Internal Theft Case at Chaudfontaine Casino Heads to Court

The Casino de Chaudfontaine has become the centre of an internal theft case involving three of its former employees. Shortly after joining the casino, the individuals are accused of exploiting a technical vulnerability in the handling of gaming plaques, allowing them to remove high-denomination chips without immediate detection.

According to the casino, the suspected losses exceed €40,000, prompting legal action that is now being examined by the criminal court in Liège.

Unusually, the case has been illustrated in court using a real gaming table, complete with its automated sorting system. The casino chose this hands-on approach to demonstrate how a device designed to secure the movement of money and chips could be misused from within.

The demonstration aimed to clarify the technical nature of the alleged fraud, highlighting how internal access and procedural knowledge played a key role.

Inside casinos, standard chips and high-value plaques follow separate, strictly controlled paths. Plaques worth €1,000 or more are normally processed outside the automated chip sorter.

Investigators claim the defendants discovered that when plaques were mistakenly fed into the automatic sorting machine, they did not reappear with the regular chips. Instead, they remained stuck inside the mechanism, out of sight from routine handling procedures.

Based on the prosecution’s account, one employee would deliberately allow plaques to enter the sorter, while another would later access the machine and retrieve them. Although technically simple, the operation could be repeated discreetly, gradually accumulating significant value.

This alleged method relied less on sophisticated hacking and more on exploiting procedural blind spots and trust placed in staff members.

To turn the stolen plaques into usable money, the three men are said to have relied on a regular casino visitor who exchanged the plaques at the cashier desk. In return, the intermediary reportedly kept a small commission before gambling the money inside the casino.

Despite this involvement, the intermediary is not currently facing charges, and the case focuses solely on the former employees.

The scheme reportedly unraveled in less than ten days. During a routine technical inspection in mid-August 2024, a technician discovered plaques inside the sorting machine where they should never have been.

This finding triggered a detailed review of surveillance footage, which investigators say clearly identified the three employees’ actions, leading to their dismissal and subsequent prosecution.

While the casino estimates the total loss at more than €40,000, the defence disputes this figure. Lawyers argue that the number of plaques involved is uncertain and that accounting evidence remains incomplete.

They also point to the defendants’ personal circumstances: none have prior criminal records, all lost their jobs, and all faced temporary loss of unemployment benefits following the incident.

Rather than requesting prison sentences, the public prosecutor has called for community service penalties, leaving the precise duration to the court’s discretion. The final judgment, expected in February, will determine both the legal classification of the offences and the exact financial harm suffered by the casino.

The case highlights how even tightly regulated casino environments remain vulnerable to internal misconduct when procedures are exploited from within.