Raised-Limits Colorado Casinos Sweating The Cheats

The cheaters have refined and jettisoned their tricks over the years. And casinos, in turn, have honed their methods for detecting them. Colorado regulators don't see it much anymore, but they remember the old "monkey wand" — a long wire with a small light bulb attached to its end. Rogue slot-machine players would slip it into the game to fool the money counter, triggering a gusher of coins.

In recent years, card sharks across the country have inserted tiny cameras into cigarette cases or shirt buttons so they can glimpse the card at the bottom of a deck during blackjack. Both cheats have been exposed, leading to monkey-proof slot machines and more-sophisticated camera systems to sweep casino floors. With betting limits rising from $5 to $100 in Colorado and business going 24 hours starting July 2, casino operators say it's a sure bet that the number of cheaters with newer gambits will rise too, prompting the casinos to take extra precautions.

Owners of The Lodge and Gilpin casinos in Black Hawk have hired new security officers, added cameras and brought in a cheat expert from Harrah's in Las Vegas to help train dealers on how to shrewdly watch behavior during craps and other games.

"What happens is that the trick gets identified and people will stop," said Ed Weisel, the Vegas veteran and new director of table games for the two casinos. "But they will just go on to do something else."

The eyes are seemingly everywhere at The Lodge. Between it and the Gilpin, 1,500 cameras dangle in the shadows, linked to a new digital computer monitoring system.

But the eyes, and experience, of the 52-year-old Weisel may pose the most powerful deterrent. He's helped spot 100 suspected cheaters in his 30-plus years working in the gaming business. He knows how they usually work in groups, using partners to distract dealers while one "slides" dice instead of rolling. And how they "pinch" bets by quickly pulling half their chips back.

Colorado gaming communities don't appear to have a cheating problem — of 13 complaints, only two tricksters have been arrested in the past three years, and those were casino employees, according to the Colorado Division of Gaming. But the introduction of craps and its variety of bets is certain to invite more monkey business, according to Donald Burmania, communications director for the Division of Gaming, which added 13 new investigators to increase scrutiny as the rules change.

"We feel like we're prepared," Burmania said.

Are they really? I doubt it.