Fake gaming chips scam at Crown Casino, by Robyn Grace - The Age - 24th April 2009

Melbourne's Crown Casino has been forced to check the authenticity of $13.7 million worth of gambling chips after the discovery of counterfeit $1000 tokens.

The casino has identified $36,000 in fraudulent chips since the brazen deceit was identified by a staff member yesterday afternoon.

Crown spokesman Gary O'Neill said staff examined 13,700 individual tokens, including 4000 from the gaming floor, following the discovery.

Thirty-five other fraudulent $1000 chips were found in what is believed to be the largest fraud detected at Crown in recent years.

The casino has since changed the appearance of the chips to limit further damage.

Mr O'Neill today denied reports the casino had yesterday been in crisis, saying it took staff only a couple of hours to examine the $1000 chips.

"A review of the rest of the (denominations of) chips wouldn't take us all that long either,'' he said.

Mr O'Neill said while the quality of the fakes was good enough to pass ``first muster'', casino security staff identified the fraud ``relatively quickly''.

``I think in the early days it was fair to say that the quality of the fakes was laughable. These days they're getting better at it but so are we (at detecting the fakes),'' he said.

Mr O'Neill said it was impossible to know the real value of the fraud but the fake chips were believed to have been in circulation for less than a day.

``They were on the floor, clearly they had been passed for something. I don't know whether they were cashed in or whether they were simply there in circulation.''

Mr O'Neill said the matter has been reported to Victoria Police, who are ``taking it seriously''.

A police spokesman today confirmed officers would work with Crown security staff to investigate the matter.

The incident has also been reported to the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, which will alert other casinos throughout Australia. (Credit: The Age)

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