Casino worker caught cheating at Niagara table game

A Casino Woodbine employee who admitted she has issues with gambling lost her job after surveillance cameras captured her cheating at a Niagara casino, court heard Monday.

All told, the illegal bet at a Spanish 21 table at Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort earned her $25 she was not entitled to.

When confronted by police and asked for restitution, 48year-old Munika Kazerani said she didn’t have the funds to repay the gaming hall.

That $25 bet resulted in her arrest and the loss of her employment.

In Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Monday, Kazerani was granted a conditional discharge after she pleaded guilty to a charge of cheat at play. She was placed on probation for 12 months and banned from attending the Niagara Falls casino.

Assistant Crown attorney Andrew Brown said surveillance cameras on Feb. 29 caught the defendant adding a $25 chip to awager after bets were closed.

Kazerani, who did not have a prior criminal record, said she was extremely tired on the day of the offence.

“I was exhausted,” she told the judge. “I know I did a very, very bad thing. I never did that before in my life. This is the one thing in my life I’m not proud of.”

The casino was able to confirm the woman had logged more than 300 hours playing Spanish 21 over the course of about a dozen trips.

There was no indication there was any additional “inappropriate or illegal conduct on her part,” Brown said.

“It wasn’t too long ago that an employee theft, a breach of trust, would have a Crown calling for some custody … this is not one of those cases,” he told Judge Cameron Watson.

“She lost her employment and is currently unemployed. She suffered the economic deprivation as a result of the choice she made this particular day.”

The woman said she has been unable to secure counselling for gambling issues due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

The judge told her that gaming halls are designed “so that the house always wins.”