Casinos proceed to show too attractive for criminals in search of some fast money. After some main on line casino thefts made information in latest weeks, a person has been charged with armed theft of an Illinois on line casino, making off with greater than $14,000 in on line casino chips on Halloween.
The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) alleges Ismail Ahmed Ateyat, of Chicago Ridge, donned a again ski masks and entered the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. Using a handgun, he demanded cash from workers earlier than making off with the chips.
Serious Charges Ahead
The suspect could not have counted on absconding with high-tech chips. Gaming Board officers have been capable of observe the chips to Ateyat’s home and recovered them together with the masks allegedly used throughout the crime.
Ateyat now faces three counts of armed theft and is being held with out bail. His subsequent courtroom look is ready for Nov. 30.
“Because of the swift and diligent work by our gaming agents and our local law enforcement partners, we were able to arrest this individual and recover the stolen casino chips,” IGB administrator Marcus D. Fruchter stated. “I am grateful to our gaming agents, Illinois State Police, Chicago Ridge Police, and the staff at Rivers Casino.”
The IGB not solely serves because the state regulatory physique, but additionally because the legislation enforcement company chargeable for overseeing the state’s 15 casinos, 11 sportsbooks, and greater than 8,400 video gaming institutions.
Just The Latest Casino Robbery Attempt
Casinos are frequent targets for criminals and a number of other circumstances have made information not too long ago. In October, former Las Vegas police officer Caleb Rogers was sentenced to 12 years in federal jail for armed robberies on the Red Rock, Aliante, and Rio casinos in 2022-23.
In September, Erik Gutierrez Martinez was discovered responsible of scamming greater than $1 million from Circa Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas after impersonating the proprietor. He was additionally believed to have performed comparable scams at different Nevada casinos as nicely – the Eureka Casino in Mesquite and the Golden Nugget in Laughlin as nicely.
Poker gamers have been frequent targets for robberies as nicely. In 2016, a criminal mistakenly robbed Doyle Brunson’s neighbor believing he was on the poker legend’s house.
Antonio Esfandiari was robbed of $1 million in money, chips, jewellery, and different valuables in 2020. In 2016, Darren Elias was additionally victimized when an armed man broke into his house and held a 19-year-old babysitter at gunpoint in a seek for valuables.
