The syndicate operated in Singapore from Dec 16 to 23, 2022, using devices to record cards at the Marina Bay Sands casino. - LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Members of a foreign syndicate unlawfully used devices to record cards during games at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino and the group won $433,730 in total.
As part of the plan, a female syndicate member who was known as the “Sorcerer”, would be at a gaming table in the casino, wearing a concealed earphone that was bluetooth-connected to her mobile phone.
She would then use the device to share information on the cards dealt in the game to an accomplice stationed elsewhere.
This accomplice, known as the “Marksman”, would then enter the information into an excel sheet to operate a certain “formula” before telling the “Sorcerer” on how to bet for the game.
Court documents did not disclose how the formula worked.
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, Malaysian Tan Kian Yi, 35, who was a “Marksman”, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four charges under the Casino Control Act.
The group operated in Singapore from Dec 16 to 23, 2022, and police later seized casino chips worth more than $790,000 from the syndicate members’ rooms.
Two of his Tan’s alleged accomplices – Taiwanese Hung Jung-Hao, 27 and Malaysian Chai Hee Keong, 46 – were charged in a Singapore district court earlier in 2023 and their cases are pending.
Three other Taiwanese are said to be the other members of the syndicate but court documents did not disclose the outcome of their cases.
They are: Wang Yu, 22, his girlfriend Hung Yu-Wen, 24, and Hung Jung-Hao’s girlfriend Chou Yu-Lun, 26.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Shao Yan said that Chai was Tan’s close friend.
In August 2022, Tan met Hung Yu-Wen for the first time when he visited a casino in the Philippines, and she introduced him to Wang. She also asked Tan if he was interested to win cash at baccarat.
He met the couple in Singapore in October 2022 and the trio stayed at the MBS hotel. They also made trips to the casino to observe baccarat games.
Hung Yu-Wen later told Tan that she had a “formula” that could help them win at baccarat. DPP Ng said that the formula was developed by a man known only as Kelvin.
The prosecutor added: “Yu-Wen asked (Tan) if he was interested to join her and Wang to win money (by) using the formula (and he) agreed to join them.”
According to court documents, the formula was in the form of an excel sheet.
Hung Yu-Wen taught Tan how to use the formula and gave him a set of codes to memorise. These codes referred to the values and suits of the cards of the baccarat games.
She also told Tan that he would be keying the codes into the excel sheet after someone transmitted information to him. On Tan’s request, she also allowed Chai to join the syndicate, said the DPP.
In December 2022, the two Malaysian men went to an MBS hotel room to meet Hung Yu-Wen and Wang. There, the Malaysians also met Hung Jung-Hao and Chou for the first time.
The DPP said that as part of the syndicate’s operation at the casino, each member played a role to commit the offences.
Among other things, Hung Yu-Wen and Tan took turns to be the “Marksman”. She also took turns with Chou to take on the role of the “Sorcerer”.
The offences came to light when casino staff looked at closed-circuit television footage and noticed the syndicate members’ conduct.
On Dec 24, 2022, Hung Jung-Hao went to the casino alone to gamble and police arrested him soon after.
Suspecting that he had been caught when he became uncontactable, the other syndicate members left Singapore the following day.
Tan was arrested in Kuala Lumpur in February 2023, and was taken back to Singapore. He has made no restitution.
Defence lawyers Adrian Wee and Lynette Chang from Lighthouse Law stated in court documents that there is no evidence that the formula involved fraud or cheating at play.
They added: “It is thus impossible to determine whether the effect of the formula would have been to change the odds of a game beyond that envisaged by the casino.”
Tan will be sentenced in November.
