The Mark Twain Casino, located in LaGrange Missouri, could be looking a $50 000 fine. The fine could be imposed for multiple incidents of cheating, which took place at the casino between December 2016 and August 2017. The cheating occurred due to improper supervision at the gaming tables. This led to several dealers assisting players in cheating. The casino could also be liable for not reporting the issues to the Missouri Gaming Commission promptly.
The Mark Twain Casino in Missouri could receive a $50 000 fine for cheating. Numerous dealers and other staff reportedly assisted players, costing the casino as much as $50 000 a month in losses.
Table Game Dealers Help Players
The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) was first alerted to possible cheating at the beginning of August in 2017. The possible cheating was reported by the Casino Surveillance Manager and Director of Casino Operations. The commission has stated that there were numerous employees in the table games department who knew, or suspected, that cheating was going on. However, they did nothing to prevent it.
The cheating that was going on wasn’t particularly clever, or well hidden. Some examples include dealers who never cleared losing bets off the craps table, or the dealer saying the dice went bad when a player rolled a seven. Some dealers even called out different numbers than the ones that were rolled. While craps saw plenty of cheating, Roulette was also a victim. The croupiers would allow bets to stand, even after the player changed them when the result was known. The pit bosses were also involved and allowed this, while the surveillance department failed to notice the blatant cheating.
Missouri Cheating Loses Impossible to Calculate Accurately
It appears the reason for the cheating was simply for larger tips. Dealers noted that they received larger tips from players when they allowed them to get away with cheating. The gaming commission stated that not only did the cheating take money from the casino, but it also from the state, as the taxes would have been lower. The report on the cheating stated that it is impossible to know how much the cheating cost the state and the casino itself. It is thought that it cost the casino as much as $50 000 per month.
Several employees have been fired and arrested in relation to the scandal. Many are surprised by the size of the fine, which seems quite small in the world of casinos. However, many other punishments handed out by the MGC are less than $10 000.
