Black Jack Dealer Defrauds Mystic Lake

Blackjack dealer ordered to repay casino $18,720 for gambling fraud

Submitted by Pat Minelli
By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

A 24-year-old blackjack dealer at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake learned that “cheaters never win” after a judge ordered him to return $18,720 to the casino for paying his acquaintances on losing hands.

Judge Diane Hanson also placed Jacob Edwin Christensen of Nisswa, Minn., on three years of probation and ordered him to complete 80 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to gambling fraud Jan. 6 in Scott County District Court. One count of theft by swindle was dismissed in a plea agreement.

Christensen was charged with two felonies — gambling fraud and theft by swindle — by the Scott County Attorney’s Ofiice Sept. 16 after he allegedly paid thousands of dollars to a high school friend, his landlord’s daughter and a woman he thought was “good-looking,” even though they lost their blackjack hands.

According to the criminal complaint:

Prior Lake police were called to the casino on a report that Christensen, a blackjack dealer, was paying a player on card hands that the player had lost. Police reviewed video surveillance that showed Christensen pay the blackjack player and not take his lost wagers to a tune of $3,875.

When casino security noticed the alleged scam on video, both Christensen and the card player were removed from the gaming floor, at which time the card player paid $1,825 in chips back to the casino.

During the investigation, police called Christensen’s high school friend and recorded a telephone conversation in which the man stated that he “knew what was happening was wrong,” and that’s why he paid the chips back to the casino.

The man told police that he knew Christensen from high school and didn’t say anything to him when he was being paid on losing hands at the blackjack table. The man also identified the other two women who were also benefiting from the scam.