CRIME

Ex-Vegas casino dealer, 2 others get prison in cheating case

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Jeffrey Martin. Martin and an ex-Bellagio casino dealer and another friend are facing four to 10 years in state prison for using phantom bets to skim more than $1 million off the craps tables at the Las Vegas Strip resort. Martin, Mark Branco and Anthony Granito are due for sentencing Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Clark County District Court. (Clark County Detention Center/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Anthony Granito. Granito and an ex-Bellagio casino dealer Mark Branco, and another friend are facing four to 10 years in state prison for using phantom bets to skim more than $1 million off the craps tables at the Las Vegas Strip resort. Granitio, Mark Branco, and Jeffrey Martin are due for sentencing Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Clark County District Court. (Clark County Detention Center /Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

A former Bellagio craps dealer and two friends have been sentenced to at least four years each in prison for using phantom bets to cheat the Las Vegas Strip casino out of more than $1 million.

Mark Branco, Jeffrey Martin and Anthony Granito on Tuesday apologized to a judge, who also ordered each to pay restitution.

The three men pleaded guilty last year to two felonies — theft and cheating at gambling.

Branco and co-worker James Cooper Jr. were arrested in July 2014 and fired by the Bellagio after the scheme came to light.

Cooper pleaded guilty to a lesser theft charge and testified before a grand jury. He'll face one to five years in prison at sentencing later this year.