Two Players Charged with Cheating in Pittsburgh Roulette Conspiracy

Roulette at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. Two more people were recently arrested for taking part in a complex cheating scandal around the wheel. (Image: Nate Smallwood/Associated Press/Alamy)

Two players have been charged with cheating at roulette at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, collecting thousands in winnings with the help of casino employees.

State police say that Chen Huan Lin and Joe Jeng Chiou Lin, both of Wexford, Pennsylvania, won a combined $14,328 by betting after the outcome of a spin was known on three occasions at the casino.

Wrong Way Spins Led to Illicit Wins

The new charges come after two employees and another player were allegedly caught cheating on an Interblock Roulette game. 

Interblock Roulette is a version of the classic table game in which a casino employee spins the ball for each spin on an otherwise electronic table for watching players. On each spin, the dealer must spin the ball in the opposite direction of the wheel’s movement, which causes sensors to identify that a spin has begun and locking out any future bets. 

If the dealer spins the ball in the wrong direction, the table won’t pick up on the spin and will allow players to continue wagering. In any case where the table doesn’t register a spin, a supervisor must come over and manually validate the spin in order for any bets on that round to be processed. 

According to investigators, table games dealer Robin Schnepp was at the center of the scheme. They say that on more than one occasion, surveillance video shows Schnepp spinning the roulette ball in the wrong direction, followed by players increasing their bets after the ball landed in a pocket. 

Rivers, Interblock Working on New Procedures

Police additionally allege that supervisor Anthony Laush would then come to the table and validate the spin, allowing those winnings to be paid out. Normally, the supervisor would void the spin, then contact surveillance and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in to initiate a review of the incident. 

Another player, Daniel Mars III, was also implicated in the scheme by police last month. 

Huan Lin and Chiou Lin are each facing multiple counts, including felony charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property. 

In a statement to local television station WPXI 11, Rivers Casino said that they are working with Interblock to update the software and establish new procedures to prevent similar manipulation of the company’s roulette games in the future.

Investigators originally learned about the scheme thanks to an anonymous letter send to Rivers Casino earlier this year. In the letter, a player informed the casino about problems they had noticed in games of Interblock Roulette. 

“In the past year, I noticed a couple glitches with it, with the digital number coming up and the delay,” the unidentified player wrote.