Dealers at Live! Casino & Hotel in Maryland Arrested for Collusion

Two people have been arrested as they face allegations of misappropriating $27,000 at Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland in Hanover.

Two Men Busted for Abusing VIP Host Positions  

Sonejah Richards of Forestville and Allen Hill of Washington DC now face felony and misdemeanor theft and identity fraud-related charges in the Anne Arundel County District Court.

The pair was employed as live dealers, and specifically VIP hosts at the casino, and as part of their duties and responsibilities, they were allowed to issue various comps, which could be handed to guests at their discretion with the ultimate goal of incentivizing players to stick around and play.

It would have been all right had the pair not thought about abusing their positions and thinking that their deeds would go unnoticed. The two men allegedly began issuing various coupons and other perks to fraudulent accounts, two in particular, allowing them to misappropriate funds this way with the help of co-conspirators.

The duo would pass comp points to the same players who would, in turn, use the free slots credits and cash out any winnings thereof. Richards alone is said to have issued 30 player reward cards in February alone, ending up costing the casino about $20,000.

Hills engaged in a similar activity in March and is said to have loaded 20 player rewards cards of his own, resulting in losses for the casino of $7,300. There is no information about the two players who were supposedly involved in the scheme and who were ultimately the people to cash out the money.

Cheating in Casinos Caught Early by Properties

Similarly, there is similar information about how the scheme worked and who got to keep what part of the overall wins. This is not the first time that dealers have been accused of colluding with players to benefit financially.

In 2023, a prominent case involving two Las Vegas baccarat dealers saw the people accused of helping players win more than $5,000 on six separate occasions. One of the dealers argued that he had acted slopy in those instances rather than participating in any scheme.

The fact that dealers can be tracked at such small sums clearly demonstrates the long way casinos have gone in making sure that casino cheating is spotted early even when the perpetrators are the establishment’s own staff members.