Police Arrest Man Accused of Stealing $13,000 in Chips from Encore Boston Harbor

Police have arrested Gary Hunt, who allegedly grabbed 13 $1,000 chips from a table at Encore Boston Harbor. (Image: Wangkun Jia / Alamy)

Massachusetts State Police say they arrested a man who allegedly stole $13,000 worth of chips from a table at Encore Boston Harbor on Tuesday evening. The type of table game, such as poker or baccarat, was not mentioned in the reports.

Police say they arrested Gary Hunt, 35, in a parking lot near Encore later Tuesday night. He faces charges of larceny over $1,200 and larceny from a building.

Police: Suspect Distracted Staff, Grabbed Valuable Chips

According to police, witnesses said that Hunt was sitting at a game table in the Wynn Resorts casino, but wasn’t playing at the time of the incident. He left the table multiple times to use his phone, then returned to sit again.

The final time that he sat down, he told a story designed to distract everyone else at the table.

“The last time he returned to the table, the suspect informed those around him that another nearby patron won a large sum of money,” police said in a statement. 

“After distracting the other patrons and staff, the suspect reached over the table, secured thirteen (13) orange $1,000 chips from the dealer’s tray, immediately ran off the casino floor, and used an emergency exit to leave the property.”

The security team at Encore reported that a “large quantity of chips” had been stolen just after 6 p.m. to the Massachusetts State Police’s Gaming Enforcement Unit. That unit worked with Everett police to track down a man fitting the description of the suspect in a parking lot near the casino.

Police say they found several $1,000 chips on Hunt when they found them. They were also able to find three more using security video, saying that Hunt allegedly dropped a chip while leaving Encore and losing two more from one of his sneakers.

CBS News reported that Hunt was seen by a judge in Malden District Court on Wednesday morning, where he was ordered to stay away from Encore Boston Harbor. Hunt is due to have his next court hearing on September 16. 

Casinos Dealing with Thefts of All Shapes and Sizes

While Hunt’s alleged theft could be added to the growing list of recent heists at casinos over the past year, it was a bit more direct—and less successful—than some of the other schemes that have made headlines.

In March, police arrested a man who allegedly conned an employee of the Four Winds Casino in Hartford, Michigan, into giving him $700,000 of the casino’s money by calling and texting the employee and saying the casino needed to make urgent payments. That crime took place in July 2023, a month after a similar social engineering scheme was successful at the Circa Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Others have tried brute force approaches. Last month, police arrested a married couple alleging that they stole more than $650,000 from the Primm Valley Resort and Casino in Nevada, saying that the woman jumped the counter of the casino cage and took cash and chips from an area that wasn’t being supervised at the time.