Two professional poker players in Scotland have each been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing more than $300,000 from automated teller machines (ATMs) to bankroll a Las Vegas poker excursion.

According to The Scotsman, a Scottish newspaper, brothers Mohammed Imran, 33, and Mohammed Irfan, 36, stole the money over three days in 2005.

Through a complicated scheme, the pair used information provided by a bank insider to use expired Bank of Scotland-issued credit cards to loot ATMs in Glasgow, Scotland, some 380 times between May 29, 2005 and June 1, 2005, the newspaper reported.

One of the illegal withdrawals occurred at an ATM at the Riverboat Casino is Glasgow, the newspaper reported.

The bank eventually became aware of the scam, and traced a credit card being used to Imran’s sister-in-law, who said she was a customer of the bank but never received a credit card from it, the newspaper reported. =A0 When the homes of Imran and Irfan were searched, about $30,000 in cash was found in a safe in Imran’s home and about $280,000 in cash was found in a safe in Irfan’s home, the newspaper reported.

The bandits were planning to use their ill-gotten gains to go to Las Vegas and play high-stakes poker against top pros, the newspaper reported.

Instead, the pair are now banned from every casino in the United Kingdom, which includes Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the newspaper reported.

Robert Anthony, a Scottish sheriff who was involved in the investigation, told the pair in court: “Your parts involved a substantial course of criminal conduct. It must have taken some time and effort to perpetrate this offense.”

Ironically, it appears that the poker-playing perps had no need to loot the ATMs–they were quite successful playing poker.

According to tournament records, Imran has won a total of $31,772 lifetime on the pro poker tourney circuit, including $8,225 from a 32nd-place finish in a no-limit Texas hold ‘em event at the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Also according to tournament records, Irfan has won a total of $79,671 lifetime on the pro poker tourney circuit, including $11,750 from a 19th-place finish in a no-limit Texas hold ‘em event at the 2005 WSOP.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)