Crime & Safety

N.Y. Man Busted in Card Marking Scheme at Sands

Court records show how Yu tried to cheat the casino and how the casino caught him.

A New York man is accused of defrauding the of more than $6,000 during two December visits in which he allegedly used accomplices to mark cards to help him win large bets at a gaming table, according to court records.

Huan Quan Yu, 48, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is facing felony counts of theft by deception and criminal conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor charges of theft and breaking the state amusements law.

State police gaming officers in Bethlehem filed charges against Yu in January, but he was apprehended and arraigned on Thursday, then committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.

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According to the arrest affidavit:

Yu aroused the suspicion of a casino employee who was dealing the card game War on New Year’s Eve. The dealer noticed that Yu was consistently winning with $200 bets when dealt face cards, but losing on smaller $10 bets when he was not dealt a face card.

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After notifying a floor supervisor, that same dealer later noticed a small indenture on an ace in the deck he was dealing from. He once again notified a supervisor. Yu quickly left the casino with winnings of $1,100.

In War, players sit around a dealer and are each dealt one card. The object is to get a card higher than the dealer. The winner is paid even money for a bet.

When Sands security personnel analyzed security video of the table, they found an accomplice, “an unidentified Asian male,” who marked about 25 face cards between 7:44 p.m. and 9:23 p.m. on December 31.

The man marked the cards by pressing the edge of the casino chip into the center of a card. More surveillance video revealed that the two men arrived at the casino together in Yu’s car.

The unidentified accomplice started out in table seat 7, then moved to seat 1. When he left the table, he gave up his chair to Yu. Seat 1 at the table gets the card at the top of the dealer’s shoe, which would have given Yu an opportunity to see if the top card was marked before he placed his bet.

Yu bet $200 on 22 occasions and $100 once, receiving a face card every time and winning 20 of 23 hands. He bet only $10 in every other hand, as he sat at the table for nearly five hours.

Sands security personnel then analyzed Yu’s previous visit to the casino, made six days earlier on Christmas day. They found Yu arrived that afternoon with another man, identified as Steven Mei.

At 1:30 p.m., Mei took a spot at the table and started marking cards – about 42 of them, then relinquished seat one at the table to Yu at a little after 3 p.m. Yu stayed at the table for the next 11 hours, winning $5,350.

During that stretch, he bet $200 59 times, receiving a face card in 55 hands and winning 57 of 59 hands. Every other hand, Yu bet between $10 and $40.


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