There were some puzzled looks on the faces of staff at the Rainbow Casino on Summer Street in Aberdeen recently, for when they went to open one of their gaming tables at 10pm in the evening for the nights gaming action, there was one important thing missing from the one of their Blackjack tables.
That was the chip tray which, as any experienced Blackjack player will know is where the Dealer keeps his or her float. The tray is around two-foot-long and a foot or so wide and is covered with a lockable glass lid when the table is not in use, however it is detachable from the table and simply requires someone to pull the tray out to release it from the gaming table.
Well, that is exactly what one of the customers of that casino decided to do, last Tuesday, and that chip tray contained some £9000 in casino chips.
However, that customer, one Mahmudul Hasan aged 47, then returned to the casino later to cash in £700 worth of chips, and once staff had noticed the chip tray missing it didn’t take the police very long to track him down to another nearby casino.
He was then arrested for theft of that chip tray and it contents, which was found by police in a bin nearby the casino.
Having just appeared in court for the theft, Hasan claimed it was his gambling addiction that led him to steal the chip tray and the £9000 of gaming chips, to which the Sheriff on duty in the court has deferred has sentencing.
The Sheriff expressed his concern that the gambling problems that Hassan says he has needs addressing before he will resume the case, which has now been adjourned until May.
