Dealer Accused of Casino Card Cheating in Canada and US
A 46 year old man has been arrested and convicted in San Diego for his part in cheating scheme that ripped off casinos in the United States and Canada.
Mike Waseleski is a former card dealer from the Resorts East Chicago Casino in East Chicago, Indiana, who was caught as part of a mass arrest involving a ring of casino cheats.
The Tran Organization has seen 41 of its members arrested and pleading guilty to ripping off at least 27 casinos in the US and Canada, and Waseleski was the latest to face the court.
Some of the casinos involved were the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula and the Sycuan Casino in El Cajon.
Waseleski was convicted for his role in a scam that managed to net $1.5 million from an Indiana casino.
He was recruited by the ring and bribed to execute what is known as 'false shuffles'.
This technique essentially sees the creation of a set of unshuffled cards (slug) which can be tracked by ring members who learn the order of the ensuing cards and wager accordingly.
In many cases, ring members were able to win thousands of dollars off the casino in this way.
Waseleski could sit for up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced at the end of March next year and may also need to pay restitution to the casino and a $250,000 fine.
