Millions of dollars worth of chips were stolen from a Macau casino in a brazen heist that has raised security concerns at the biggest gambling hub in the world.
Police arrested a dealer at the Wynn Macau, as well as a possible accomplice, on suspicion of carrying out the theft, CNN Money reported.
No further information about their identities has been released.
The heist took place Tuesday, in a territory that took in more than $33 billion in revenue last year, according to CNN Money.
It’s unclear how the chips made it past casino security.
But local media reports say the suspect allegedly stuffed them in a bag in a VIP room and carried them out of the casino without incident.
The chips would have to be returned to the casino in order for them to be exchanged for cash.
It’s unclear whether another casino could perform the transaction.
Tom Burns, a police and security consultant, said it’s possible the chips could be cashed outside of the Wynn Macau, depending on whether or not they have trackers on them.
“I’m sure at Macau they put an alert out and those chips are worthless except for the cost of the chips,” he told the Daily News.
He added that there must have been a “flaw in the security or in the procedures” in order for the thief to leave the property with the chips.
David C. Shepherd, a former executive director of security at the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino, said that most “high level” chips can only be cashed at the host casino.
He added that the thief could return the chips to the casino piecemeal.
“There are a lot of different systems to do it,” he said.
Whether or not they retain any value, the stolen chips suggest that security measures — which tend to be more relaxed in Macau than in Las Vegas — need to be tightened.
Many high-stakes games reportedly take place in VIP rooms run by independent junket operators and not the casinos themselves.
“The junkets get a lot of leeway inside the rooms in terms of how money changes hands and how chips change hands. That’s something that may need to get evaluated,” Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at investment firm Sanford Bernstein told CNN Money.
