Ex-MBS man fined in 'false rating' case

Ex-MBS man fined in 'false rating' case

SINGAPORE - A former dealer supervisor with the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino was fined $16,000 yesterday for illegally awarding membership points to a friend, in the first "false rating" case to be dealt with here.

The term refers to the act of dishonestly "rating" members with points although they have not turned up and patronised the casino.

Between Sept 20, 2010 and May 27, 2012, Tan Guan Xi repeatedly keyed his friend's membership number into the casino's system. This caused the equivalent of $7,676.75 in reward points to accrue to the account.

Tan, 38, did this 460 times.

His friend, Yap Kah Hsiang, 57, used the reward points to redeem some $5,605.83 in products and services at the casino's affiliated stores.

He also had his membership status upgraded from "Gold" to "Diamond" as a result of Tan's acts.

Yesterday, the court heard that the points system can be accessed from each game table in the MBS casino by either a dealer supervisor or pit manager.

Normally, patrons' cards are swiped in a reader so that their playing time and bets can be tracked.

Tan committed the offences by manually keying in his friend's membership number - a method that should be used only when a card is faulty, or when the system is unable to detect it.

According to Tan, Yap had approached him some time in early 2010 and requested his help to "add points to his membership card" while he was not at the casino. Tan agreed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan said Tan had abused the trust placed in him, over more than a year.

The prosecutor noted, however, that the amount involved was not particularly large.

He added that restitution had been made.

Tan pleaded guilty to eight of 460 charges of computer misuse. For each of the charges proceeded on, he could have been jailed for up to three years and fined up to $10,000.

The case against Yap is still at the pre-trial conference stage.


This article was first published on December 5, 2014.
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