Casino Workers Fired for Stealing Tokens and Overpaying Patron

Two workers at The Star Entertainment Group’s Sydney gambling establishment in New South Wales were dismissed and found guilty in court for trying to pilfer more than $30,000 Australian dollars (£16,732/€19,513/$23,233) in gaming tokens.

Casino detectives discovered that a baccarat vendor, Richard Quach, was caught on video surveillance taking five tokens from the table and putting them in his sock while dealing cards last year.

Quach took tokens worth $11,000 over a week in July 2020.

The five tokens, valued at a total of $5,000, were recovered, and the vendor admitted he had exchanged $6,000 worth of tokens to play slot machines at the gambling house.

Quach was terminated by The Star casino and convicted of larceny in the New South Wales Local Court. He was given a two-year Community Corrections Order (CCO) and instructed to pay $6,000 in restitution.

A CCO includes standard requirements that the offender must not commit any offenses and must appear in court at any time during the order.

In addition to the nighttime restrictions, the court can implement other stipulations when handing down a community correction order, such as volunteer work, recovery and treatment mandates, and limitations on communication with specific individuals.

In a separate occurrence, security cameras captured another worker, Paradorn Nawisakon, providing a patron with $6,000 in chips for only $1,000 in cash.

Further inquiries revealed that Nawisakon had overpaid the same patron a total of $20,000 on four separate occasions.

According to the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, the dealer confessed to working with the patron after the idea was “first proposed in a playful way.”

He was given a two-year community correction order and required to reimburse Star City $8,550.

“Casino-specific personnel are hired to supervise and promote authorized gambling activities,” stated Philip Crawford, chair of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority.

“These individuals are entrusted with upholding the integrity of casino operations, safeguarding them from criminal activity, serious misbehavior or exploitation, and are held in high regard.”

Crawford stated that Star City acted appropriately in dismissing the employee after self-reporting the misconduct in accordance with its regulatory responsibilities.

In December of the previous year, two other casino employees were prohibited from working in casinos in New South Wales for five years due to serious misconduct.

A gaming server, who confessed to struggling with a gambling addiction, was discovered placing 28 wagers on a betting application during work hours. Simultaneously, a gaming dealer, while not on duty, was apprehended for distributing illicit substances in a public zone of the casino.

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