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Red Squadron
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Mar 22, 2011
Croupier and patron jailed for rigging roulette game
By Khushwant Singh
CROUPIER Ng Wuey Kiang and punter Leong Teck Leong hatched a scam to cheat the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino in September 2010.
The 24-year-old casino employee would throw the roulette ball so that it would end up within the 20 numbers grouped on one side of the roulette wheel.
As Ng was unable to control the roulette ball, it could land on the wrong side of the wheel. To cover these losses, he would overpay Leong when he won.
Ng, a Malaysian, and Leong, 39, a Singaporean, were on Tuesday jailed a year and nine months each, for criminal breach of trust and cheating by a district court.
Agreeing with Deputy Public Prosecutor Ruth Wong that a deterrent sentence was necessary, District Judge Jasbendar Kaur said that the scam was well-planned and both men were equally culpable.
Out of their winnings of $30,570, which the judge observed was by no means a small amount, Ng received $1,700 as his share. He did return $500 worth of chips to the casino on one of the days when they had committed the offences.
Asking the court to consider a lenient sentence, Leong's lawyer Michael Yap Gim Chuan said his client had quit his job as a planner for a transport firm to play full-time after the casinos opened early in 2010.
He went there daily and initially won between $300 and $1,000 on most days. However, his luck changed and he started losing up to $10,000 in a single night.
The court heard Leong had gambled away some $50,000 and he and his wife have sold their car and flat. They have an eight-year-old son.
