While casino heists make for great on-screen viewing, being an unwitting participant isn’t anywhere near as great. We’re going to share four real-life heist stories that might make you reconsider your next visit to your local casino.
After reading these real-life casino heist stories, web
et you’ll feel safer and more comfortable playing in one of the new online casinos Canada has on offer.
4 Real Heist Stories You Won’t Believe Actually Happened
1. Bellagio Casino, Las Vegas
In 2010, Anthony Carleo, the son of a prominent high court judge, robbed the Bellagio’s craps table of $1.5 million worth of chips at gunpoint. He hopped on his motorbike and drove off into the sunset.
But, as Carleo soon realized, chips are a lot harder to spend than cash. He was eventually arrested after he attempted to sell numerous $25,000 chips to an undercover police officer online under the username “bikerbandit”.
Carleo also pled guilty to a similar crime that took place just five days earlier, this time at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino. He made off with $19,000 in cash and this heist was likely the inspiration behind his Bellagio heist. Carleo has been sentenced to nine years in prison and all but $375,000 of the chips was recovered.
2. Soboba Casino, Las Vegas
Movies have the ability to influence people and because of that either some movies shouldn’t be made, or some people shouldn’t be allowed to watch them. Well, Soboba Casino employee Ronaldo Luda Ramos is the type of person who should have never watched Ocean’s 11 as the movie was the inspiration for his heist.
Armed with a BB gun and pepper spray, Ramos tied up 10 of his colleagues with duct tape & made off with $1.5 million. He and his getaway driver, also a Soboba Casino employee, were arrested a couple of days later and almost all of the money was accounted for & returned to the casino.
When he was apprehended, Ramos asked ‘Did I top Ocean’s 11 or something? I didn’t even know how much I got away with!’ and stated that ‘cocaine made me do it.’
3. Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas
Think of the typical heist scenario of “Everybody gets down on the ground, this is a stickup!” and you’ll have summed up the 2005 Mandalay Bay Casino heist. Two masked men held up the cashier by gunpoint, demanded everyone go down on the ground and a bullet was later found lodged in the ceiling.
What is interesting is that the casino never disclosed just how much money the dynamic duo got away with and no details as to how the perps actually accomplished this heist were ever released.
Further shrouding this casino heist in mystery is the fact that the perpetrators’ identities were never revealed and their capture & subsequent arrest were never reported. This leads many people to believe that the pair was never apprehended and remain at large to this day.
4. The Ritz Casino, London
A heist doesn’t require guns—real or fake—to successfully take place. Technology makes sure of that. Back in 2004, the roulette table at London’s Ritz Casino dished out 1.3 million pounds to two Serbian men and one Hungarian woman.
Nobody could believe the luck of this trio. As it turns out, they were right not to because luck had nothing to do with these Eastern Europeans striking the gold—lasers did!
The trio used high-tech cellphone-enabled laser scanners to predict which numbers the ball was statistically likely to land on. They were caught, arrested and had their accounts frozen. But that’s not where this story ends. In the ensuing court course, the acting judge ruled that no crime had been committed and the three were able to keep their ‘winnings’.
Even though this story has a happy ending for the three parties involved, we don’t recommend trying this out for yourself.
[Conclusion]
Casinos are exciting, thrilling, vibey places where your financial dreams can come true or turn into a nightmare very quickly.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that a significant amount of money is housed within these casinos. This fact will undoubtedly attract the attention of opportunistic criminals like the ones on our list.