Taiwanese man linked to syndicate that cheated and won $433k at MBS casino pleads guilty
A Taiwanese man has admitted his links to a foreign syndicate that unlawfully recorded cards during games at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino.
Hung Jung-Hao, 28, is the second person to be convicted in Singapore in the case, which saw the syndicate winning a total of $433,730 at the tables from Dec 16 to Dec 23, 2022.
Hung, who has not made restitution, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Casino Control Act on Dec 6. He is expected to be sentenced on Dec 28.
Another group member, Malaysian Tan Kian Yi, 35, was sentenced to three years and four months’ jail in November.
The case involving another Malaysian man, Chai Hee Keong, 46, is pending.
Three Taiwanese – Wang Yu, 22; his girlfriend Hung Yu-Wen, 24; and Hung Jung-Hao’s girlfriend Chou Yu-Lun, 26 – are said to be also involved in the syndicate, but court documents did not disclose the outcome of their cases.
In August 2022, Tan met Hung Yu-Wen for the first time when he visited a casino in the Philippines. She asked Tan if he was interested to win money by playing baccarat.
Two months later, he met her and Wang in Singapore, where they stayed at MBS and observed baccarat games at the casino.
They met again in the Philippines in November 2022, and Hung Yu-Wen told Tan that she had a “formula” that could help them win in baccarat.
Hung Yu-Wen taught Tan how to use the formula and gave him a set of codes to memorise. The codes referred to the values and suits of the cards in baccarat games.
The offenders met in Singapore on Dec 15, 2022. The group operated here until Dec 23, 2022, before casino staff watched closed-circuit television footage and noticed the syndicate members’ conduct.
On Dec 24, 2022, Hung Jung-Hao went to the casino alone to gamble and was arrested by the police soon after.
Suspecting he had been caught when he became uncontactable, the other syndicate members left Singapore the following day.
Tan was arrested in Malaysia in February 2023 while Chai was caught at the Woodlands Checkpoint four months later.
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