The four men and one woman had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge of scamming a mini-baccarat table in the members-only Club Conrad section of the Jupiters Casino on Australia’s Gold Coast.

The four men, of Asian origin, were Songtao Zhao, Haibin Shao, Zhigang Liu and Jianwen Liu. They were detained in custody last night while Shan Liu was allowed to remain on bail until today’s sentencing.

The group had been accused of acting together in a card substitution scam that enabled them to bet large amounts of money with complete confidence, taking $750,000 in just 50 minutes.