Four New York men were arrested February 19th after allegedly tricking dealers at the Harrah’s New Orleans casino. The men were arrested for cheating and swindling and conspiracy to commit cheating and swindling. They may have gotten away with their scam if they would have only tried to pull it off once, but they came back a second night and were caught red handed in the act.

What police and the casino allege was done relates to the way roulette chips are handed out and used in land casinos. In many casinos, players may choose the color of their chips. Each players has a different color to help speed the game along and avoid confusion.  At a low limit table certain colored chips are worth a lot less than they are at a table with higher limits.

One of the men would buy stacks of $1 chips at a table and then two more would come along and distract the dealer while the first man squirreled away some of the chips. He would then excuse himself and contact the fourth man, whom he met in the restroom and give him the chips purchased for $1 each.

The new player would establish himself at a new table and purchase chips of the same color for $25 each and gradually start slipping in the same colored chips he got in the restroom. After some playing time he took the chips to the cashier cage and cashed out $3,500 more than he was entitled to.

Apparently their scheming was found out when surveillance video from February 18th was reviewed. When the men entered the casino to try their luck again on the 19th, Louisiana state police were waiting for them.