Casino software sources report that a woman from California ended up pleading guilty in San Diego to having conspired with others to defraud 29 casinos, which include two in Tunica as well as three others in Mississippi, with a scheme involving card-counting.

Van Thu Tran, 45 years-old, has pleaded guilty and could be facing up to 20 years in prison when she was sentenced in May. An investigation regarding the conspiracy which dates back to 2007 resulted with 42 defendants having pleaded guilty, according to casino software sources.

The Justice Department made an announcement of the plea and described the very sophisticated method employed in order to obtain up to $7 million:

“(The conspirators allegedly) executed a ‘false shuffle’ cheating scheme at casinos in the United States and Canada during blackjack and mini-baccarat games. The indictments allege that members of the criminal organization bribed casino card dealers and supervisors to perform false shuffles during card games, thereby creating ‘slugs’ or groups of unshuffled cards.

“The indictments also allege that after tracking the order of cards dealt in a card game, a member of the organization would signal to the card dealer to perform a ‘false shuffle,’ and members of the group would then bet on the known order of cards when the slug appeared on the table. By doing so, members of the conspiracy repeatedly won thousands of dollars during card games, including winning several hundred thousand dollars on one occasion.”

Casino software sources found out that among the casinos that have been targeted were the Horseshoe Casino and the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, the Imperial Palace and Beau Rivage casinos in Biloxi, and the Golden Moon Casino located in Choctaw, Miss.

Local police, field officers of the FBI field around the US, the Mississippi Gaming Commission, and the IRS, have been among the law enforcement agencies that have been taking part in the investigation.

Many people involved in betting software have been shocked when they heard about the scam.