The Parañaque City Regional Trial Court has convicted six individuals, including a pit manager, of estafa for a card-switching scheme at Solaire Resort and Casino that allowed them to rack up a winning streak at baccarat and collect P39.747 million in 2022.
The court sentenced them to a jail term of 4 to 20 years and ordered them to pay Solaire P39.747 million as actual damages, with interest of six percent per annum.
Convicted were Reynan Miguel and foreign nationals Mongkol Charernwuttiwong, Virat Phocharoen, Sittisak Sapkasetrin, Hyun Seo Park, and Keith Yue Lung Tam.
In its August 12, 2026 decision penned by Judge Joseph Jerry Bañares Jr., the court said the actions of the accused showed their common purpose and design that led to fraud. This was also backed by CCTV footage and testimony from witnesses.
The court said it was shown that Miguel switched the legitimate card carrier with a dummy card carrier, while a group of three individuals tried to cover it up.
Two male individuals handed the legitimate card carrier to a third individual. The legitimate card carrier was brought out of the casino where the cards were sequentially arranged.
This card carrier with the pre-arranged cards was then brought back to the casino, which was switched back with the dummy card carrier.
Miguel then placed the card carrier with the pre-arranged cards on the standby carrier on Table SS5603 and replaced the usual card carrier.
Charernwuttiwong, Phocharoen, Sapkasetrin, Park, and Tam then arrived at that particular table and started playing baccarat, initially placing minimal bets of P10,000 and P20,000.
Later, they started playing the card carrier with the pre-arranged cards and began placing higher bets ranging from P1 million to P2.9 million.
The betting patterns continued until they finished playing the carrier with the pre-arranged cards, racking up winnings of P140 million.
They were able to encash P39.747 million.
“From the foregoing actions, it may clearly be seen that Accused’s acts complemented one another. Miguel supplied the manipulated game, while the foreigners co-Accused benefited from it,” it said.
It noted that a legitimate baccarat game depends upon uncertainty, but when the cards are compromised and replaced with those whose sequence is known to the players, the game appears legitimate but the element of chance has been corrupted.
The court rejected the defense’s contention that they cannot be convicted because there were no photos or videos of the actual substitution of the cards.
It said direct evidence is not the only basis for a finding of guilt.