Famous Casino Robbery Cases Worldwide
It appears that the concept of a casino robbery has always been undeniably enticing for people. There are so many movies about elaborate and complicated heists, leaving the oftentimes extremely good-looking and highly intelligent robbers with more money than they can spend in a lifetime. In real life, however, this is rarely the case.
Most of these attempts were conducted in a rush, with little to no preparation, and let us face it – robbing a casino is not an easy task. Expectedly, the majority of them turn out unsuccessful. On the off chance that they are successful, however, the offenders managed to flee the scene of the crime with massive amounts of money. In this article, we will discuss the biggest casino robbery cases of all time.
List with Some of The Biggest Casino Robberies
Some of the biggest casino robbery attempts have happened in cities like Las Vegas, Nevada, and London, United Kingdom. These are places that all gambling aficionados visit with the hope of winning big. Most importantly, some of them are willing to spend even bigger. Casino vaults hold substantial amounts of money that could be quite tempting for burglars and crooks. Have a look at our list with the biggest casino robberies in the world:
| ✔️ Casino Name | 📍 Location | 📅 Year | 💸 Amount | ❓ Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardust Resort & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | 1992 | $500,000 | Bill Brennan |
| Circus Circus Hotel & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | 1993 | $3,000,000 | Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis |
| Bellagio Resort & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | 2010 | $1,500,000 | Anthony Carleo |
| The Ritz London | London, United Kingdom | 2004 | $1,300,000 | Unknown |
| Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | 2005 | Unknown | Unknown |
| Wynn Resort | Macao, China | 2015 | $258,000,000 | Unknown |
Four of the biggest casino robbery cases we are going to discuss have happened in Las Vegas, Nevada. One happened at the famous Ritz London Casino and the last one in the Wynn Resort in Macao, China. In certain cases, the robbers were never caught, while in others, their victory was short-lived. Some of the casino heists were inside jobs, while others were not. In the next sections of this article, we are going to review each casino robbery individually.
The Stardust Resort & Casino Robbery
We will start with a Las Vegas casino robbery. Back in 1992, on a perfectly ordinary day, a man named Bill Brennan went off to work. He was a cashier at the Stardust Resort & Casino. At the end of his shift, Brennan did something which was not part of his job description, to say the least. He left the casino with around $500,000 of money in cash and chips.
Following that, Brennan disappeared, never to be seen or heard of again. There are several theories, including one that Brennan had an accomplice, who ended up killing him for his share of the money. For a long time, Bill Brennan was featured on the FBI and America’s Most Wanted lists. The fact remains that no one has been officially charged with the crime to this day, listing this among the successful casino robberies.
The Famous Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Robbery
The Circus Circus Hotel & Casino is part of the famous Las Vegas Strip. Heather Tallchief and Roberto Solis are the two people involved in the case. Tallchief was a twenty-one-year-old nurse who was working in San Francisco. One day, she left her job and moved to Las Vegas. There, she became an armored car driver.
On 1st October 1993, Tallchief and her two colleagues went to refill the money at the ATMs at several Las Vegas casinos. In the end, once the job was completed, Tallchief was supposed to pick up her two colleagues. However, she never did that. The woman disappeared with $3,000,000 in cash.
Later, it was revealed that she got involved with Roberto Ignacio Solis – a forty-eight-year-old convicted murderer. Back in 1969, he had shot and killed two men during an unsuccessful robbery. Tallchief and Solis met in San Francisco, and started planning their crime. After the robbery, the couple disappeared from the face of the earth.
It was 12 years later, in 2005, when Tallchief turned herself in. She claimed she was tired of living like a criminal and running from the law. At the time, she had a ten-year-old son from Solis who left her once he found out about the baby. Tallchief was trialed for the robbery and sentenced to 63 months in prison. She was released on parole in 2010. Solis was never caught.
The Hit On The Legendary Bellagio Resort & Casino
Throughout the years, there were more than one casino robbery attempts on the luxurious Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. One of the more interesting ones is attempted by the 29-year-old son of a Las Vegas judge – Anthony Carleo. He notoriously rode his motorcycle up the casino’s valet stand, got off with a gun in his hand, and took all chips from the tables. Then, Carleo got on his motorcycle and took off.
Carleo’s success was short-lived. The “Biker Bandit”, as they used to call him, had the bad luck of trying to sell the chips to an undercover police detective. He was apprehended by the authorities and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Carleo’s was another case to prove that successful casino robberies are rare. This was not his first attempt. We hope it will be his last.
The Ritz Casino Robbery London – The Trio Who Tricked the House
The Ritz was among the top casinos in London. It has also become a target for casino robbers. Our next story, however, is not your regular casino robbery crime story. In 2004, two men and a woman played roulette for two days and won a total of £1,300,000. That would have been great if it did not turn out that they used a high-tech laser scanner in their phones.
The scanner was connected to a remote computer, which was able to predict the number the ball will land on. This was caught by the casino managers, and the trio was brought to trial. However, the judge ruled that there was no actual crime, so the lucky three managed to keep their money. The Ritz Casino robbery London goes down in history as one of the most successful operations.
The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Robbery
This is yet another Las Vegas casino robbery. The Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxurious resort and casino, also part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned by MGM Resorts International that operates some of the best online casinos in the USA. In 2004, three men approached the cashier and held a gun to his head.
Warning shots were fired, but no one got hurt. The casino managers and police officials never disclosed any details regarding the heist. It is believed that the sum was significant, and the casino managers deemed it best to withhold this information. As far as we know, all three robbers remain at large. This makes the case one of the few successful casino robberies in the world.
The Casino Robbery of the Wynn Resort in Macao, China
Let us travel to Asia for a bit and discuss another big casino robbery that happened at the Wynn Resort in Macao, China (the gambling capital of the world). Most recently, in September 2015, the whopping $258,000,000 were robbed out of a junket operator. That was far from the first attempt on the resort. A year and a half earlier, another big heist was carried out. Both crimes are still under investigation.
Popular Casino Robbery Movies and TV Series
Undeniably, casino robbery has raised the public interest and has been a recurring theme in popular culture since forever. There are many movies exploring the topic. In general, gambling is a very popular movie theme. We have prepared a list with the best gambling movies and TV series to watch in 2024 as follows:
We seriously doubt that there is anyone who has not watched Ocean’s Eleven. The movie came out in 2001 and quickly became a tremendous success. The Card Counter is an excellent movie directed by Martin Scorsese, while Molly’s Game is based on the true story of Molly Bloom. All the above-mentioned titles are worth watching!
Final Words and Conclusion
There have been many casino robbery attempts in the history of the world. Some targeted at land-based casinos and others at online sites like the best online casinos in the UK, for example. Most of them have been doomed from the beginning. In other cases, the robbers have almost gotten away with it. There were some successful casino robberies as well, where the offenders made it out a lot richer.
A lucky few managed to cheat the house and walked out as free and wealthier men. Some of these people were far from hardened criminals and felt great remorse for their actions, ultimately leading to their surrender. Regardless, the casino robbery topic has always been extremely interesting for the public and a key topic in many songs, movies, TV series, and books. We expect this trend to remain unchanged.
Rocky Gap Casino Resort Questions
This is the end of our article about the biggest casino heists in the world. We have reviewed some extremely interesting casino robbery cases from Las Vegas, London, and China. There are, of course, many others that we did not manage to explore. If you still have any questions about the topic, make sure to review our helpful FAQ section below:
