Planet Hollywood Poker Scam Nets Four Supervisors

Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun

Four Las Vegas Strip resort casino supervisors and managers have been charged in an alleged plot to take phony jackpot payoffs.

Nevada State Gaming Control Board investigators uncovered the scam at Planet Hollywood after months of investigation, said David Salas, deputy enforcement officer for the board.

Losses to Planet Hollywood are "in the thousands of dollars," and the investigation is continuing, Salas said.

The four men worked in Planet Hollywood's poker room, where "high hand" jackpots sweetened the payouts on 26 different hands, Salas said. If a person got one of those 26 hands, the player was to get a higher payment. But investigators said the four supervisors allegedly filled out false paperwork documenting that players had "high hands" when they didn't -- then they kept the additional money that would have gone to the card player.

It took three levels of documentation for the resort to pay a player for the special hands, Salas said. "These four were working in concert to generate false documents to embezzle their employer," Salas said.

Jonathan Sanner, Jason Peterson, Thomas R. Kordick, all of Las Vegas, and Scott Marshall of Henderson were arrested Aug. 21 by Gaming Control Board officers, Salas said.

The four are charged with crimes including forgery, embezzlement and conspiracy.

The Gaming Control Board began an investigation after another employee caught on to the scam and became suspicious.