Reporters say it took only about 55 minutes for a Chinese woman to pocket more than $750,000 at a mini baccarat table at the Conrad Jupiter's Casino located on the Gold Coast. The woman, Wei Shan Lie allegedly was one of six players who together planned and executed the scam two years ago, in May of 2005. The case is just now seeing a courtroom where yesterday proceedings began at the Southport District Courthouse.

The casino alleges that Liu worked with accomplices, one of which stole a card after it was dealt, and kept the card palmed on the mini baccarat table, thus changing the table odds drastically. The card was also allegedly used in several hands later to manipulate the overall outcome of the game. Court Documents allege that Liu's accomplice used the stolen card to manipulate 27 hands.

Liu's alleged role in this scam was to bet into her opponent, basically do the opposite of what he did. Liu's bets allegedly ranged from $7,000 to $40,000. Ms Geary from Conrad Jupiter's Casino commented "There is certainly nothing illegal about winning at a casino," said Ms Geary, "but ... in this case the money was not won but obtained dishonestly."

Liu plead not guilty. The trial is still underway.

- 2007-11-27