A man who worked as a baccarat dealer at a Maryland casino pleaded guilty on Tuesday to helping players cheat the casino out of just over $1 million in exchange for a share of the proceeds.
Ming Zhang of Alexandria, Virginia, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison following his guilty plea in federal court to one count of conspiring to transport stolen funds.
Zhang exposed part of a baccarat deck to a player who photographed the unshuffled cards before that player and other “conspirators” placed large bets on hands last September, a court filing says. Bettors can predict the outcome of baccarat hands “with near-perfect accuracy” if they know they order of cards in a deck, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Pulice.
Pulice said the scheme caused a total loss of $1,046,560 to the casino, which isn’t named in court papers and wasn’t identified by name during Tuesday’s hearing in Greenbelt.
However, a spokesman for MGM National Harbor confirmed that Zhang had worked for the casino, which is near Washington, D.C.
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