CHICAGO — A California man accused last year of cheating Chicago-area casinos out of $219,000 has cut a deal with prosecutors. Jianchu Liu, 48, who faced a felony count of cheating at a gambling game, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor theft on Friday.
Liu was initially accused of working with at least one accomplice to swindle the new Bally’s casino in River North and the Hollywood Casino Aurora between September 12 and November 26, 2023.
Judge Laura Ayala-Gonzalez ordered him to pay $10,000 restitution to Bally’s and placed him on a 12-month conditional discharge, according to court clerk entries.
Liu was also arrested for allegedly cheating at a casino’s baccarat table in Pennsylvania in February 2024. Security officials at the Mohegan Sun casino in Wilkes-Barre keyed in on Liu when he launched an app on his phone at a baccarat table and darkened the screen so security could not see what he was doing, according to a report by Casino.org. The outlet said he placed the phone under a stack of scorecards that baccarat players use to keep track of games.
When a dealer offered Liu the opportunity to cut the cards, he manipulated the deck, quickly fanning it out so his phone could capture an image of the card values and sequence, according to the allegations.
Liu walked away from the table after getting into a “verbal exchange” with a baccarat dealer about how the deck should be handled, Casino.org reported. A few days later, Liu returned and allegedly “attempted to forcefully fan [out]” a deck of cards.
The gaming news outlet said officials believe Liu sent images of deck sequences to an accomplice, who examined the photos and provided Liu with betting instructions via a hidden earpiece.
Casino security identified him through his loyalty card and learned he was suspected of being part of a “professional cheating ring” that conned two casinos in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Days later, Liu was arrested at O’Hare to face charges involving the new Bally’s casino downtown.
If Liu completes his probation successfully, the misdemeanor charge will be dropped.
He was at least the second person to be criminally charged with cheating at the Chicago Bally’s casino since it opened in September 2023.
Early last year, prosecutors charged Isaias Garcia-Martinez with placing a 200-to-1 bet at a Bally’s baccarat table after the cards were dealt and the outcome of the hand was known. The dealer, not realizing he had placed the bet after the game was over, paid him $5,000, and he walked away, according to the allegations.
Gaming agents arrested him when he returned to the casino two days later. Garcia-Martinez pleaded guilty to felony theft last year and received two years of probation, according to court records.
