What's the Story Behind the Latest Entries into the Black Book?

"Branco was the ringleader of a scam in a crap pit at Bellagio." Surely, there's a good story there. And it would be?

This question comes from our QoD from 9/17, about the Nevada Black Book.

Marc Branco was a crap dealer at Bellagio who engineered a cheating scam over a two-year period between 2012 and 2014 that took more than $1.2 million out of the casino. The inside job involved last-minute hop bets by three confederates, Anthony Granito, James Cooper, and Jeffrey Martin, at Branco's table.

A hop bet calls for a specific number on each die to show up on the next roll. For example, you want to bet that the next roll will be a 2 on one die and a 5 on the other. That's an easy hop. You can also bet a hard hop: both dice come up with the same number.

Here's the crux of the scam. The Bellagio crap tables didn't have a designated spot on the layouts for hop bets. So the players in the crew "told" the dealer what hop bets they wanted. Most of the time, the cheaters didn't even make the hop bets. But no matter what happened on the next roll, the hop bets never lost. Branco paid off his confederates, while managing to evade surveillance over the two-year period. But then, they got caught.

Granito and Cooper were convicted of cheating Bellagio, served time in prison, and were the 33rd and 34th entries onto the Nevada List of Excluded Persons, often referred to as the Black Book.

Jeffrey Martin is the brother-in-law of Mark Branco. Martin was also convicted, though he didn't go to prison, receiving probation instead. He didn't have to serve time, but he did lose his bid to remain out of the Black Book in a rare hearing before the Gaming Commission. He's number 35 on the list.

The dealer and putative ringleader, Mark Branco, was sentenced to four to 10 years for his part in the cheat. He served three of them. Branco is the 36th member of the exclusive Black Book club.

This crew of crap cheats makes up 11.1% of the entire Nevada List of Excluded Persons.

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Comments

Donzack Oct-22-2021

Book

Seems like there should be a book about the entries in the black book. Available in LVA?

shadow520 Oct-22-2021

Book

I second Donzack!  That would be an interesting read.

rokgpsman Oct-22-2021

And the loot?

What happened to the $1.2 million that was stolen? Were there fines levied that the bad guys had to pay? If not, maybe the crime was worth the reward. A few short years in prison for a large share of $1.2 million could be a fair trade to guys used to working for casino dealer wages or other similar jobs. 3 years in Nevada state prison for your share, that could be several hundred thousands of dollars waiting when you get out.

Kevin Lewis Oct-22-2021

Also...

Nevada state prisons used to allow gambling! I'm sure there were improvised crap tables. Maybe there was even toking. So, not much different inside than outside. Both casino employees and prison inmates back then got free meals. Maybe the Carson City prison had a sportsbook. I don't know if they had a buffet.

I wonder if they had a players' club. Room comps would have been pretty useless.

Derbycity123 Oct-22-2021

Questions

How did they know it was 1.2 million? Did they go back and watch tapes of the crime? Hard to believe they would keep the tapes that long and it would be hard to tell the payouts from above. Did the group keep records?  How does a casino not have a place on the layout for the bet? Do they have one now? How could the dealer pay off the bet without the stickman being involved? I guess the table was busy when this cheating took place.

AL Oct-22-2021

Q for LVA on this

I don't understand how the hop bets won all of the time. The story said: "the players in the crew 'told' the dealer what hop bets they wanted. Most of the time, the cheaters didn't even make the hop bets. But no matter what happened on the next roll, the hop bets never lost." Anybody with half a brain would know that the chances of a hop bet (such as 5+2 or 4+3 or 6+1) winning would be small, and anybody with a full brain would know that the exact chances are 1/18, so no matter what hop bet is announced, those bets shouldn't be winning, not even 1/4 of the time. If they were winning all of the time, everybody should've noticed it and also known that the phenomenon of them winning all the time (or even half the time) was seriously unlikely statistically, and thus that something fishy was going on. Of all people, I can't imagine that the pit boss would not have been sharp enough to notice that warped result. Heck, even the boxman (the guy who presides over the table) should've noticed.

Roy Furukawa Oct-22-2021

Desert Jail

I can’t imagine doing even a few years in jail, much less in the middle of a desert. Ultra hot summers and some cold winters can’t make that a comfortable stretch.

Question of the Day - 22 October 2021

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