National Police arrest four American roulette fraudsters

ON May 28 officers of the National Police force arrested four skilled fraudsters who specialised in manipulating American roulette wheels in amusement arcades. Those arrested are said to be Chinese and are suspected of several scams worth €97,000 committed in two establishments in the cities of Alicante and Alcoy.

The detainees had been operating since January 2016 in the province of Alicante, where they pocketed over €75,000 on four different occasions and in the same gambling establishment in the city.

Subsequently, on May 26 in the town of Alcoy, the network pulled off another gambling scam to win a substantial prize, this time worth €22,000, which raised the suspicions of the establishment’s manager. 

Following these suspicions, the head of the arcade where the alleged fraud took place, reviewed security cameras, finding a possible manipulation of the American roulette leading to the large win; he promptly informed the police of these facts. 

An investigation was initiated based on this information that quickly allowed officers to determine the identity of the four members of the organisation, finding evidence of their involvement in the incident and arresting them on suspicion of gambling manipulations carried out in the recreational facilities in the city of Alicante, where four cash prizes were won between January and May 2016. 

After a house search in the town of San Vincente, operatives found and seized five high-end mobile phones, a laptop and approximately €3,500 in cash.

The group specifically targeted recreational rooms equipped with American roulette, where they repeatedly won significant amounts, sometimes in record time, which in some cases was less than 15 minutes.

The gambling halls where the groups were operating detected micro power outage during their games, all pointing to external manipulation.

The group then attempted to bribe the managers of these establishments with 10 per cent of the profits in exchange for not alerting the venue of their presence.