Crown Resorts’ $32m high-roller heist nearly undid Guinness record bid

More light has been shed on the infamous $32m heist pulled off by a dastardly duo at a Crown Resorts casino in 2013.

In March 2013, reports spread that Crown Melbourne had fallen victim to a scam perpetrated by a high roller who’d colluded with a Crown staffer who liaised with the casino’s VIP clientele. The scam reportedly involved tapping into the VIP room’s video surveillance in order to alert the gambler as to what cards were coming out of the dealer’s shoe.

On Saturday, Fairfax Media reported that the high roller at the center of the controversy was James Manning, a New Zealand businessman. During Manning’s hot streak in the Crown Melbourne VIP room, eight particular hands caught the interest of Crown security, due to what an unidentified Crown exec called “very, very suspicious” factors.

Manning “bet against the odds and won” all of the eight suspicious hands, leading Crown staff to figure out something was amiss. Eventually, they concluded that their surveillance had been compromised and that the VIP services manager who’d recruited Manning was signaling to indicate which way the high roller should bet.