Philippines Casinos Lose 400 Million to Singapore Gambling Cheaters

Three Philippines casinos were hit by a slick syndicate of Malaysian and Chinese gambling cheaters who walked away with over 400 million pesos ($9.6 million US) in only two weeks.

Philippines' House of Representatives deputy minority leader, Mr. Danilo Suarez, has admitted that six master hustlers of Chinese origin with Malaysian and Chinese passports successfully pulled off the caper.

Three members of the group were arrested at an airport casino during a game of baccarat after the eye in the sky spotted some strange behavior by one member of the group. A quick search discovered that one of the players had a mini- camera below his watch.

According to online gambling news in Philippines, the camera was used to take photos of the deck as it was shuffled and cut.

The watch immediately processed the photos taken and arranged the cards in sequences, allowing the casino cheaters to know exactly which hands are winnable.

The Pagcor official said: "Found concealed under the wrist of one suspect was an electronic device with a camera which had a trigger which, when pushed, turned the camera on and recorded the sequence of cards every time he cut the new set of cards on the gaming table."

All told, the casinos all operated under by government monopoly Pagcor, under Philippines gambling laws, were cheated out of 150 million pesos in the Paranaque casino, 100 million pesos in Manila Pavilion and another 150 million pesos in Heritage Hotel.

Despite the 150 million pesos loss, Pagcor still managed to post all-time high gross revenue of 3.03 billion pesos for the month of May, the highest in history.

The government is dumbfounded by why a judge would allow the suspects to post bail and flee the country before collecting the money cheated from Pagcor.