A casino in Australia gave away millions in cash due to software glitch, recipients charged with fraud

[DragonSlayer101]

In a nutshell: A casino in Sydney, Australia, inadvertently gave away millions of dollars in cash to dozens of people due to an apparent software glitch. The bug was spotted and rectified after two weeks but by then, more than $2 million had been erroneously dispensed by the malfunctioning machines. The police have now charged the "lucky" cash recipients with fraud and a litany of other crimes.

The incident happened in mid-2023 when customers of The Star casino were able to withdraw boatloads of cash from four "ticket in, cash out" (TICO) machines affected by a software glitch. Beneficiaries included scammers, gambling addicts and even some homeless people who realized that they could milk the malfunctioning machines to make a quick buck.

TICO machines are ATM-style devices that allow gamblers to convert their winnings into cash by reading a barcode on a receipt obtained from a slot machine. While customers can normally insert two receipts into the TICO machines to redeem them simultaneously, the glitch meant that the devices were returning one of those tickets to be re-used. The TICOs, however, can only dispense up to $2,000 in cash at once to prevent money laundering, which is believed to have ensured that the casino didn't lose even more money.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the news of the cash grab emerged last week following an independent inquiry into the casino's operations. In his testimony to the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission, casino manager Nicholas Weeks blamed the faulty software for the confusion.

Weeks explained that "small additional amounts" were being erroneously paid out at first, before "very large amounts of cash" were dispensed due to the defect. By the time the casino noticed the problem, it had already lost AU$3.2 million (around US$2.05 million). Overall, at least 43 people are believed to have exploited the bug to withdraw money that didn't belong to them.

Once the problem was detected, the casino reported the errant customers to the police, who arrested some of the suspects on charges of fraud. One of them is recovering gambling addict Thanh Lan Le, who is said to have withdrawn $57,265 from the malfunctioning TICO machines after discovering the loophole by accident. She has now agreed to plead guilty and promised to give back the money she fraudulently obtained from the casino.

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A casino in Australia gave away millions in cash due to software glitch, recipients charged with fraud

 

[Squid Surprise]

Ok… first of all… the title is clickbait… since when is $2 million USD “millions of dollars”? Not to mention that was the total divided by over 40 people…

Secondly: if the people withdrawing the cash knew it was a bug, they are guilty of theft and should, at the least, be forced to return the cash they took.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Screw the casino. Guess they don't like it when the public can turn the tables and cash out. And of course, the state takes the side of the barely legal organized crime ring.

 

[VitalyT]

Winning in a casino is more serious a crime there than shoplifting.

 

[maxxcool7421]

Screw the casino. Guess they don't like it when the public can turn the tables and cash out. And of course, the state takes the side of the barely legal organized crime ring.

Every intelligent person knows the house has 2.x% house advantage and always wins. Gambling is not a source of income. if someone thinks it is they will learn. everyone reading this forum has played a card game for small cash.. do you expect to win every time? nope.

 

[Squid Surprise]

People should understand that this really has nothing to do with the evils of a casino... this is about the evils of PEOPLE. Most of the people this article is talking about knew full well that the payout machines were broken and exploited this to KNOWINGLY STEAL from the casino. They should be, at the very least, forced to return the money - and in certain cases, even prosecuted.

Yes, the people who run casinos are usually scum but... their customers know this and go anyways... anyone who gambles SHOULD know that the odds are not in their favour.

 

[BananaKing]

Ok… first of all… the title is clickbait… since when is $2 million USD “millions of dollars”? Not to mention that was the total divided by over 40 people…

Well, the article mentions they lost roughly $2 million USD, or $3.2 million AU. That means they lost millions because there was more than ONE million. Additionally, it doesn't matter how much of that $3.2 million AU each individual got, the casino still lost millions... Ultimately, not clickbait.

 

[p51d007]

Casinos didn't get built on the backs of winners ya know.

 

[Edster]

Every intelligent person knows the house has 2.x% house advantage and always wins. Gambling is not a source of income. if someone thinks it is they will learn. everyone reading this forum has played a card game for small cash.. do you expect to win every time? nope.

Preach. At least with a private card game, if the game is pure luck, you have roughly equal chance of winning and losing. And if is anything like my friend group, the one who wins big pays for dinner. Whereas when you face the casino, when they win, they just make the place grander and the executives richer. And the odds are in their favor. On many, like roulette, the odds don't look like they are too bad, but that's how they get you. In order for you to go big and keep coming back, they need to give you some wins, but so long as those some wins is smaller than your losses, they stand to benefit. Of course, people actually think they can win against the house. Main character syndrome means that in their mind, it is they who win, everyone else loses. But yeah, everything about the casino; the dim room light with flashing machine lights, the loud music, the lack of windows and clocks, the lack of sound adsorption, the frequent "free" alcohol, all aims to distract you and lose grip on time and distract your mental capacity to think logically.

And the other thing is, gamblers are hardly ever honest about how much they spend. I was at a cruise with a couple of friends recently, and obviously there is a casino. I am always very vocal about how much disdain for the casino I have, I won't even step on the floor. One of them gambles, but says he "enjoys" the process of gambling on the machines; which I call BS when he frequently complains about video games being too simple. He said he set aside a couple of hundred for gambling, but my rough estimation when caught I a glimpse of his bill says he probably spent 5 to 7 times more, and is very coy when I asked how much he spent. But he also spend money on loot boxes.

 

[daffy duck]

Trust our scumbag cops to go after homeless people. We come in peace shoot to kill.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Every intelligent person knows the house has 2.x% house advantage and always wins. Gambling is not a source of income. if someone thinks it is they will learn. everyone reading this forum has played a card game for small cash.. do you expect to win every time? nope.

I get that, I mean going to Reno from say San Fran with friends people should expect to pay for entertainment ie losses, food, drink and shows etc

I deal here with Casinos in NZ , probably Australia, they don't care people are stealing from companies to fund their addictions. they are only paying lip service. they will encourage that person and give then freebies.
They love to drain people of every dollar.
Plus the rules always favour them. A self banned addict , comes in loses $10000 ha ha
Same person wins $100 000 on a poker m/c , they won't pay - you are self-banned

Wasn't in the States you could re-mortgage your house right in Casino , could be wrong .

Law at least in NZ , Europe etc is after so many losses , person needs to show proof of funds.
Considering had anal banks are about deposits now for money laundering

 

[Squid Surprise]

Well, the article mentions they lost roughly $2 million USD, or $3.2 million AU. That means they lost millions because there was more than ONE million. Additionally, it doesn't matter how much of that $3.2 million AU each individual got, the casino still lost millions... Ultimately, not clickbait.

When a headline reads "millions" one does not envision 2 million divided by over 40 (or 3 million if using AU)... yes, I understand it's "technically" true but nonetheless it is misleading - hence... CLICKBAIT.

 

[hwertz]

That's not misleading. What difference does it make that it was like 40 people, it doesn't say some person GOT millions of dollars, it says the casino gave away millions, which they did. I mean, if some corporation lost $2 million by giving 4 million people an erroneous 50 cent discount, they still lost millions of dollars.

Anyway... I'm torn on this. (Do your casinos really only have a 2.x% house edge? The payout percentage, which must be disclosed at the front door, at the nearest one here is *88%*, so 12% house edge! I used to go there on occasion... but, besides obviously being expensive, they were so tight you wouldn't even get any bonuses (I don't mean you wouldn't WIN on bonuses... I mean, it's a little boring to just spin and spin and not even get to watch the slot machine put on a little show once in a while.) Having only 2.x% edge would be miraculous.)

Anyway, I'm a little torn on this.. on the one hand, clearly if you realize what's happening, continuing to pump money out of these machines is dishonest. On the other hand, I really don't feel bad for the casino; and, I'm not sure that is fraud. But it's something, so I guess they found it met the definition and I suppose they should be able to get their money back.

 

[subnex]

Funny enough if the software glitch would have been in the houses favour and gambling addicts and homeless people would have been ripped off, the casino would probably just have gotten a fine worth substantially less than the money made through the glitch..

 

[zulu53]

Now I wonder about the "software glitch's" that inadvertently adjust the odds on the machines to give the house 100% advantage. I presume that the Casino's don't own up to those so that they don't themselves get charged with fraud. Need some whistleblowers within the Casino IT department to come forward with these "glitches". O' yea; the employees all signed NDA's. And the Australian police have no anonymous tip line - so I guess the truth is as it has always been - the Casino's always win and in every case.

 

[hwertz]

Now I wonder about the "software glitch's" that inadvertently adjust the odds on the machines to give the house 100% advantage. I presume that the Casino's don't own up to those so that they don't themselves get charged with fraud. Need some whistleblowers within the Casino IT department to come forward with these "glitches". O' yea; the employees all signed NDA's. And the Australian police have no anonymous tip line - so I guess the truth is as it has always been - the Casino's always win and in every case.

If that. One here withdrew someone's.. I think $1 million?.. win by claiming the machine malfunctioned. (It was one of those machines where they have them linked nation-wide so eventually it'd pay this lager jackpot to somebody. So once it did they screwed them out of it.) I think they offered them $1,000? They ended up getting the $1,000. No fines or penalties to the casino, not even strong words or questions about just how they would have a slot machine take money for years, but once it did a nice payout it's "malfunctioning". Our state is perfectly happy to rake in the revenues, they have some reasonably strict regulations but are quite lax on having anyone check to see if they are being followed. (I think they more or less are, but of course you can get a bit lax on things here and there and for a casino it's a major boost to their income, and what they are taking from gamblers.)

 

[Jroc187]

That's not misleading. What difference does it make that it was like 40 people, it doesn't say some person GOT millions of dollars, it says the casino gave away millions, which they did. I mean, if some corporation lost $2 million by giving 4 million people an erroneous 50 cent discount, they still lost millions of dollars.

Anyway... I'm torn on this. (Do your casinos really only have a 2.x% house edge? The payout percentage, which must be disclosed at the front door, at the nearest one here is *88%*, so 12% house edge! I used to go there on occasion... but, besides obviously being expensive, they were so tight you wouldn't even get any bonuses (I don't mean you wouldn't WIN on bonuses... I mean, it's a little boring to just spin and spin and not even get to watch the slot machine put on a little show once in a while.) Having only 2.x% edge would be miraculous.)

Anyway, I'm a little torn on this.. on the one hand, clearly if you realize what's happening, continuing to pump money out of these machines is dishonest. On the other hand, I really don't feel bad for the casino; and, I'm not sure that is fraud. But it's something, so I guess they found it met the definition and I suppose they should be able to get their money back.

The usual on slot machines is 98% pay out in my

Now I wonder about the "software glitch's" that inadvertently adjust the odds on the machines to give the house 100% advantage. I presume that the Casino's don't own up to those so that they don't themselves get charged with fraud. Need some whistleblowers within the Casino IT department to come forward with these "glitches". O' yea; the employees all signed NDA's. And the Australian police have no anonymous tip line - so I guess the truth is as it has always been - the Casino's always win and in every case.

Fun fact Nevada Gaming Control Act Regulation 14: 14.040 Minimum standards for gaming devices. 1. All gaming devices must: (a) Theoretically pay out a mathematically demonstrable percentage of all amounts wagered, which must not be less than 75 percent for each wager available for play on the device. Fun fact All the slot machines on the strip pay out 90% or more. Crazy that the Casino's pay out more then the government mandate. I guess they care more about repeat business and not completely ripping people off to the piont they just won't play. I'm sure the Australian gaming commission has similar standards and would pull a casino license if they set the machines to take 100%

 

[hwertz]

Yeah no doubt. It may have changed, but it used to be the casinos "off the beaten path" in Vegas were still at 90-92%, and the ones on strip were as high as 98-99% payout. (I guess they make it up in volume? And high rollers of course.)

I do remember reading where one casino disclosed their monthly profits were down some fairly high amount, like 10-20%, just the one month -- because one high roller had a hot run at the blackjack tables and won like $50 million or something. They were pretty unconcerned... a) The profits were back to normal the next month. b) This dude was routinely blowing like $10million+ a visit anyway so they knew they'd get it all back in the end.

So this is kind of off topic, but this gas station in Chicago, people with diesel Chevy Cruzes (and I guess VW TDIs, and diesel pickup trucks...) where getting quite excited because they were selling their diesel for like $1.50 a gallon or so (for those outside the US, FYI the normal pricing ranges from like $3.75-$4.50 a gallon so this is a ridiculously large discount.). Of course someone asked "I'm not about to complain, but why the heck are they doing this?" In Illinois, "truck stops" can have slot machines, and "truck stop" is defined by having like $10,000 or more in diesel sales a month (or maybe it was 10,000 gallons?). So this gas station was in the middle of town, and not set up so semis could conveniently pull through and fuel up... so instead they sell diesel way below cost to make sure they hit the 10,000 a month target, so they can load the building up with slots.

 

[jpvalverde85]

Prosecution to people? Damn, the effing Casino is the crook organization there, and an effed up machine their issue. A machine is programed for a purpose, if the purpose or protocol is wrong or unfair (for both ways), or the machine has a glitch/issue, the responsibility is not on the operator/user side. Imagine the very common occurrence of a vending machine that keeps your bill but gives nothing due to a glitch or issue, now you see clearly who is responsible, and now you tell me, how much the owner cares? nothing, if it keeps stealing the better for them, if it is a vending machine rather than people the whole reason is having nobody to have your feedback, then flip it back to this case, ¿the machine gave more than it should? well, it shouldnt, but it happens, so though luck.

 

[Athlonite]

Perhaps then the casino should have paid better attention to what's going inside it instead of constantly trying to find new ways to empty the wallets of players. $3 mil AUD is nothing to them in their yearly cash take they should have just written it off as bad luck fixed the problem and carried on

 

[Nelson28]

This is crazy! It sounds like a software glitch gave some people a lucky break. I can't believe people were able to take out so much money! While the casino definitely messed up, I understand why they're pressing charges. Hopefully, they can improve their security to prevent this from happening again. Poor Ms. Le though, getting caught up in all this as a recovering addict.

 

[Squid Surprise]

If you forget to lock your front door, it’s your fault but… if someone then goes inside and steals your TV - do you just say “my bad” and let them go free?

 

[jpvalverde85]

If you forget to lock your front door, it’s your fault but… if someone then goes inside and steals your TV - do you just say “my bad” and let them go free?

But they didnt get inside! It's more like you left your appliances outside and multiple people picked them without asking.

 

[Squid Surprise]

But they didnt get inside! It's more like you left your appliances outside and multiple people picked them without asking.

No - the first people who gained the illicit funds might have gotten them “honestly”, but the rest exploited the machines knowing they were getting illegal money.

Casinos might be “evil” - but the people here are the criminals. Taking stolen goods is still a crime in pretty much every country on Earth.