A blackjack dealer at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun has pled not guilty to cheating the casino out of over $78k.

Roy Mariano appeared in New London Superior Court on Monday to face charges of first-degree larceny after an investigation produced evidence that the 52-year-old dealer had overpaid a particular blackjack player a total of $78,390. The player, Marlene Rivera, is facing similar charges but has yet to enter a plea.

As reported by The Day, Tribal Gaming Commissioner Robert Bjork asked the Mohegan Tribal Police to open an investigation into Mariano in September. Officer Thomas Nickerson reviewed the casino’s surveillance recordings, which revealed that Mariano had been sneaking a single $100 chip into stacks of $5 chips every time he paid Rivera for a winning hand.

Questioned by Bjork, Mariano said he’d been short of money ever since the casino shifted him from full-time to part-time employment in March. Mariano claimed Rivera approached him a few months later about participating in the scam. Mariano said he couldn’t remember exactly how big a cut of the ill-gotten gains Rivera had shared with him.