Rather than jail time, suspended sentences were given to three men who were part of a gang that cheated the Grosvenor Victoria Casino out of thousands of pounds.
The Evening Standard reported that the gang netted £33,600 playing three-card poker at the London casino located on Edgware Road. The gang’s scam involved two players covertly swapping cards under the table in order to beat the dealer’s hand. The dealer was distracted by a third person while another acted as a lookout.
The gang carried out the card-swapping maneuver 32 times over a nine-day period, netting them £33,600.
Last month, on the first day of their Old Bailey trial, two 33 year olds, Tarik Nergiz, and Ergun Yasar, pled guilty to conspiracy to cheat between the months of April and May 2014. Co-defendants, Ali Kuyar, Murat Kolcak, and Ozgur Aytekin had already previously copped to the charge. Kuyar, 44, of Tottenham, north London and Aytekin, 40, of Enfield, north London, were both sentenced to 12 month sentences, suspended for two years. The two were also ordered to complete 250 hours of community service.
Kolcak, 43, of Penryn, Cornwall was given nine months, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work. Kolcak also receive an order banning him from casinos in the United Kingdom for a year.
A bail warrant was issued by the court for Nergiz, 42, of Stoke Newington, north London, who failed to appear for sentencing, while 32-year-old, Yasar, of Crouch End, north London, is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday, February 17.