While there’s high likelihood that at least three of the Bellagio cheaters will serve jail time, at least the accused perpetrators are still alive and retain usage of all 10 fingers-which may not have been the case if they got caught doing it in the 1960s and ‘70s. “Because craps is such a verbal game, numbers get called out as bets are placed down-it’s almost impossible for surveillance to catch a move like this one there has to be somebody turning the dealers in,” says Sal Piacente, president of Universal Game Protection, which consults with casinos around the world. “All you see is dice being rolled and chips getting tossed onto the felt. Cooper Jr., pleaded guilty last week to felony theft after ratting out his alleged accomplices. The craps conspirators reportedly got rich by making phantom “hop bets.” A hop bet is a one-time, high-risk verbal proposition in which a player wagers that a specific number will be rolled next.
The high-stakes hustle involved two craps dealers posting bets to winning numbers after the dice landed, which authorities say defied 452-billion-to-one odds. When a cheating scandal recently unraveled at a Bellagio craps table in Las Vegas, three of the four accused participants were arrested, and one turned state’s evidence, in a scam that is said to have netted more than $1 million over two years.
