Over decades, criminals have found innovative ways to pull the wool over casinos’ eyes and then walk away with big winnings. Though not all were able to pull off their stunts for long, some famous casino criminals did manage to walk away with millions of dollars for a long time.
In this article, we look at some of the craftiest casino criminals.
Dan Bilzerian
Popularly known as the “King of Instagram”, Bilzerian is certainly not shy on social media platforms. On there you’ll discover the professional poker player signposting his glamorous lifestyle, high-stakes gambling, dangerous stunts, attraction to firearms and celebrity friendships for over 32 million followers.
He’s even been featured on the pages of GQ Magazine and also keeps goats as pets.
Allegations, including an apparent physical assault on a model in a nightclub ‘brawl’ and a puzzling incident in which a woman shattered her foot after being thrown off a roof for a magazine photoshoot, saw Bilzerian come away legally unharmed.
However the one that finally stuck — at least for a while — was an arrest for the possession of explosive materials with the intent to manufacture. It’s said that the explosive mix was put in a drinks cooler and shot, resulting in a 300-yard debris explosion.
Bilzerian spent less than a day in police custody and – in the end – settled the issue by paying a fine.
Dennis Nikrasch
Dennis Nikrasch was a locksmith who robbed luxury homes using his locksmith tools. And he never got caught once, which impressed the Genessee Crime Family, who recruited him to do more crimes. But his luck and he was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
After serving Nikrasch full term, he began a new venture to manipulate slot machines to trigger instant jackpots using his locksmith tools. He won huge jackpots without getting caught for eight years. But he was caught by a group of casino authorities one day and was forced to serve in jail for five years.
That didn’t make him give up his old habits. He returned, and this time, he recruited many people to help him execute his plan. They could pull off without getting caught for years until one day. The FBI set up wires in his house when he was away to overhear the conversation with his friend.
After this, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, backlisted on Nevada’s Blacklist Book and banned from entering into casinos for the rest of his life. He should have stuck to placing best pokies in Australia offer instead!
Peter Jepsen
Jepsen is a Danish poker player. Previously he was in the military police. He netted $415,679 at the 2007 European Poker Tour. Then Jepsen also broke the (then) biggest prize pot world record in online poker, netting $499,037 in 2008.
In 2019, Jepsen was sentenced to three and four years of jail time for cheating. However reports vary on the period of time to be served. The charges are related to the hacking of other poker players’ laptops while they were at international events.