CRIME: Casino cheats sentenced in court

Two men and a woman have been sentenced after pleading guilty to trying to defraud a casino using a scam not seen before in Britain. The sting, which involved micro-cameras and earpieces, netted the gang 250,000 pounds. Two members of the gang, a man and a woman, would sit down at a table and play three-card poker. One would use a micro-camera pointed towards the croupier that was secured to the inside of his forearm under his sleeve. The footage from the camera was beamed via a transmitter, attached to the man's middle by a support belt, into a computer monitor in a nearby van. The monitor was viewed by a third person who instructed the players, who were wearing hidden earpieces, whether to bet or not. The van had two monitors, the first had a live feed and showed the action in real time. This was then copied and a second monitor was used to slow the footage down to review the cards dealt by the croupier. At least six casinos were believed to have been targeted in the London area over a period of many months. Yau Yiu Lam, 45, of Edgware, was jailed for nine months at Southwark Crown Court. Fan Leung Tsang, 41, from Paddington and Bit Chai Wong, 39, of Swiss Cottage were given nine-month suspended sentences and 150 hours community service. Slow motion croupier dealing cards / CCTV card dealing

ITN Source | January 15, 2007