Member of card-counting syndicate that won S$433,730 at MBS casino with baccarat 'formula' pleads guilty

SINGAPORE: A member of a foreign syndicate that won S$433,730 (US$324,100) over eight days of playing baccarat games at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Dec 6) over the illegal use of a device to count cards. 

Hung Jung-Hao, a 28-year-old Taiwanese man, admitted to three counts under the Casino Control Act of conspiring to use a device to record cards dealt in the course of gaming at the casino. 

Several other similar charges will be considered in sentencing.

Hung, a sales manager, had an interest in poker. He met his girlfriend and co-accused Chou Yu-Lun, 26, while she was working in a poker association in Taiwan.

They got roped into the syndicate after meeting other members through poker games in Taiwan in late 2021.

THE SYNDICATE'S WORKINGS

The syndicate, whose members come from Malaysia or Taiwan, used card counting to improve the odds of bets based on the cards already dealt in games of 7UP Baccarat.

The members also used a secret formula developed by a man interested in "advantage play" to skew the odds of the game in their favour.

The formula was in the form of an Excel sheet. There were codes corresponding to the values and suits of the cards, which a person had to key into the Excel sheet to obtain a prediction of the game's next outcome.

Members of the syndicate arrived in Singapore around Dec 15, 2022 and went to a hotel room at MBS where they were assigned roles.

The roles included a marksman, who would be stationed in the hotel room and receive information from the sorcerer on the number of rotations of the game's machine shuffler and the cards dealt. The marksman also informed the sorcerer how to bet next, depending on the formula's output.

The sorcerer was a female member stationed at a table inside the casino. She would wear an earphone, covered by her long hair, that would be connected to her mobile phone via Bluetooth.

She would receive instructions from the marksman and relay them to the auxiliary - who was to place small bets - and the tank, who placed high bets.

The auxiliary was also assigned to transmit information on the cards dealt through the group chat on occasions such as if the sorcerer's earphone ran out of battery.

HUNG'S INVOLVEMENT

Hung was assigned to be an auxiliary. He was told to make small talk with others at the baccarat table so that his girlfriend, who was the sorcerer, could focus on her role.

Hung first got involved in the scheme on Dec 16, 2022, when he was taken to a baccarat table at MBS casino, and taught to play the game and his role.

He was given S$100,000 worth of casino chips before going in - the same as the rest of the syndicate - and learnt how to spot the number of rotations of the shuffler.

Hung won about S$10,000 before receiving an instruction to stop betting on his first occasion. He then went to a hotel room where he handed over his cash chips to another syndicate member, who debriefed him and discussed his "mistakes" with him.

In total, the syndicate executed its scheme over 11 betting sessions, with Hung involved as an auxiliary in eight sessions.

His highest recorded win in court documents was S$89,200 over about three hours on Dec 23, 2022. He placed bets as an auxiliary on his girlfriend's instructions, through her communications with the marksman.

On one occasion during the betting period, Hung went to a room to pass co-accused Tan Kian Yi some casino chips and saw him operating the formula.

He approached Tan, but Tan asked him to stop as he was not supposed to see the formula.

On another occasion, Hung told co-accused Hung Yu-Wen that he was very impressed with how the formula worked and tried to get more information about it.

However, Yu-Wen purportedly declined to say more about it, adding that not many people knew about it and that she was new in forming a team to use it.

She also said there were other teams formed in Korea and the United States using the same method to win money through Baccarat, court documents stated.

Hung then expressed interest to join Yu-Wen for other jobs, but was told to first focus on their current operation in Singapore. 

He asked Yu-Wen where the next job would be, and she said it could be in the Philippines, US or Cambodia, but that Singapore was "more fun" than the Philippines.

Casino employees began taking notice of the syndicate members' conduct by going through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage sometime between Dec 16 and Dec 23 last year.

On Dec 24, 2022, Hung went to the casino by himself to gamble and was approached by security officers who took him to a room. The police later arrived and arrested him.

When the other syndicate members could not contact Hung, they suspected he had been arrested and decided to leave.

Of those who fled, Tan was arrested in Malaysia. He had intended to travel to Taiwan in February this year. He was extradited to Singapore and given 40 months' jail for his role.

Another co-accused, 46-year-old Malaysian Chai Hee Keong, was arrested at Woodlands Checkpoint in June and criminal proceedings against him are ongoing.

The syndicate won a total of S$433,730 from its operations at MBS casino over eight days in December last year. No restitution has been made.

Hung will return to court for mitigation and sentencing later this month.