Lucky winners leave casino with stolen cash

Published 12:01 am Thursday, January 24, 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that suspects have been arrested in this case. Chief Danny White said Thursday that police have identified the suspects in the theft and are awaiting a warrant to make the arrests.

NATCHEZ — The malfunction of a cash machine at Magnolia Bluffs Casino Sunday allowed a couple of casino patrons to get lucky and walk away with hundreds of dollars of stolen cash.

The thieves’ luck ran out when casino management turned over surveillance tapes to police. No arrests have been made in the case yet. But Chief Danny White said Thursday that police have identified the suspects in the theft and are awaiting a warrant to make the arrests.

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Little said the suspects cleaned out the ATM kiosk machine after they discovered that it was dispensing $100 bills instead of $1 bills.

“They took advantage of the malfunction, and they emptied it out,” he said.

Little declined to say exactly how much the thieves stole.

The malfunction, Little said, is being investigated.

“I think it might have been human error,” Little said. “I think the machine was loaded wrong so that when it was supposed to be dispending $1 bills, it dispenses $100 bills.”

Little said the casino alerted police and the Mississippi Gaming Commission as soon as the error was discovered.

“We were on top of it,” he said.