Casino worker charged in gambling fraud www.privateofficer.com

Shakopee Mn Oct 18 2010

A blackjack dealer at Mystic Lake Casino was charged with gambling fraud last month after he allegedly paid more than $18,500 to a high school friend, his landlord’s daughter and a woman he thought was “good-looking” even though they lost their blackjack hands.

Jacob Edwin Christensen, 24, of Nisswa was charged by the Scott County Attorney’s Office Sept. 16 with two felonies, gambling fraud and theft by swindle.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police were called to Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake on Aug. 2 for a report that Christensen, a blackjack dealer at the casino, was paying a player on card hands that he lost.

Police reviewed video surveillance that showed Christensen pay the blackjack player and not take his lost wagers to a tune of $3,875.

When casino security noticed the scam on video, both Christensen and the card player were removed from the gaming floor, at which time the card player paid $1,825 in chips back to the casino, the complaint states.

Police then spoke with the casino’s video surveillance director, who was reviewing video of the previous two weeks of Christensen dealing blackjack.

Police reviewed the video surveillance and received a detailed report of each blackjack hand that Christensen dealt and had either paid out or did not take the losses from card players. The video surveillance director told police that he believed there were three people, in addition to Christensen, who were involved in the scam and constantly benefited at the dealer’s blackjack table. There were also people at the blackjack table who did not benefit from the scam.

Christensen’s landlord’s daughter, one of the people police believe benefited from the scam, received a total of $9,500, with varying amounts received on five different days in July. Christensen also paid a total of $5,075 to a woman he thought was “good-looking” that same month.

Christensen’s high school friend was allegedly paid a total of $3,875 on Aug. 1, but paid $1,825 in chips back to the casino.

During the investigation, police called Christensen’s high school friend and recorded a telephone conversation in which the man stated that he “knew what was happening was wrong,” and that’s why he paid the chips back to the casino.

The man told police that he knew Christensen from high school and didn’t say anything to him when he was being paid on losing hands at the blackjack table. The man also identified the other two women who were also benefiting from the scam, the complaint states.

Also during the investigation, the woman told detectives that she had been paid by a dealer named “Jake” for hands that she did not win. The woman said she had been “mispaid” by other dealers at the casino, as well.
Source:Shakopee Valley News