Milwaukee Bingo Scammers Brought To Justice
In the US, bingo has long been a staple at casinos on reservations. Indian reservations have given bingo lovers access to their favorite games in states that have banned gambling in almost every other form. Besides buying lottery tickets, Wisconsin residents only have about a dozen casinos that they can gamble in. When officials at Potawatomi Casino noticed that the same people were winning jackpots they realized that something wasn’t right. One Potawatomi Casinoo employee named Deandre Russell has been named as the mastermind behind the scheme. Using the casino’s popular bingo game, Pick 8, Russell was able to get access the machine and pick the numbers himself. After giving his cohorts the winning numbers, they would place their bets and all parties involved in this illegal game would split the winnings. All in all, Potawatomi Casino lost approximately $160,000 to Russell and his co-conspirators.
After alerting the police, nine people were arrested for fixing bingo games at the Potawatomi Casino. Although many casino industry experts have criticized the way in which the bingo games were handled, Potawatomi Casino is among a group of small, individually owned casinos in the US. Reservation casinos are not heavily regulated, and both the gamblers and employees consider themselves to be part of a tight knight community.
Russell and eight other defendants have pleaded guilty to their charges. Prosecutors have not yet indicated if restitution will be made, but Russell will likely spend two years behind bars as a result of his crimes. The eight other people involved will probably get lighter sentences because they have been cooperating. While bingo fans at the Potawatomi Casino lost out on big jackpots, at least they can rest assured that they will get a fair chance to win in the future. Officials from Potawatomi Casino have also indicated that they are changing the way that they administer all their bingo games.