Casino heist movies make a pretty good plot for an entertaining Hollywood action flick. Fortunately for screenwriters, they don’t have to look very hard for creativity.

Casino robberies are not just a Hollywood script, but a real-life occurrence that happens more often than you realize. When people think of a casino heist, the first thought that comes to mind is George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Ocean’s 11 (2001).

Despite Danny Ocean being a fictional character, casino robberies are not that uncommon. No, casino heists worth $160 million are not the norm, but smaller casino robberies are more common than you think.

Recent Casino Robberies In Las Vegas

There has been a rash of recent casino robberies in Las Vegas. For instance, Dshante Styles was recently arrested for her role in six armed robberies at Las Vegas casinos.

Authorities did not reveal which casinos were involved in the heists, but the robberies started happening in November 2022. Furthermore, casino robberies in Las Vegas at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino, Green Valley Ranch, Silverton Casino, and Rampart Casino were reported recently¹.

Additionally, there have been casino heist attempts at Las Vegas Strip casinos as well. In January 2023, 37-year-old, James Booth, requested money at the Caesars Palace casino cage, threatening to shoot the worker if they did not comply².

This afternoon, Deputy Chief Nick Farese announced we have made an arrest in a series of valley casino robberies and carjackings spanning several months.

LVMPD enacted Major Case Protocol and arrested Dshante Styles, 33.

Watch this news conference for more details. pic.twitter.com/TZoYCfoHlE

— LVMPD (@LVMPD) April 20, 2023

Two months earlier, a man targeted the newest casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Resorts World. Upon approaching the casino cage, he presented a worker with a note requesting money and left in a taxi³.

The latest incidents pale in comparison to the largest and most daring casino heists of all time. Let’s get into our list of some of the most audacious and brazen casino heists ever.

7. Bellagio Casino Robbery – $160,000 (June 2000)

There are some individuals that plot casino heists without any previous signs of engaging in criminal activity. They aren’t on the police’s radar and have a clean criminal record.

Then there is, Jose Vigoa. The career criminal was implicated in previous casino heists. In his time as the ringleader behind multiple casino robberies in Las Vegas, Vigoa and his crew targeted the MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Desert Inn, and finally the Bellagio for millions of dollars⁴.

The Soviet-trained, Cuban-born special forces officer’s crime spree included the murder of two armored car drivers in an earlier heist. It was an attempt by Vigoa and criminal associates, Oscar Sanchez Cisneros, and Luis Suarez at the Bellagio that was their downfall.

The men forcibly made their way into the casino cashier area and stole $160,000 in cash. Shots were fired as they fled the Bellagio with the money in hand. Four days later, Vigoa got into a high-speed chase with police.

Ultimately, Vigoa crashed into a tree with his wife and young child in the vehicle⁵. The two years of casino heists in Las Vegas were over for Vigoa. He was eventually found guilty of murdering two armored car drivers in a previous robbery attempt.

Cisneros died by suicide in jail only weeks after his arrest. Currently, Vigoa is serving four life sentences for his role in the deaths of the armored car drivers⁶.

If you are interested in learning more about Vigoa’s Bellagio casino robbery, check out the book Storming Las Vegas. It was reportedly going to be made into a casino heist movie, but that appears to be on hold.

6. Stardust Casino Robbery – $500,000 (September 1992)

The Stardust Casino robbery is not the largest robbery at a casino of all time. However, it is still one of the most intriguing and mysterious casino heists.

On September 22, 1992, Bill Brennan left the Stardust Casino as he did every day following his shift as a sportsbook cashier. However, this time, Brennan exited the Stardust Casino with a combination of casino chips and cash valued at just over $500,000.

Brennan was asked to count the money from the sportsbook. Aware of where the cameras were pointed, he was able to exit the casino without a trace. Hours after realizing chips and cash were missing, management at the Stardust informed the police.

Mid 80s Stardust #Vegas #LasVegas pic.twitter.com/XuXKTu28da

— Vegas History in Pictures (@PixVegas777) April 19, 2022

At his apartment, there was no sign of Brennan and his cat. Brennan was never seen again. He vanished without a trace. In 2006, the case was dismissed by the State of Nevada⁷.

For this casino heist to be a complete success, Brennan would have needed at least one accomplice to cash in the chips. At the time, casino chip security was not as sophisticated as it is now.

Security at land-based and online casinos has improved significantly over the last two decades. Getting past security cameras and cashing out at the cashier without the RFID technology flagging the chips would be nearly impossible.

5. Stardust Casino Robbery – $1.1 Million (April 1992)

Did Brennan get his inspiration for robbing the Stardust Casino from an incident earlier in the year? In what was a daring attempt involving his sons, former Stardust security guard, Royal Mayne Hopper Jr., plotted to attack an armored car driver.

Hopper Jr., along with his sons, knocked down an armored car driver and got away with $1.1 million ($500,000 cash and $600,000 in negotiable checks).

In something out of a movie, they threw smoke bombs to distract and confuse security near the casino cage. Following the smoke bombs, the thieves escaped in a getaway vehicle⁸.

This is not the first time that Hopper Jr. has been implicated in a casino robbery in Las Vegas. While Hopper Jr. was working as a security guard at the Stardust on September 25, 1991, gunmen “robbed” him for $150,000 while he was escorting a cart of cash and chips in the casino⁹.

Despite not being prosecuted for the $150,000 robbery, Hopper Jr. was incarcerated for his role in the $1.1 million casino heist.

4. Bellagio Casino Robbery – $1.5 Million (December 2010)

Surprisingly, this robbery at the Bellagio isn’t a casino heist movie, at least not yet. In one of the more recent large casino heists, Anthony Carleo robbed the world-famous Bellagio for $1.5 million.

Only five days after robbing the Suncoast Casino for $19,000, the losing gambler targeted a craps table at the Bellagio. Wearing motorcycle gear and a helmet, Carleo approached a craps table in the early morning hours and scooped up as many casino chips as he could.

Armed with a gun, he was able to exit the Bellagio with what amounted to $1.5 million in casino chips. Carleo jumped on his Suzuki motorcycle and escaped without getting caught. His modus operandi would help dub Carleo as the “Biker Bandit”.

Instead of playing it coy, Carleo immediately headed back to the Bellagio and went to the poker room. He also went back to play at the same craps table that he robbed. To avoid getting caught, he was careful to not use the $25,000 chips, coined as cranberries.

With the fortune he stole dwindling because of heavy gambling losses, Carleo was getting desperate. Carleo signed up on the poker forum, TwoPlusTwo, looking for somebody to trade with him for his two $25,000 chips.

Instead of exchanging his $50,000 in chips, he was burying himself. You can find his final post on TwoPlusTwo here, under the username “oceanspray25”. Of course, Carleo’s plan fell through, as authorities tracked down his IP and used the online evidence to help convict him¹⁰.

3. Soboba Casino Robbery – $1.5 Million (August 2007)

In another instance of an employee committing a casino heist, surveillance technician Rolando Luda Ramos was behind a $1.5 million robbery at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, California.

As a surveillance technician, Ramos was able to use inside knowledge of the inner workings of the casino to pull off the heist. Ramos held his fellow employees at gunpoint.

During the process of committing his crimes, Ramos hog-tied three casino workers while tossing bundles of cash from the casino vault into a duffel bag. After collecting $1.5 million, he quickly left the casino and went into hiding.

The LAPD would ultimately find Ramos at a hotel near LAX.  At the time of his arrest, he was wearing a cheap wig and in possession of cocaine. Ramos had already spent roughly a million dollars on transportation, women, lodging, drugs, and food¹¹.

2. Circus Circus Casino Robbery – $3.1 Million (October 1993)

A 21-year-old woman is responsible for one of the biggest casino heists of all time. Along with her partner Roberto Solis, Heather Tallchief robbed Circus Circus in Las Vegas for roughly $3 million in 1993.

After getting fired as a nursing assistant in the Bay Area for cocaine use, Tallchief befriended Solis at a nightclub in 1993. She reportedly fell on hard times and leaned on Solis for support.

Tallchief claims that Solis’ apartment was filled with goats’ heads, tarot cards, crystals, and an altar. Solis would ask Tallchief if she believed in the devil and would supply her with cocaine.

He would go on to convince Tallchief to take a job working for Loomis Armored. The armored car company had a contract with local Las Vegas casinos, including Circus Circus Hotel & Casino.

Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis were often dubbed the “Modern Day Bonnie & Clyde” after they successfully stole over $3M from an armored truck at Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas.

Learn a little more about the infamous couple and their heist Thursday on Episode 5 🎙 pic.twitter.com/v9jBQOGWDS

— What A Crime to Be Alive (@WhatACrimePod) October 13, 2020

On October 1, 1993, instead of Tallchief doing her normal casino rounds, she disappeared with the armored van and $3 million. She was responsible for filling ATM machines at the casinos with cash. Circus Circus Hotel & Casino was the first stop on her route¹².

Originally, it was suspected that Tallchief was the victim of a heist. However, it was discovered that she left with the money.

Following 12 years on the run, Tallchief turned herself in and indicated that she was brainwashed into committing the heist by Solis¹³.

Tallchief has since completed her prison sentence and has been released. However, Solis remains a fugitive that is considered armed and dangerous to this day.

The Circus Circus Casino robbery is featured in the Netflix documentary “Heist”.

1. Crown Casino Melbourne Robbery – $33 Million (March 2013)

Inside jobs due to corrupt employees are a recurring theme of the largest casino heists. Oftentimes, it takes somebody on the inside that is familiar with the security technology of the casino.

At Jacob Packer’s Crown Casino in Melbourne, it was a team effort between a high roller and casino staff to pull off a $33 million heist. James Manning, a millionaire VIP customer, was invited to the high-limit room by a services manager.

As innocent as it seemed, casino hosts regularly invite high rollers to play high-limit games. However, it turned out that the VIP services manager was in on the scam with Manning.

Manning kept winning and winning at the blackjack table. When Manning was done, he had won eight straight hands and pocketed $33 million.

The unusual betting sizes and winning streak caught the attention of security. Members of the security team determined that the security cameras had been breached and they’d been scammed.

With the help of the cameras and the manager, covert signals were being sent to Manning. A security guard would later confront Manning at his suite and ask him to leave the property.

Because a large portion of the money had not been credited to Manning yet, the Crown Casino did not seek to press charges. Additionally, they wanted to keep the incident a secret from the public¹⁴.

Manning was supposed to take part in a PR event at the casino just days later. The high roller was planning to purchase the $12,500 cognac-based cocktail at Club 23, “The Winston”, to set a Guinness World Record for the Most Expensive Cocktail.

However, with Manning being banned from the premises, Crown Casino had to call an audible. They had to approach and convince another high roller to purchase the cocktail.

To do this, the casino promised to reimburse the patron at a later date¹⁵. Already embarrassed by the scam that took them for $33 million, Crown Casino had to deal with another controversy.

These Heists Wouldn’t Happen at Safe Online Casinos

Naturally, the brazen casino heists that we noted above, would not be possible at an online casino. There isn’t a physical casino cage or armored vans to stage an assault on.

Although online casinos can be attacked in different ways, the odds of you losing your money from a cyber attack is slim-to-none.

Safe online casinos don’t store your money on the server that hosts the actual casino. Furthermore, these casinos have additional measures in place to protect its members like advanced firewalls that block unwanted traffic and bots from infiltrating their servers.

Additionally, every member’s personal information is highly protected through industry leading encryption software. In conjunction with SSL and secure banking options, there are multiple layers of protection at these online gambling sites, which makes it nearly impossible to steal your money and personal data.

Check out some of our favorite safe online casinos and confidently play your favorite online casino games today.

Wild Casino

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What does this mean? Simply put, if a cybercriminal happened to gain access to Wild Casino’s server, they would not be able to read your information.

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Bovada Casino

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DuckyLuck

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