Casino Dealer Faces Counterfeit Cash Scam Charges

Dodgy casino dealers are in the news again with a Pennsylvanian court case due this week involving a counterfeit money scam which has seen two men facing charges of theft by deception, criminal conspiracy and forgery after allegedly swapping the fake cash for casino chips.

Lieu Khang David Bui, 21, of Philadelphia and former dealer Long Vu Tong, 34, of Souderton, were arrested last November after carrying out the dastardly scam at the Valley Forge Casino, Bui transferring $4000 of the fake money to Bui and cashing out the chips he received in return.

Tong has stated that he thought Bui, who he claims was a “passing acquaintance”, was “joking” when he phoned and outlined his plan for exchanging the fake bills for chips and says he told him “not to do it” according to court documents.

However, Bui showed up later that evening, November 7th, and placed $2500 on the Spanish 21 table Tong was dealing at.

Tong gave Bui chips in return and according to the TimesHerald newspaper ‘Bui then played at the table briefly before cashing out and playing a little roulette, but returned to Tong’s table and presented another $1,500 which Tong accepted and exchanged for chips as before.’

The casino later discovered that the bills passed to Tong ‘did not have embedded red and blue fibers and were not printed on genuine U.S. currency paper’, the money later being confirmed by a Secret Service agent as counterfeit.

Tong has told investigators he later drove Bui to a shopping mall and ‘voiced his displeasure at the situation by “cursing and telling him off.”' Both men have preliminary hearings on March 7th.

It’s certainly not the first time that casino dealers have faced found trouble. A couple of years ago another poker dealer, from Cleveland, was indicted on charges of ‘gambling’ after being accused of hiding a playing card up his sleeve at the Horseshoe Casino.

Last year PokerTube reported on a poker dealer at a Florida racetrack casino who has been charged with felony fraud after being caught on CCTV stacking the deck, allowing an ex-employee win almost $30,000.

More recently, my colleague Charles Retmuller reported on a Louisiana poker dealer and his alleged accomplice were arrested on theft charges after attempting to rig a poker game in order to collect the payout on a $166,471 Bad Beat Jackpot.