Casino Cheat Arrested After Cashing Out Someone Elses Winnings

The Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore was the scene of an opportunistic cheating scam, when a casino patron cashed out S$630 of a fellow customer’s slot win, after he had walked away from the machine.
The incident took place on February 16, when the victim Mr Soh Wee Chen, a 32 year-old sales executive, had been playing on a Russian roulette machine when he removed his casino membership card but mistakenly believed the credits would be automatically transferred to his card.
Accounts assistant Alice Lau Qian Xiu (46), was playing on the machine next to him when she spotted his mistake and so, after making sure the coast was clear, she managed to cash out his winnings and redeem Mr Soh Wee Chen’s printed “cashout ticket” at the casino’s cashier desk.
However, Alice Lau Qian Xiu didn’t get a chance to enjoy her illicit S$630 windfall, after Mr Soh Wee Chen returned back to the machine only to discover his credits had already been cashed out.
The casino CCTV footage confirmed his story, and the Resorts World Sentosa subsequently refunded Mr Chen his credits and tracked down Lau, who hadn’t gone too far and was still gambling on the premises. When confronted by the staff, she confessed to having committed the crime and instantly handed back the $630.
Following the incident, Alice Lau Qian Xiu was prosecuted by the casino and after being out on a S$5,000 bail for a month, she returned to the law courts to receive her punishment. Xiu was facing a possible maximum two years jail sentence and a fine of up to S$10,000, but her lawyer Mr Subhas Anandan, successfully argued for a more lenient approach.
Outlining his client’s honest background, her cooperation with investigators and putting the crime down to a “a moment of impulse”, Alice Lau Qian Xiu was let off with a $1,500 fine.