “on a 60-count indictment that includes cheating at gambling and theft,” for their simple yet effective scam, which involved ‘hop bets’ at the craps table.

Cooper and Branco, the craps dealers in the team, allowed the other pair to make fake bets during quiet times when there were few witnesses around and casino scrutiny was at a minimum.

Mumbled, last-second wagers were paid out regardless of the actual results of the dice, and the swindle is believed to have last almost 2 years.

The Little Black Book of exclusions, operated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, may only contain 34 names – blackjack cheats, slot scammers and much more serious felons such as organised crime figures among them, but other agencies have much larger databases on gambling cheats.

Griffin Investigations, for example, have been chasing the bad guys for decades now, their Griffin GOLD's five volumes containing thousands of names and mug shots, accessible online. It uses sophisticated facial recognition software and alerts casinos when a swindler or card counter is on the prowl.