Casino Chip Theft Arrest: Man Stole $1.69 Million Worth of Chips
Police have arrested a California man after he allegedly stole poker chips from the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas.
Akingide King Cole, 31, was arrested last week after a media report aired suggesting that Cole was a suspect in a casino theft. Cole was arrested outside his mother's home in southern California, according to the local Las Vegas news. He faces charges of burglary, grand larceny and possession of burglary tools.
Police found chips in Cole's possession that were valued at $396,000. However, the value of stolen chips is estimated to be worth $1.69 million. Cole was taken into custody on Oct. 24 as part of a pending investigation. The incident took place on Oct. 10 at around 6 a.m.
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Officials have not released any details as to how Cole managed to retrieve the chips, but did state that no weapons were involved. Investigators are still working on collecting the remaining missing chips.
"It was unlikely anyone would have been able to redeem all the stolen, high-value chips, which are usually circulated among a small group of high-rollers," Nevada Gaming Control Board Chief of Enforcement Jerry Markling, said according to the San Francisco Gate.
The report also stated that casinos keep a second style of chips on hand in the case of a theft to make it more obvious when someone cashes in a stolen chip.
One other casino thefts occurred earlier this year at the Bellagio which also involved poker chips. In a May incident, two men were involved, and one man was able to get away after attempting to steal chips valued at $115,000.
The second man pepper-sprayed a blackjack dealer before he could get away.
Two years ago in a separate case, a man on a motorcycle successfully got away with stealing $1.5 million worth of poker chips. He was arrested however, after he attempted to cash in one of the $25,000 chips.
