SINGAPORE: A member of a card-counting syndicate that engaged in “advantage play” at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino’s baccarat tables, with the illegal help of devices to predict game outcomes, has been jailed.

Hung Jung-Hao, a 28-year-old man from Taiwan, was sentenced to 22 months’ jail on Thursday (Dec 28). His mother had put in a plea of leniency for him.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts under the Casino Control Act of conspiring to use a device to record cards dealt in the course of gaming at the casino, with another eight charges taken into consideration.

Hung had admitted to his role in the syndicate, which he joined with his poker association girlfriend Chou Yu-Lun, in late 2021.

The syndicate, with members from Taiwan and Malaysia, used card counting to improve the odds of bets based on the cards already dealt in games of 7UP Baccarat.

Using a secret formula in the form of a Microsoft Excel sheet with codes corresponding to the values and suits of the cards, syndicate members relayed information to betting members at baccarat tables on what bets to make.

In total, the syndicate won S$433,730 (US$324,100) from its operations at MBS casino over eight days in December 2022, until casino employees noticed their conduct on closed-circuit television footage.

Some members fled the country successfully after Hung was detained, while others were sent back to Singapore for prosecution.

Hung’s took on an auxiliary role, placing small bets at the table and transmitting information on behalf of the “sorcerer”, a female member who received instructions from the “marksman” who had access to the formula in a hotel room.

His highest recorded win in court documents was S$89,200 over about three hours on Dec 23, 2022.

A MINOR ROLE, SAYS DEFENCE

Hung’s lawyer, Mr Sng Kheng Huat, argued on Thursday that his client was on the lower end of the scale of culpability compared with co-accused Tan Kian Yi.

“Not only did (my client) not participate in reconnaissance in Singapore and the Philippines, he wasn’t involved in the planning,” he said.

“The prosecution cited planning and premeditation as a factor – my client was never involved. He was never involved in the discussion on how to win, he was not even informed on the formula,” said the lawyer.

He added that when his client got close to Tan and got a glimpse of the formula, he was told by Tan to stop as he was not supposed to see it.

Mr Sng said Hung played “such a minor role”, which was to place the bets on the instructions of others. He was also “not even promised returns of 20 per cent of the winnings”, which Tan and another member were promised.

“When he came to Singapore with Cho, his girlfriend, he was merely told he would get free accommodation and free food. Little did he know he would be sucked into the whole scheme of things,” said Mr Sng.

The judge said that Hung was not someone who was “just sucked in”.

“He knew there was premeditation and planning. It was a sophisticated scheme. He had to learn the ropes,” said the judge.

While Hung’s culpability was lower than that of Tan, who was at the top of the hierarchy, Hung was not someone who “really didn’t know what was happening in the background”.

Mr Sng said his client handed over whatever he won to the leader after every gaming session.

“He is aware now that for what he has done, it’s not him alone who has to face the consequences of his actions. His mother has to travel to Singapore every month and stay in Singapore … to see him every day,” said the lawyer.

He tendered a Chinese letter written by Hung’s mother, in which she asked for leniency for her son. She wrote that her son was a “considerate, well-behaved child since a young age” who “recognises the necessity for him to earn a living and take care of the family, always lending a hand with household chores”.

“After visiting (Hung), she got to stay in the hotel by herself in the hotel room and she feels that she also has been imprisoned together with the son,” said Mr Sng.

He said Hung’s mother hopes for him to be repatriated back to Taiwan to celebrate the Chinese New Year with her.

In sentencing, District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan said such offences, which are “clearly sophisticated, involve a syndicate, carry a transnational element and would ordinarily be hard to detect”, must have a sentence severe enough to serve the purpose of deterrence.

Tan had been sentenced to three years and four months’ jail in November.