Australia: Casino dispensed millions of dollars by mistake

In Sydney, Australia, a casino unintentionally dispensed millions of dollars in cash to numerous individuals due to a software glitch. The issue was identified and resolved after two weeks, during which over $2 million was mistakenly distributed by the malfunctioning machines. Subsequently, the police have charged the recipients with fraud and various other offenses.

The incident happened in mid-2023 when customers of The Star casino were able to withdraw boatloads of cash from four "ticket in, cash out" (TICO) machines affected by a software glitch. Beneficiaries included scammers, gambling addicts and even some homeless people who realized that they could milk the malfunctioning machines to make a quick buck.

TICO machines are ATM-style devices that allow gamblers to convert their winnings into cash by reading a barcode on a receipt obtained from a slot machine. While customers can normally insert two receipts into the TICO machines to redeem them simultaneously, the glitch meant that the devices were returning one of those tickets to be re-used. The TICOs, however, can only dispense up to $2,000 in cash at once to prevent money laundering, which is believed to have ensured that the casino didn't lose even more money.

The news of the cash grab emerged last week following an independent inquiry into the casino's operations. In his testimony to the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission, casino manager Nicholas Weeks blamed the faulty software for the confusion.

Weeks explained that "small additional amounts" were being erroneously paid out at first, before "very large amounts of cash" were dispensed due to the defect. By the time the casino noticed the problem, it had already lost AU$3.2 million (around US$2.05 million). Overall, at least 43 people are believed to have exploited the bug to withdraw money that didn't belong to them.

Once the problem was detected, the casino reported the errant customers to the police, who arrested some of the suspects on charges of fraud. One of them is recovering gambling addict Thanh Lan Le, who is said to have withdrawn $57,265 from the malfunctioning TICO machines after discovering the loophole by accident. She has now agreed to plead guilty and promised to give back the money she fraudulently obtained from the casino.