40 months' jail for man who was part of a card-counting syndicate that made more than S$400,000 at MBS casino

SINGAPORE — Lured by the promise of winning money in the game of baccarat at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino, Tan Kian Yi joined a group of like-minded individuals who made more than S$400,000 in winnings by using an "enigmatic" card-counting formula.

The 35-year-old Malaysian was sentenced to 40 months' jail on Wednesday (Nov 22) after he pleaded guilty last month to four charges under the Casino Control Act for using a device to count or record cards dealt in games at the casino.

Seven other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Five other people involved have since been identified, with two of them now facing criminal proceedings.

Card-counting is a technique employed by players to gain an advantage in card games by tracking how cards are dealt in order to predict what cards would appear and in what order during the entire course of the game.

In court on Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ng Shao Yan sought 42 to 48 months' jail, stating that Tan's offences were part of a well-orchestrated, high-level scheme that involved a syndicate to "effectively cheat" the casino.

By skewing the odds in its favour, the group undermined the integrity of the casino's games, DPP Ng said, adding that it is necessary to deter foreigners who seek to enter Singapore for the purpose of committing such offences.

In total, the group's winnings added up to S$433,730, and no restitution has been made to date.

Under the Casino Control Act, anyone guilty of using a device to count or record cards being dealt out in the course of gaming in a casino can be jailed for up to seven years or fined up to $150,000, or both.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Court documents prepared by DPP Ng stated that Tan first met Hung Yu-Wen in August last year when he visited a casino in the Philippines.

The two exchanged contacts and Hung Yu-Wen asked if Tan was interested to win money in a game of baccarat. 

She did this because she knew that Tan had an interest in card counting and had attended a class in Taipei, Taiwan, on advantage play in 2019.

During this class, Tan was taught how to count cards, how the interior of a shuffler machine looked like, and how the machine worked.

Hung Yu-Wen then told Tan that she would be heading to Singapore to do a survey on how the game of "7UP Baccarat" was played at the MBS casino.

Interested in learning how he could win money playing this game, Tan agreed to join her in Singapore where they would visit the casino to observe how the game was played.

FORMULA TO WIN GAMES

Sometime in November last year, Tan met Hung Yu-Wen and her boyfriend Wang Yu to discuss how they could win the game at the MBS casino.

Tan also invited his close friend Chai Hee Keong to join him because he knew Chai was in need of money.

During a meal together, Hung Yu-Wen introduced someone called "Kelvin" to the group whom she identified as her teacher. Tan recognised Kelvin because they attended the advantage play class together.

After the meal, Hung Yu-Wen told Tan that she had a formula, which was developed by Kelvin that would help them to win the baccarat game in Singapore.

Agreeing to join her and her boyfriend, Tan was shown the formula on her laptop tabled on an Excel sheet. 

She first gave him a set of codes to memorise. These codes referred to the values and suits of the game's cards. He would then have to key the codes into the Excel sheet after someone transmits the information to him.

It would then predict and generate the game's next outcome.

Tan then asked if Chai could join and Hung Yu-Wen agreed, even promising to give both of them a 20 per cent cut of the group's winnings.

THE EXECUTION

The four arrived in Singapore in December last year and they met Hung Jung-Hao and Chou Yu-Lun, who were part of the scheme.

As part of the group's operation at the casino, each member played a different role.

Tan, along with Hung Yu-Wen, were the marksmen stationed at an MBS hotel room where they would receive information from another member on the number of rotations of the game machine's shuffler and the cards dealt during the game.

Tan also took on the role of the "tank" who was stationed at the game table and would follow the instructions relayed by another member to place high bets accordingly.

Investigations revealed that another male individual had S$400,000 and gave S$200,000 in cash to Wang, who used the money to open an MBS deposit account for Hung Jung-Hao and himself.

Each of the account held S$100,000 and they were each given the same amount in casino chips.

To help fund the group's operations, Tan withdrew S$100,000 from his own MBS deposit account and converted them into casino chips.

If the group won money, Tan would receive his share of the winnings on top of the principal amount he contributed.

The group executed their scheme using the formula from Dec 16 to 23 last year, the court heard.

HOW THEY WERE FOUND OUT

During that period, the MBS casino's employees began to take notice of the group members' conduct when they went through closed-circuit television footage.

On Dec 24, Hung Jung-Hao was placed under arrest after visiting the casino to gamble alone. 

When the members were not able to contact him, Hung Yu-Wen suggested that they leave Singapore on suspicion that he had been arrested.

The group fled Singapore at around 2am on Dec 25 to Malaysia through the Woodlands Checkpoint.

Tan was eventually arrested on Feb 3 this year in Malaysia and extradited to Singapore on Feb 5 and placed into the Singapore Police Force's custody on the same day.