Five sentenced for roles in slot cheating ring targeting casinos in Nevada

Monday, Oct. 2, 2000 | 2:39 a.m.

Five people have been sentenced to prison for participating in a slot machine cheating ring that targeted Nevada casinos.

Authorities said the five were part of a group that stole from $500,000 to $5 million during a nine-month period in 1998.

In September 1999, a federal grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Bao Ming Lin, 44, Jin Xie Qiong, 44, Feng Ying Liu, 34, and He Biao Liu, 33, on a conspiracy charge.

Authorities described all four as Las Vegas residents who illegally immigrated from China.

A superseding indictment, returned in December, added Zu Qiang Lin, 34, as a defendant. Authorities said he had residences in San Francisco and New York City.

Prosecutors claimed the defendants obtained $1 tokens from Nevada casinos and then ground, filed and sanded the edges.

Members of the group inserted the "shaved" tokens into slot machines at casinos throughout the state, the indictment says.

"The machine would register a credit for each shaved $1 token," the indictment alleged. "However, when the slot machine paid out, the shaved $1 tokens were not counted, allowing the defendants, and others, to obtain legitimate (tokens), along with his/her shaved $1 tokens from the slot machine."

After playing the slot machines, the document alleged, the defendants sorted out the shaved tokens and cashed in the legitimate tokens.

All five defendants pleaded guilty to engaging in an illegal gambling business, a felony.

Authorities considered Bao Ming Lin the leader of the cheating ring. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt sentenced him in July to 18 months in prison and ordered him to pay about $49,000 in restitution.

Hunt sentenced He Biao Liu in August to 11 months in prison and ordered him to pay about $36,000 in restitution.

Last month Hunt sentenced Zu Qiang Lin to 11 months in prison and ordered him to pay about $1,500 in restitution. On the same day, Hunt sentenced Qiong to six months in prison.

Authorities said Zu Qiang Lin came to the United States from China and has requested political asylum.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen sentenced Feng Ying Liu in July to 10 months in prison and ordered her to pay almost $90,000 in restitution.