The four men cheated at craps using hop bets with a dealer’s collusion.
Anthony Grant Granito and James Russell Cooper were added to the Nevada “black book” of gamblers this week after scamming a Las Vegas Strip casino of an estimated $1.2 million. Granito and Cooper became the 33rd and 34th names to go into the black book, which bars people from entering Nevada casinos.
The two were part of a four-man crew who scammed Bellagio in a spree ranging from August 2012 to July 2014.
The two other men, Jeffrey Martin and Mark Branco, were convicted alongside Granito and Cooper on charges of theft and cheating in 2016. All four men were sentenced to time in a Nevada prison.
Bellagio staff eventually spotted the con when they noticed the men win several bets despite the wagers having 452 billion-to-1 odds — about 2000 times less likely than it is to win the Mega Millions lottery.
How the Scam Worked
Mark Branco was a craps dealer at the Bellagio at the time. According to Cooper’s grand jury testimony, Branco had to be working the craps table where James Cooper was playing for the scam to work. The craps bettor would mumble a hop bet under their breath, which the dealer would pretend to hear.
In a hop bet, specific numbers have to show up when the dice are rolled. It is one of the hardest bets to hit on the craps table, so it has the highest payout. The dealer would pretend to hear the bet and pay out the hop bet’s winnings.
To make the con look less suspicious, the players would place legitimate bets. During those times, they would lose thousands of dollars to make their scam bets look less suspicious. The Bellagio was chosen as a target because it does not have a designated spot for hop bets. That left the casino vulnerable to that particular type of scam.
Mark Branco Remains in Prison
At present, Mark Branco was the only one of the four men serving time. He received a longer sentence, because he was the pivotal member of the crew.
Also, Cooper gave testimony in the grand jury against his fellow defendants. Granito, Cooper, and Martin are out on probation.
Why Cheating Casinos Doesn’t Pay
It is a bad idea to scam a casino. With modern surveillance equipment, four dealers at a table, and a pit boss, it is next to impossible to get away with a scam indefinitely. While a handful of con artists who move around the globe have evaded detection for up to 20 years at a time, casinos are bound to catch on eventually. Spending two years at the same casino makes the scam more dangerous.
If the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s statistics are correct, then each man collected $300 thousand apiece for their role in the scam. That means each made $150,000 a year in their high-risk scam. While that’s almost triple the median income in the United States, $150k a year is not worth the risk of prison.
They say that the best scam artists are those who never get caught. If so, then it is impossible to know how often scammers beat the casino. Given the time spent catching slots cheats, roulette gaffers, and card counters (which is not cheating), the numbers must be small.
