Second Casino Fraud Case
Alice Lau is out on S$5,000 bail
THE second person taken to court on Wednesday for a casino-related offence at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is accused of claiming S$630 belonging to another gambler.
Alice Lau Qian Xiu, 46, an assistant accountant, is alleged to have misappropriated a “cashout ticket” bearing that amount in credit from 32-year-old sales executive Soh Wee Chen.
Lau, who is out on S$5,000 bail, is said to have committed the offence at about 11pm on Feb 16 – two days after the casino opened on Chinese New Year. She will appear in court again on March 31. If convicted, she could be jailed up to two years and/or fined up to S$10,000.
Based on the annual report (18th September 2009) she is one of the top 20 shareholder of Kian Ann Engineering Ltd.
Kian Ann is a public listed company on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). They are an Enterprise 50 company, and a member of the Independent Distributors Association (IDA).
Pastposting Gone Wrong
S’pore’s first casino-related crime case
24 February 2010
Pastposting is placing a bet after an outcome in a game had been declared. Loo Siew Wan,53 became the first person charged for casino related crime at the Resort World Sentosa Singapore casino. At one of the baccarat table he alegedly tried to cheat by placing a bet of two S$100 chips on the ‘banker’ after the results of the game had been declared. That amateurish cheat move was the start of more problems for him. Probably he had not heard of advantage play.
Apparently Mr Loo is on the list of people that is being barred from entering the casino. Hence in order to get in, he posed as his brother by stealing the latter’s driving license. He was then charged with another crime when he again showed the brother’s driver’s license to police inspectors called to the scene.
He has been charged with five crimes related to his pastpost attempt: attempted cheating, cheating by impersonation, theft and giving false information to the police upon his interrogation beside entering the casino illegaly.
It seems that entering the casino illegaly is RWS casino’s biggest problem so far.
More stories of what people will do to enter the casino below:
Arrested for avoiding levy
Five people were arrested for dodging the S$100 levy. The five, who are Singaporeans or permanent residents, were arrested on Sunday. They could be fined up to S$1,000 for the offence. The day levy is $100 while the annual levy is S$2,000. Investigations are ongoing.
Underaged foreigner used friend’s passport to enter casino
A foreigner attempted to use a friend’s passport to get into the casino.
The 18-year-old Mongolian student tried using a passport belonging to his 45-year-old friend’s son to gain entry. The minimum age for entry is 21. The two Mongolians were detained by casino staff and arrested on Monday.
Investigations are ongoing.
Darkside Of Gambling
This was what was reported in The Star (Malaysia) newspapper:
Couple held over stabbing of Singaporean
Tue, Aug 04, 2009
The Star (Malaysia)
KUANTAN, MALAYSIA: A couple in their 40s have been arrested in connection with the stabbing of a Singaporean at a hotel in Bentong last Thursday. The two – a 42-year-old woman and her 43-year-old companion – were hiding in another room after the stabbing when they were detained. Police were able to identify the attacker after checking the hotel’s closed-circuit television recordings.
Pahang CID chief Asst Comm T. Narenasegaran said the 66-year-old victim had arrived at the hotel with a friend. She was stabbed in the neck from behind by a female attacker. The suspect did not take anything but left the victim with the knife in her neck,” said ACP Narenasegaran yesterday.
ACP Narenasegaran said the victim was sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and was reported to be in critical condition.
Compared the above to what is reported in Singapore:
Woman stabbed in Genting
Aug 5, 2009
The Straits Times (Singapore Press Holdings)
AFTER a lucky streak at the gaming tables in Genting Highlands, things went badly south for a Singaporean who was stabbed in the back outside her hotel room. Madam Teng Soon Moey, 56, was rushed to a Kuala Lumpur hospital with a knife lodged 5cm deep in her back. Doctors said the blade had narrowly missed her spine and heart. The New Paper reported that Madam Teng, who was on a short holiday in the hill resort with seven friends, checked into the First World Hotel last Tuesday.
She headed for the casino immediately and got into a winning streak, making almost $5,000. At about 7am on Thursday, after playing roulette through the night and losing some of her winnings, she called it quits and made her way to her hotel room. She paid no heed to a woman who entered the lift with her and followed her as she walked out the elevator and headed to her room.
As Madam Teng, who did not have her room key with her, knocked on the door to her room, she heard a noise and felt a tug on her handbag, which she had slung over her shoulder. It was then that she realised she had been stabbed. Her screams brought her friends out of their rooms on that floor.
Follow up News in Singapore Newspapers:
Alleged woman attacker nabbed with help of CCTV footage
Thu, Aug 06, 2009
The New Paper
FOOTAGE from First World Hotel’s security cameras helped detectives nab the suspect within seven hours. Police told Ms Eunice Tay, the daughter of victim Teng Soon Moey, that she is a 42-year-old Chinese Malaysian. She was caught within the hotel after police reviewed the entire episode over the CCTV tape, said Ms Tay. ‘The detectives stationed at the hotel managed to locate her and she was caught within seven hours,’ she added. The suspect is being held in remand, a police source told The New Paper.
For now, Ms Tay wants answers, mostly over the hotel’s security measures. How did the robber go unnoticed? How was she able to walk around the hotel with a knife? The hotel management could not be reached for comment. Ms Tay added that her mother was not wearing any jewellery that might have invited the attack. She said: ‘The police suggested it might have been the woman’s own observation of my mother’s winnings at the casino on the first night that prompted the attack.’
Genting Highlands hotel stabbing
Tue, Aug 11, 2009
The New Paper (By Celine Lim)
THE memory of being stabbed in the back during a failed robbery still haunts her. Tears well up each time she recalls what happened on 30 July. Madam Teng Soon Moey, 56, was attacked outside her hotel room at casino resort First World Hotel in Genting Highlands at about 7am.
“I was very, very scared when I realised there was a knife plunged into my back,” she recalled. “I thought I would die. ” “She was rushed to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur (KL) immediately after the incident, but is now back in Singapore. She arrived in an ambulance at about 7pm on Friday, accompanied by her daughter, Ms Eunice Tay, who had flown to KL to be with her mother after being informed by hospital staff about the attack.
Ms Tay, 30, a rugby development manager, said her mother was taken to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she underwent a series of scans and blood tests for her “irregular heartbeat”. She had suffered a mild heart attack soon after the incident.
The attacker, a 42-year-old Malaysian woman, had run off when her mother screamed. She was arrested within seven hours on the same day. Doctors in KL said that the knife, which had been plunged 5cm into Madam Teng’s back, had narrowly missed her spine and heart. The New Paper had reported the incident on Tuesday.
Madam Teng said: “I’m feeling much better, but there’s still pain even though the tubes (inserted to help her breathe) have been removed, as the doctors had to stitch up the wounds.”
Ms Tay said the rest of her family flew to KL on Monday to visit her mother. When they were packing to return to Singapore, Madam Teng asked her son to throw away the red handbag that her attacker had tried to snatch. Ms Tay said: “My mum told us that she didn’t want to see the bag anymore. “Every time she thinks about the incident, she will tear. She said her head feels very ‘heavy’ and her thoughts are very disorganised.”
The attacker had entered the same lift as Madam Teng and followed her to the hotel room door before stabbing her. “Maybe we’ll seek psychiatric help for her later,” said Ms Tay. “For now, the doctors said her heart is still unstable, and she has to be warded as they are afraid she’ll have a heart attack if she leaves. “It is unlikely that Madam Teng will return to Genting again.
She said: “There are metal detectors that every one has to pass through to enter the casino, so why was the knife not detected”. “Or if it was, why was the woman allowed in with the knife?”
Dato Anthony Yeo, the senior vice-president of public relations and communications of Genting Malaysia Berhad, assured Singaporean visitors that the resort is safe, adding that the incident was an isolated case and the culprit was captured within seven hours. “All entries to the casinos have two to three security personnel at any time to monitor guests entering the casino.
There is also the security sensor at all entrances to detect metal (objects) and all sensors are in good working condition,” he said. He added that all hotel floors are equipped with security cameras and designated security floor patrols which do hourly checks 24 hours a day. Spot checks are also conducted at lift landing areas, and there are security cameras in lifts as well. He declined to speculate on how the attacker made it past security with a knife because investigations are still ongoing. The company is helping the police with the investigations.
When asked how the hotel had assisted Madam Teng after the stabbing, he said that two duty managers, a doctor and a security team sent Madam Teng to the nearest hospital using the resort’s ambulance within 25 minutes. They were accompanied by an in-house nurse. On compassionate grounds, the company has asked Madam Teng’s family to send the medical report and bills for their review.
S’porean stabbed in Genting: Victim’s family unhappy with hotel
By Lediati Tan, The New Paper | Mon, Aug 31 2009
They are still waiting for an explanation from the hotel about how it could have happened.
She was stabbed in the back outside her hotel room at casino resort First World Hotel in Genting Highlands. That was a month ago.
But Madam Teng Soon Moey’s family claimed that till today, they are still waiting for an explanation from the hotel about how it could have happened.
The family also alleged that the hotel offered them little assistance to make arrangements for Madam Teng’s return to Singapore, and no compensation.
Madam Teng’s daughter, Ms Eunice Tay, said: ‘They keep saying it’s an isolated case, that it’s not their fault, that it has nothing to do with them.’
Ms Tay, 30, a rugby development manager, told The New Paper that the first thing she wanted to know after the attack, which took place at about 7am on 30 Jul, was how it happened. She alleged that when she arrived at the hospital in Kuala Lumpur on 30 Jul, there was no hotel representative present there.
When she contacted the hotel’s management to find out about the attack, she claimed that they declined to comment. Said Ms Tay: ‘They said they cannot reveal anything because it was a police case.’
However, Mr Anthony Yeo, the senior vice-president of public relations and communications of Genting Malaysia Berhad, which runs the hotel, disputed the allegations.
He said: ‘The hotel’s team, security and doctor had come to the aid of Madam Teng immediately when alerted by the family friend who was there just after the incident happened.’
After she was sent to the hospital, he said that the hotel’s public relations team kept in touch with the hospital about her condition. They also tried to contact her daughter on numerous occasions.
Goodwill
Said Mr Yeo: ‘From the start, out of goodwill and without admission as to liability, we have offered a number of things such as to pay their medical bills and to pay for their expenses while they were in Kuala Lumpur, as well as an ambulance to send them home to Singapore.
‘However, all help was rejected. We were informed that the family prefers to claim from their insurance.’ Ms Tay disagreed. She claimed that the hotel’s offer came only on 1 Aug, two days after the attack.
‘It was too late, arrangements had already been made by the travel insurance company on Thursday (30 Jul, the day of the attack),’ she said.
The issue of compensation was another point of contention between the family and the hotel. Ms Tay claimed that the hotel had first offered to reimburse the family up to RM2,000 ($820) to cover the family’s expenses in KL, but it was rejected by the family. Seven family members, including Ms Tay, her father, her two brothers, a cousin and two aunties had flown to KL after the incident. There were a few other offers made, and the latest offer was for RM36,000, said Ms Tay.
Said Mr Yeo: ‘Without admission as to liability and purely on goodwill basis, we offered the family RM36,000. This was the figure given to us by MadamTeng’s daughter, Eunice, in her e-mail regarding their expenses incurred while they were in Kuala Lumpur.’
Ms Tay, however, said that they have not responded to this offer yet. The sticking point – Madam Teng’s medical bills for her heart problem. As a result of the attack, the family claims that Madam Teng, a housewife, now suffers from an irregular heartbeat which may require long-term medical attention.
Said Ms Tay: ‘I think my mum deserves some medical compensation. She had no history of a heart condition before the attack.’ When asked to comment on Madam Teng’s heart condition, Mr Yeo said: ‘While the management is extremely sympathetic to Madam Teng’s condition, the management is of the view that all reasonable security measures are in place to ensure the comfort and safety of our guests.’
So how much compensation is the family expecting? Ms Tay said that she cannot comment on this as the family has not discussed it. They are also undecided about whether or not to seek legal recourse. She denied that seeking compensation is the top priority.
She said: ‘We’re unhappy with the way they treated the situation. They were not professional enough. And the lack of security in the hotel, that is the main issue.’
Gambler lose US1 million at RWS?
Well there is no story on losers, because those are considered negative. Instead here is a story of the gambler from China who won US1 million!
Since Singapore roll the dice on the first casino, Resorts World at Sentosa has attracted numerous millionaires from China and one of them is said to have won more than S$1.5mil (RM3.6mil) in a day.It was reported that the middle-aged man is among the VIPs who depositrd S$100,000. Accompanied by a young women he played baccarat. The man carried a lucky charm in the form of a golden Buddha palm, which he place on the table.
This remind me of the occasion when I saw a young chap playing baccarat at Starworld (Resort World-Genting Malaysia) who had a statue of Buddha and he kept rubbng it when placing the bet. In the end he lost too. If lucky charms do work, the casinos will ban lucky charms or be out of business long ago. Beside cheating, the only way to win is through advantage play or buy the share of the casino.
Another interesting point to note is that there are no stories of people who lost a million! No prizes for guessing where the story of the winner leaked out from!
