Casino Cheats Caught Rigging Roulette Spin
May 16, 2011 9:00 amA croupier and a casino customer have just been sentenced by the Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to a fraud which netted them £4,600 at Maxims Casino.
Apparently, casino croupier Lindon Latham, 30, and accomplice Damian Lumbley, 25, had accrued hefty debts in their personal lives and so concocted a scheme to help alleviate their financial troubles.
In what was described by Latham’s defence lawyer, John Attwood, as a “hair-brained scheme cooked up within the confines of a public house,” the pair then decided to enact their swindle on July 28th at Maxims Casino in Norfolk Road, Edgbaston, UK.
On that day, Latham was working as a croupier at the roulette wheel while Damian Lumbley was playing a slot machine at the casino linked to the actual roulette table.
Latham then signalled to his accomplice he was about to rig the spin by performing an elaborate stretch followed by scratching his head, all of which was captured on video footage.
Amazingly, Latham then deliberately dropped a ‘foreign’ object onto the roulette wheel and instead of voiding the spin instead placed the roulette ball on the pre-arranged number ten.
At payout odds of 35 to 1, Lumbley still at the slot machine must have placed over
£130 on the number as he then cashed in for £4,600, which he later split with Latham.
However, the duos scheme was soon discovered and both men subsequently pleaded guilty to the charge of fraud. Handing down sentences, Judge David Tomlison QC then gave Latham a nine month suspended prison sentence and 260 hours community service, along with a six-month curfew.
Lumbley also received a 250 hours community order for his part in what the judge described as a “cynical scam, with both men being ordered to repay the money they won.