Man gets 5 weeks' jail for stealing gambling chips, collecting winnings of other patrons at Marina Bay Sands
SINGAPORE — After a losing streak at the Marina Bay Sands Casino, he stole other patrons’ chips by shifting them to his own bets, even collecting the winnings on at least one occasion.
Chinnasamy Muniraj, 26, stole chips on more than 34 occasions over four days in July this year. The chips he stole had a value of S$845 in total.
On Friday (Nov 11), the Indian national who was working as a construction worker at the time was sentenced to five weeks’ jail.
He pleaded guilty to one count of theft and another of fraud under the Casino Control Act. One other similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing by District Judge Ow Yong Tuck Leong.
The court heard in one instance on July 10 at about 1am, Chinnasamy received S$175 in winnings in a dice game of Sic-Bo, commonly known as big-or-small in Mandarin, after lying to the dealer that one of the bets on the table belonged to him.
In his first statement to the police, he again lied that he took chips from other punters on only two occasions, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ng Shao Yan said.
“It was only when the police recorded his subsequent statements and confronted him with closed-circuit television footage that he admitted to other occasions where he committed theft of cash chips and fraudulently representing to the casino’s dealers that winning bets which belonged to other patrons were his,” he said.
After his taste of success with his winning bet using stolen chips, Chinnasamy continued stealing chips from other patrons either by shifting the chips or removing them from the table.
He did so at least 34 more times, stealing chips valued at between S$5 and S$50 each time.
He has yet to return the money he stole, DPP Ng said.
Chinnasamy’s streak ended on the July 14 when he was arrested after stealing S$15 worth of chips that day, though court documents did not state how his offences came to light.
His sentence was backdated to Oct 21, the first day he was held in remand.
For fraudulently representing himself as the owner of the winning bets, he could have been fined up to S$150,000 or jailed for up to seven years, or both. Offenders convicted of theft may be jailed for up to three years or fined, or both.
