Major mistake as ATM hands out millions in free cash

• Casino ATMs malfunction and hand out cash 
• Not discovered until punters grab $3.2million 
• READ MORE: Casino patrons’ details hacked

A malfunction caused four casino ATMs to hand out over $3.2million in free cash to those in the know over a two-week period.

Word quickly spread among gamblers, criminals and even homeless people that cash was being dispensed freely from the ‘ticket in, cash out’ machines in Sydney’s Star casino – with 43 people taking advantage of the bonanza.

In total the machines dispensed $3,219,420 over 13 days.

A software glitch occurred in machines that redeem tickets barcoded with gambling winnings as cash.

Gamblers discovered if they fed in more than one ticket, all of them would be paid out but only a single docket would be kept by the machine. The others were spat out allowing them to be redeemed multiple times for their cash amount.

An inquiry has heard how a malfunction caused four ATMs at The Star casino in Sydney to hand out free cash

READ MORE: Illegal Melbourne casino for high-end rollers busted in Truganina with police alleging it is linked to organised crime

The lure of the free cash even caused one recovering gaming addict to relapse.

Thanh Lan Le told the Sydney Morning Herald that she had spent eight months away from her destructive habit when a friend’s boyfriend showed her how the machines were handing the cash.

She spent the next 10 days milking the ATMs, visiting them on 34 times to take out $57,265 and then spending all but $5,000 of the funds at the casino.

‘I was in this trance,’ she said.

‘I’m really annoyed with myself. All that work I’d done with my psychologist was out the window.’

Twice she fell asleep at pokie machines and was offered a room in the casino’s hotel by staff, which she accepted and paid out of the money taken from the ATMs.

After the fault was detected Le and others who had benefited from the money being dispensed were reported to police by the casino.

Le pleaded guilty to a single charge of honestly obtaining property by deception and offered to repay the money.

The ATMs were ‘ticket in, cash out’ machines that allow punters to redeem their winnings

‘I understand it was my fault,’ she said.

‘I had deceivingly taken it, but the machine was giving us money.’

Le’s solicitor, Natalija Nikolic of XD Law, argued The Star could have stopped the rort dead in its tracks by reconciling its tickets and payouts daily in accordance with anti-money laundering provisions.

‘They run a system that seems to pay little regard to the licence standard expected of them,’ Nikolic said.

‘They were giving away $3 million and didn’t even notice – a system so evidently lax that it is a honeypot for money launderers. In our view the worst offending in this whole scenario could be laid at the feet of Star for these negligent breaches.’

One of those charged with gaining money deceptively, Troy Manning, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of fraud, participating in a criminal group, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The Star special manager Nick Weeks told this week’s NSW Independent Casino Commission inquiry the failure to detect the ATM fault was ‘a very significant failure across a large number of people and teams’.

He revealed the ATMs were actually faulty for six weeks but it was only during the last fortnight that gamblers discovered this.

The inquiry also heard that The Star’s head of investor relations, Giovanni Rizzo, allegedly asked the chief financial officer to hide the loss when presenting half-year results in February but she refused to cook the books.

The ATMs were faulty for six weeks but the fault was only discovered by gamblers for two weeks before the casino also twigged

Former ClubsNSW anti-money laundering compliance manager Troy Stolz, who was an expert witness, said venues that operate ‘ticket in, cash out’ machines were required to closely monitor how they were being used.

‘This also raises questions around the robustness/effectiveness of the Star Casino’s AML/CTF [anti-money laundering/counterterrorism financing] program,’ he said in a letter addressed to the presiding magistrate.

Star declined to comment on the matter saying that it would be inappropriate to do so as it was before the courts.

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