A married couple from Kazakhstan has allegedly won more than $1m from Sydney’s Crown casino using a tiny camera hidden in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and “deep-seated earpieces” that allowed them to communicate.
New South Wales police said on Sunday the couple was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage after being arrested in the Barangaroo casino.
“On Thursday, a 36-year-old woman was observed by casino staff wearing a small, discrete camera attached to her shirt,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
“Officers were notified and attended the casino, where they arrested the woman and her 44-year-old husband.”
Investigators allege the couple were carrying “small, magnetised probes, batteries, and a mobile phone with a fitted attachment that allowed the camera function of the phone to discreetly view, capture or record images”.
Officers also seized a small custom-made mirror attachment for the mobile phone, police alleged.
The couple had travelled to Sydney from Kazakhstan in October 2025. They applied for Crown memberships on the day they arrived, police alleged.
Over the course of October and November, the pair visited the casino multiple times, winning a total of $1.18m, which raised suspicions at Crown, police alleged.
“With their mobile phones capturing images of the table, the pair communicated using deep-seated earpieces through which they received instructions to wager on various card games and ultimately cheat the casino,” NSW police alleged on Sunday.
Officers searched the couple’s accommodation on Kent Street in Sydney, where they allegedly located other gambling props, high-end jewellery and €2,000.
The organised crime squad commander, Det Supt Peter Faux, said police and the casino worked together to detect and prevent criminal activity.
“Our detectives collaborate closely with casino security to identify and disrupt unlawful behaviour. This strong cooperation is vital to maintaining the integrity of gaming operations and is reflected in outcomes like this,” Faux said.
