The Nevada Gaming Commission has added another name to the list in its infamous “Black Book” of people banned from all Nevada casinos.
Ahmed Hearne became the 37th person on the Nevada gambling business’ List of Excluded Persons after a hearing on Thursday, April 18.
The twice-convicted thief has also been stopped 13 previous times trying to steal chips from casino floors in Las Vegas.
The two convictions came after chip-stealing incidents at the Aria Casino and at the Silverton Casino. Hearne is also suspected of attempting a dozen other chip thefts, but was not convicted on any of those occasions.
Prosecutors have ceased investigating those charges on condition Hearne adheres to this new lifetime ban from Nevada casinos.
Inclusion Standards for Debate
Although known casino chip thieves have been added before, historically the list has been reserved for high-level gangsters, previously successful scammers, and actual casino robbers.
“Are we, as a Nevada Gaming Commission, going to place anyone who’s grabbed chips from a table in a casino on the excluded list?” Commissioner Brian Krolicki asked during the meeting.
“Or, if they’ve done it more than 10 times? I just want to make sure of whatever precedent we’re setting. Or, if this is something we want to do as a policy going forward, great, let’s do it.”
However, the Gaming Commission still voted in favor of adding Hearne to the list. As well as police reports from his charge sheet, Commissioners were shown security footage of Hearne’s brazen theft of more than $10,000 in chips from the Aria in 2022.
It displayed Hearn walking up to a blackjack table on the casino floor, scooping an armful of chips up and bolting away from the shocked dealer and table players.
The Black Book
Nevada’s Black Book casino ban list was first established in 1960. It covered “persons of notorious or unsavory reputation” who were to receive a lifetime ban from Silver State gambling operations.
It started out with a dozen names. With the addition of Hearne in 2024, it has reached 37 persons. In 1975, The Black Book was officially renamed The List of Excluded Persons to represent a more racially diverse Las Vegas. That was despite not a single one of the original dozen people listed being black.
In fact, to this day, the majority of those named on the list are of Italian-American descent.
The most recent person added before Hearne was Shaun Joseph Benward. A sleight-of-hand expert and social media illusionist, Benward is suspected of using his magician skills to cheat at roulette tables across the U.S.
Benward was already on similar lists at a dozen Sin City casinos, and some in other states, before being unanimously banned from all Nevada casinos in 2023.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
