Seattle mayor's son indicted in interstate casino cheating ring

The son of Greg Nickels, the mayor of Seattle, Wash., Jacob Dyson Nickels has been indicted in an alleged casino-cheating ring.

Seattle mayor's son indicted in interstate casino cheating ring Jacob Nickels is accused of being a part of a group which cheated casinos in seven states. The group allegedly operated by bribing crooked casino dealers to shuffle the decks in their benefit. Nickels, who was working at Nooksack River Casino in Whatcom County as a pit boss in 2005 is accused of taking $5,000 to introduce a member of the group to dealers who would be willing to cheat the casino. According to the indictment unsealed yesterday, Jacob Nickels and two other dealers help the cheaters to $90,000 in October, 2005 at the Nooksack River Casino.

Jacob Nickels is charged with one count of conspiracy and four counts of theft of funds from a gaming establishment on Indian lands. This is another big hit to the Mayor Greg Nickels, whose father passed on May 13th, and the mayor claims that him and his wife hear about this incident for the first time.

The gang cheated casinos in California, Washington, Connecticut, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada and Indiana, 10 of which were owned by Indian tribes. Prosecutors allege that members of the casino-cheating ring won at one occasion $850,000 by working with the dealers. Two of defendants have been arrested in Canada in connection with a related cheating scheme in Ontario. The total money won by cheating the casinos is estimated at over $3 million in USA and Canada by this group.

05/25/2007