Major Casino Cheating Ring about to get busted in Connecticut!

Mohegan Sun Casino is again hit by Cheating Ring!

The details are fuzzy but here is the first news release about a major casino cheating operation going down at the Mohegan Sun.


MAN ARRESTED ON CASINO CHEATING CHARGE

The state police casino unit arrested a Memphis, Tenn., man Thursday in connection with a cheating incident at Mohegan Sun.

Richard S. Taylor, 41, was charged with first-degree larceny and cheating while gaming. He was served with an arrest warrant when he appeared in court on an unrelated charge, according to state police.

Taylor was held on a $100,000 cash bond and is scheduled to appear in Norwich Superior Court today.

State police said the arrest is part of an ongoing investigation and that more arrests are expected. No further information was available.

My take: What makes this big is the size of that cash bond, a hundred grand! I have never heard of Richard S. Taylor, but if he is being held on such a large bond for a casino cheating charge, then this has got to be the first drippings of a major casino storm. Remember, the huge international baccarat scam headed by the Tran Organization that got busted last May had victimized both the Mohegan Sun and its neighboring casino giant Foxwoods.

Stay tuned for more on this impending mega scam as soon as I get it.

Blackjack Cheating

What's the best method of live blackjack cheating?

We all know that blackjack card-counting is no longer considered cheating in any casino venue, at least not any that I know of. There are also other blackjack advantage play techniques that have passed below the bar that constitutes cheating in casinos. These are mostly the shuffle and ace tracking methods and their accompanying "steering" devices by which skilled practitioners of these plays use multiple-hand play to steer aces and tens into key hands off the first deal out of the card shoe. Early on, some jurisdictions considered those tricks illegal and actually arrested players caught doing it. But now, advantage players can do just about anything they want with not only their brains but also with their eyes to gain an edge on blackjack tables.

The fine line between advantage play and cheating is crossed when a player uses other parts of his body to gain the edge, mainly his hands but sometimes his feet as well. In short, anything done to observe and tally the cards at blackjack is not cheating. But anything done to gain an advantage through touch (except inserting the cut card) is most likely cheating. This includes, of course, marking cards, bending cards or any fashion of altering the cards even in the slightest way. And don't forget, cards can be marked in face-up shoe games where the players are not permitted to touch the cards after they are dealt from the shoe. I have seen players mark the cards through many ingenious means, one of which was a player gently touching cards with a chip that he gave to the dealer as a tip in the same motion, adding a "Thanks for the good cards" to further distract the dealers. The result was that the chip left a tiny nick in the center of the card that he could see when that card later appeared at the top of the shoe ready to be dealt.

So, what's the best method of cheating at blackjack?

It is still chip manipulation. Messing with the cards will get you caught and in a lot more trouble faster than messing with the chips. Good ol' pastposting and bet pressing when done right is the safest way to riches at the blackjack table, but unless you're really good and have perfected your craft, don't dare go out and try it. On the other side of the coin...or I should say chip...pinching or dragging, which is pulling chips off your bet when you've lost or think you're about to lose, is a little more dangerous.

If you want to see some good videos of some good bet pressing and bet pinching moves, check out You Tube

Online Poker Cheating Bots and Collusion Cheats

Online Poker Cheating

This article was written by someone supporting PokerStars as the safest online poker site. Obviously we have since learned that PokerStars is not the safest online poker room, but I thought this article was still insightful, and, much of what it says seems to support the findings in my 2006 book "Dirty Poker."

In my personal opinion, cheating is going to happen in online poker. Whether the cheating will actually by carried out by the actual poker site, is pretty hard to believe. An online poker site like Party Poker may have some problems, but I'm sure even they know that rigging the deck would be the absolute worst thing they could do to shoot themselves in the foot. There already exist a number of poker programs out there like Poker Tracker that are able to monitor hand histories on the poker sites with an incredible amount of detail. I'm sure some sophisticated players who have the capability have written their own poker tools for that matter.

What these programs can do, is create databases of games that occur on the poker site, which can then be statistically run through to look for inconsistencies. Although most players would never play enough to make a case for statistical deviance, professional players would definitely notice strange deviations in deck shuffles, draws and and other details with their trackers.

For instance, to hit a flush draw with two of your suit on the flop, the probability is about 35% from the flop to the river. In essence, the chance of the board having three to a suit fall is around 35%. Through tracking software, one can easily notice over 10,000 hands (what a professional probably plays in a month) any deviations in flushes. If flushes are falling 36% of the time, that's probably just a random blip. 37% and that's a big blip. If we get near 40% then there's definitely something to be looked into. Seeing how a pro player would have a database easily reaching into the hundreds of thousands of hands, they would definitely be able to judge the randomness of the deck (if they were technically able to run reports against their own data).

But so far, I haven't heard any reports of any bad deck dealing that has solid fact backing. That's not to say that there isn't, but the chances are unlikely.
Players Cheat with Bots and Collusion

The type of cheating that does go on falls into two categories of active cheating and passive cheating. Active cheating works just like it does in real life, where players work in teams to raise other players out of the pot or juice the pot for each other. This play manages to maximize value bets because both players are as far as money goes, playing as one. Fortunately, this style of play can usually be detected by the trained eye, although reporting this action usually will not result in anything. The poker sites usually have automated software that tries to interpret if you are engaged in this type of betting. I would imagine it tries to find if you are raising weak hands when you normally don't or if you constantly do better when playing with a certain player, etc. People are caught using these methods, just so you know.

Passive cheating is generally harder to catch and is also known as collusion. This is when players share their cards with one another to help them make better choices when it comes to odds. For the most part, this cheating is normally not very beneficial to the cheaters to begin with except in few situations where the information may actually help. With more than 2 players in on it however, it may become a problem with 4 players are all sharing information. This is difficult to catch because in this scenario, cheaters will fold their hand when they realize another one of theirs has a stronger hand. Since you can't see mucked cards online, it's impossible to know if people are folding monsters. However, the poker site may or may not be able to detect this type of play. For instance, if a flop showed A/K/2 and cheater #1 held KK while cheater #2 held AK, if cheater #2 folded to a bet from cheater #1, there should (one would hope) be some warning bells raised from the server end.

Lastly, there have been inquiries about the possibility of cheat software or ways to view your opponent's cards. Obviously these inquiries are usually made by players who want to cheat instead of the worried players. Coming from a computer background, I have a good knowledge of how most software applications are written and how server software operates. My assumption would be that Party Poker only sends to your computer data about the board and your hand. Only at showdown does it actually send data about other players to your computer. Sending the data for each player would be a completely insane approach in terms of security- and any good programmer would know not to write a server in this fashion. You can say your computer is on a "need to know basis" when it comes to poker data. Because of this, there is no feasible way to cheat because you are only limited to the amount of data you have on your computer. There is also close to a zero percent chance of being able to send data to online poker servers that would have you magically win a hand or get cards of your choosing. It would take deliberate coding on the part of the online sites to have this happen- and again, it would not be in their best interests (or so we hope).
Final Thoughts on Online Poker Cheating

So, should you worry about cheating? Probably not as much as you might think. At the higher limits, there may be more chance of passive and even active cheating, but by that point, you should know that if you're losing at a table- it's time to go. Don't fret too much over what you cannot control.

Again, if you still absolutely think that whatever site you are going to is cheating you out of your money, do yourself a favor and leave that site! I still recommend PokerStars if you insist on playing at the site with the most integrity.

The Best Card Trick Ever Done

Of all the casino scams, poker scams and gambling scams I've ever heard of, this one is the best of all-time. And it has a special twist. You see, I, Richard Marcus, probably the best poker-casino-cheating con man of all-time, was the victim! It went down like this:

One night twenty years ago while getting drunk in a New York Irish pub, the conversation turned to gambling and card playing. I was there with a girl I had met hours before in another pub that might also have been an Irish one; I can’t remember. There were twenty or so people engaged in this conversation and it was quite lively. Two Irish guys—I mean real Irish guys from Ireland with red hair, white skin and freckles— had everyone cracking up with their little gambling anecdotes leading to one catastrophe or another. Then a woman who was plainly Italian pulled a deck of cards and slapped them on the bar.
“Anyone want to see a great card trick?” she beamed, probably at least as sauced as I was.
Everyone pitched in with encouraging laughter to say how thrilled everyone else would be to see her card trick. She then proceeded to do that classic dopey poker-hand trick everyone has seen performed by at least four generations of his family: the one with the four hands of seven-stud ending up four jacks, four queens, four kings and, of course, four aces for the dealer.
Everybody applauded her, anyway, and then another schmuck took the cards and began shuffling. When he’d finished, he dealt three columns of seven cards face up. He said to the girl who’d just finished her crummy trick, “Pick a card, but don’t tell me what it is. Keep it in your head.”
The girl was either stupid enough or drunk enough to blurt, “Does it have to be one of the cards you dealt on the bar?” The rest of the deck was lying off to the side.
The guy indulged her with a smiling nod. She was kind of hot and had big tits, so obviously he didn’t care how dumb she was.
The girl’s drunken eyes passed over the twenty-one cards. “Okay, I chose a card.”
I recognized the trick as soon as the guy started dealing out the columns. It was one of those mathematical numbers that could never go wrong if you didn’t fuck up the procedure. The version he was doing was the one with the petals and the flowers, goading the victim to pick this petal then that one after she’d already picked the two columns that didn’t contain the card. I think the first time I saw the trick done was in kindergarten.
The woman, ever so drunk as she was, managed to play along and finished by affirming that the card the guy flicked over at the end was indeed hers.
I’d just about had my share of card tricks when one of the two redheaded Irish guys clamored, “Those tricks are for bloody boobheads!” Anyone here want to see a real good one?”
For some reason I volunteered, surely hoping it would be better than the previous two and the last of the night.
He picked up the deck off the bar and fanned them face up in front of me. “Pick any card,” he said.
I looked at him. “Just like that, face up?”
The other Irish guy piped in behind him. “Yeah, mate, just like that.”
I slid out the 9♠ without hesitation. I looked up waiting for one of them to do something.
The one next to me spoke. “What would you say if I told you I know someone back in Ireland whom I could call right now, hand him the phone without saying a word, and he’ll tell you that the card you picked was the nine of spades?”
I looked at my watch. It was eleven o’clock at night in New York, which meant it was four o’clock the next morning in Ireland.
“I’d say the guy either goes to bed late or gets up early.”
They laughed heartily, then the one behind suggested slyly, “Care to make a little wager on that, mate?”
I looked at the girl I was with. I could see she knew as much about cards as I did about the theory of relativity, which was zero.
“Come on, mate,” the one who’d spread the cards said. “Why not put a little fun in the evening. Soon it’ll be the top of the mornin’.”
“Okay,” I said pulling out my wallet. “I’ll go twenty bucks saying you’re friend in Ireland can’t tell me my card if you don’t tip him off.”
“Twenty bucks!” they exclaimed in unison. Then they took turns telling me I insulted their chivalrous play. The one behind finished off with, “The phone call over there will hardly be covered for twenty bucks, mate.”
Well, whatever their gig was, it was clear they knew I’d lose the bet. And this in spite of the fact they didn’t know whom they were trying to hustle. But I was curious about their trick, plus I was in a good mood knowing I was going to get laid once I got out of there.
“So how much do I have to do this for?” I asked them.
“You got fifty.”
“Sure.” I laid the fifty on the bar. They did not hesitate to lay theirs alongside it. “Now let’s make that call.”
You have to remember that twenty years ago there were no cell phones. There was just a cranky old pay phone near the entrance. The front guy asked the bartender, “Pat, gimme ten bucks in quarters, would ya?”
“It’s okay,” Pat chimed, you can use the bar phone.” He reached underneath the bar, pulled it out and slapped it on the surface next to the nine of spades. “Who you calling, anyway?”
“Some bloke in Ireland.”
The phone slid off the bar and disappeared faster than you could say “Dublin.”
I followed the two Irishmen to the pay phone. At least ten people followed me, everyone with either a drink or cigarette in his hand. As the one dropped a load of quarters into the phone’s slot, he piped at me, “Are you ready, mate?”
I nodded.
“I’m not going to say a word to my buddy on the phone about your card. I’ll just see if he’s home and pass you the phone when he comes on. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He dialed a number, then after a few seconds said into the receiver, “Is Mr. O’Leary there?” Then he said, “Hold on,” and passed me the phone.
I put the receiver to my ear. “Mr. O’Leary?”
The cheery voice on the other end was indeed Irish. “That’s me, mate. Your card is the nine of spades.”
At first I thought it no big deal that he knew my card, but when it finally hit me that he knew my card I was flabbergasted. For some reason I thanked him before hanging up.
When I turned back to the two Irishman, they were already at the bar scooping up my fifty-dollar bill. Everyone else was asking if the guy on the phone guessed my card.
“He didn’t guess it,” I informed the crowd with a bit of thespian delight. “He knew it.”
The two Irish guys were laughing as I came over. “You want to do it again, mate?” one of them asked.
“Yeah,” I answered immediately, “but how ‘bout for less money.” I knew that I was outhustled but I wanted to see this again, figure out how they did it. I knew they wouldn’t give it up for nothing.
“Okay,” the second one said as he picked up the cards and gave them a quick shuffle with a fancy bridge. He spread them and told me to pick a card. I fingered the width of the fanned cards and slipped out the 4♣. Then the first Irishman put a twenty-dollar bill on the bar and told me to match it.
I laid the bill on the bar and followed them back to the phone. Evidently enough quarters remained in the Irishman’s pocket to make the second call. He dialed and again asked for Mr. O’Leary. When O’Leary came on the line, he told him to hold on and passed me the receiver. I bid the familiar voice hello and he answered with “Your card is the four of clubs.”
“Wanna go again, mate?” The Irish guys were having a ball with me.
“How the fuck did you guys do that?” I demanded.
The first one gave me a peppered shrug and said, “You know magicians don’t give away their secrets.”
“It’s not magic,” I protested. “It’s a goddamn card trick.”
The second one had a great retort for that. “It’s not a trick. O’Leary just read your mind. He knows you’re thinking of your card when you get on the phone. So he just hones in on your brain and finds the part of it thinking of the card.”
“You guys got a good line of shit,” I said, and they got off laughing at me. The whole bar was getting in on it, including the bartender who seemed to have already borne witness to their little gag. I approached the bartender and asked him how they did it. He just chuckled and said in an Irish accent, “I haven’t the foggiest idea, mate?”
How the hell did they do it? That thought prevented me from both getting laid and sleeping that night. I lay awake for hours in the girl’s apartment, in her bed with her lovely body sprawled naked in the same spot where she’d finally given up on me and fallen asleep.
Not only am I a fairly intelligent person but I know how to navigate pretty well around logic. The first thing I was sure of was that somehow that Irish guy in the bar told Mr. O’Leary what my card was. The only way that certainty would not be true was if there had been another unseen phone extension inside the bar and somebody else told Mr. O’Leary the card. But after being led on a tour of the place by the bartender, during which I felt like an idiot, I had to accept the fact that there was no other phone there.
So then how did the Irish guy tell O’Leary which card I’d selected? I had been right by his side when they spoke. Twice. Each time, the Irish guy said nothing more than “Is Mr. O’Leary there?” and “hold on.” Neither utterance contained words that would indicate the nine of spades and the four of clubs. But somehow those words did indicate those cards. And it was killing me to find out.
I racked my brains. Somewhere in those lines was a hidden code that told Mr. O’Leary what my cards were. But how could the same exact lines give him the correct information for two different cards? I even asked myself if it were possible that the inflection in the caller’s voice tipped off O’Leary. But if that were the case then O’Leary would have to be sensitive to fifty-two different inflections. Impossible.
The unknown solution ate at me an entire week. Then finally, not being able to take it anymore, I returned to the pub on a busy Saturday night. The place was packed, and sure enough the two Irish guys were hustling another customer with their trick. Only this time the bills on the bar were hundreds and the guy getting taken was sweating and did not look happy.
I watched all this from a distance. The Irish guys either didn’t see me or didn’t recognize me. The victim followed them to the phone, probably for the second or third time, and upon hanging up came walking back toward the bar in disbelief, then did an about-face toward the exit. The second he was out the door, I saw one of the Irish guys pass a bill off to the bartender, who promptly stuck it in his pocket.
So the bartender was in on it as well. They were working a major scam with this trick, or whatever the hell it was.
I came back the next night determined to crack the case. Irish pubs in Manhattan usually drew crowds every night of the week. Sunday night at this one was no exception. The Irish guys were flirting with a couple of women by the bar. I decided to wait patiently until they went into the routine. I knew they would eventually because these guys were not there for just booze and women. The place was their livelihood.
At midnight, just before I was about to pack it in, two slick looking black dudes walked inside the bar. They had that instant air of loose cash, either pro athletes or musicians. The Irish pair adroitly got them into conversation and within a half hour the bartop was crawling with hundred-dollar bills. I was thinking to myself that the scammers had better be careful with these black guys. They looked like the kind you didn’t want to fuck with. But obviously the Irish duo was very well rounded and knew how to handle whatever situation arose during the working of the scam.
Well, we’ll see about that, I said to myself.
After it happened, I realized I’d been destined to do it. But at the crucial moment I still had to make sure not to blow it. Bad timing could have blown the whole thing, and I would’ve been in a lot of pain for nothing.
As soon as the Irish guy dropped the quarters into the phone’s slot, I made my way through the thinning crowd toward him. I watched him dial and waited until I knew instinctively that the moment had arrived to make my move. I charged the pay phone and grabbed the receiver from the guy’s hand. He protested but I quickly knocked him out of the way. I then put the receiver to my ear without uttering a sound. What I heard at first made no sense. It was indeed O’Leary’s voice and it was counting…“two, three four, five, six…” The Irish guy made a lunge at me but I knocked him out of the way again. His buddy was coming after me too, but one of the black dudes stuck out a big arm and held him at bay. By that time O’Leary had reached “king.” And then his voice rasped in my ear, “What’s the fucking card, mate! Did I miss it?”
“You sure did, scumbag!” and I hung up the phone.
There’s an old New York joke about asking a bartender what time his Irish pub closes. He doesn’t answer you with a time; rather he says, “As soon as the first fistfight breaks out.”
Well, that meant that this Irish pub would be closing real soon. In the ensuing brawl I got whacked with a few good shots that drew blood from my mouth. The poor Irish guys, whose names turned out to be Arnold and Donald Lorrigan and who were currently on their way to the hospital ward at the Rikers’ Island jail, got the shit kicked out of them. The arresting cops asked me what it was all about, and when I told them, one of the coppers, who was also Irish, quipped, “Musta been a pretty good card trick.”
It was simply the best card trick I had ever seen. The way it worked was in reversal. It was true that the caller was transmitting the information to O’Leary, but he was doing it in reverse. That’s why virtually no one can figure it out. The key to deciphering it is that you have to know it was O’Leary speaking first, not the Irish guy. The first words I had heard from the caller were “Is Mr. O’leary there?” Upon hearing those words you naturally assume that whoever answered on the other end had picked up with a “hello” or something to that effect. Then when the Irish guy says “Hold on” and passes the phone off to the victim, you naturally think that O’Leary had just come to the phone after having been summoned by the person who had picked it up.
But it is really O’Leary who answers the phone. And instead of saying hello, he goes right into a recital of counting the cards…“ace, two, three, four…” Then when he arrives at the card you had chosen, the caller says “Is Mr. O’Leary there?” That stops O’Leary’s counting dead in its tracks. For if the last card O’Leary said was “jack,” then he knows it’s a jack.
Next only the correct suit needs to be transmitted. Once O’Leary receives the signal that the card is a jack, he begins reciting the four suits…“spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds.” As soon as he hits the correct one, the caller says “Hold on,” which tells O’Leary he just said the right suit, and passes the phone to the victim who’s about to be stunned.
What makes this trick so unbelievable is how natural the talking sounds. The set-up guy just dials a number, asks to speak with someone and then asks that person to hold on while he passes the phone to the victim. I had never been so impressed by a card trick or phone trick, whatever you want to call it. Learning it was well worth the seventy bucks I lost and the busted lip.
Over the years I’ve done that trick dozens of times, though never for profit. The most fun performing it is at parties or anyplace with large gatherings of people. Listening to people trying to figure it out is as funny as any comedy routine you’ll ever see. The ridiculous theories people put forth to solve the puzzle are as unreal as they are hilarious. You hear everything from high-tech satellites eavesdropping on the room to infrared lenses spying on the deck of cards from another galaxy.
One time at a party while doing the trick, a cute girl made me come with her into the bathroom with the lights off. She said she wanted to be sure that no one else could see which card she chose. I wondered if it was a pretext to jump my bones, but when she struck a match to create a small light while she picked the card, I realized how nuts this trick drove everybody, as it had once done to me.

New Cheating Scam of the Month is Posted!

My new Cheating Scam of the Month for February is now posted. And you will love it! Why? Because I was the victim! That's right, Richard Marcus, the World's Greatest living Poker and Casino Cheat got swindled by someone better than he!

Read about it here.

Poker Cheats Accused!

POKER CHEATING IN THE PHILIPPINES

For more than three years now, I have been reporting about poker cheats getting everything from "away," caught, busted and worse. But here's a flip: In Quezon City, located in Metro Manila, a crooked high stakes poker game ended tragically...not for the cheaters but for the accusers. After accusing a group of men of cheating them at Texas hold'em, a man and his brother enraged the accused cheaters so badly that the accused group ended up mauling the man and his brother. The man died and his brother is in critical condition.

There is a point to this story beyond mere reporting: Sometimes it is better when you suspect being cheated to just leave the game without confronting the suspected cheaters. ESPECIALLY in a home game where there is no official security to protect you. Just harken back to the Old Wild West where many an accusing man got shot up in a poker game because he accused someone of cheating. And what makes it worse, if you are right you are in more danger!

In a legal public poker room environment, you can of course voice your suspicions to the authorities.

Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!

Poker Cheats, Poker Cheating, Gambling Cheats, Gambling Cheating. These are some of the most popular search engine phrases that have led people to my American Roulette Poker and Casino Cheating Blog for more than three years now. And I am proud to say that my blog has been elected the "Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!"

By whom?...Well, this is a little embarrassing. You see, I don't know. Yesterday I received a e-mail that was rather anonymous, meaning the sender's e-mail address gave no indication of a name, and the message was left unsigned.

The content, though: "Dear Mr. Marcus, we want you to know that for us, your American Roulette Poker and Cheating Blog is the Gambling Cheating Blog of the Year!"

I sure felt good hearing that...and notice the words "we" and "us." That means that at least more than one person enjoys reading my blog! I hope you do too.

Singapore Casinos Worry about Cheating

Singapore Casinos are not even up yet, though two of them are slated for a 2009 opening. Due to the recent stories about widespread cheating and corruption in Macau's casinos, Singapore is now feeling the "Asian cheating pinch." Last April I spoke at the 2007 Asian Casinos Executive Summit. Naturally my platform was cheating, and as a new casino and gambling territory, many of Singapore's casino regulatory officials were in attendance and quite attentive to what I was saying. Some asked me privately for my opinion about how vulnerable their casinos would be to cheaters. "Well," I responded, "isn't this where thieves and criminals get flogged in public?" They looked at me funnily and one said, "Yes, if you're talking about a half dozen or so strokes of the dreaded "ratan." Which, if you don't get it, is the whip. Remember Michael Fay? He's was the young American in '94 who got a half dozen whips or slashes for vandalism and mischief. In fact, while I was in Singapore last year, I did get enthralled by my conversations with native Singaporeans about the public floggings. They told me about it so distinctly that at times even the conversations hurt! Stuff about not being able to sit on your butt for months. Dire pain when sitting on the toilet bowl, etc., etc.

But after the flogging exchange talk with the casino regulators, who told me that harsher penalties would be in store for casino cheaters and thieves (although short of the Muslim tradition of cutting off hands!), I told them candidly that whenever a major new casino territory opens, the cheaters flock together like birds of a feather. In other words, the two new giant Singaporean casinos will get hit hard. They seemed to be taken a bit aback (pardon the tongue twister) by this, and before leaving I handed each one my casino game protection consulting business card. I imagine I will be hearing from them shortly.

Here's an article about these cheating concerns:

ASIAN CASINOS NEED STRONG SURVEILLANCE AGAINST CHEATS: NEVADA OFFICIAL

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Asia's casinos need strong internal controls and surveillance to guard against organised efforts to cheat them, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Wednesday.

While Las Vegas once had a reputation for mafia infiltration, Randall Sayre told reporters that those now attempting to cheat its casinos "are not necessarily connected to traditional organised crime as one would anticipate."

He said "smaller groups that are very adept at cheating techniques" are attempting to compromise the casinos' controls, and gaming operations anywhere are vulnerable.

"It can be organised crime or it can be organised groups that conduct criminal activities," he said after addressing the Interpol Global Conference on Asian Organised Crime.

"So you've got to have strong internal controls and you've got to have strong surveillance."

Gaming receipts from the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, where casinos have burgeoned in the last few years, last year overtook revenues pulled in by the 40 gaming centres along Las Vegas' famous Strip.

Recent official figures in the former Portuguese colony said Macau had 28 casinos last year.

Among the three Nevada operators with major Macau operations is Las Vegas Sands, which is also building a multibillion-dollar casino development in Singapore.

According to a survey of industry executives polled by the South China Morning Post newspaper and reported last month, illegal under-the-table betting is depriving Macau casinos of up to 50 percent of all gambling revenues.

Sayre said his agency had close cooperation with both Macau and Singapore, which has sent its agents to Nevada to gain a better understanding of procedures there.

The first of two casinos in Singapore is to open in 2009.

Sayre said his message to the conference organised by the global police agency Interpol was that, "no matter where you're... located in the world, if you have legalised gambling you will be a target for the infiltration."

He said the problem of loan sharking outside casinos themselves was also "an issue on everybody's radar screen."

Singapore officials said they were aware of the threats posed by casinos.

"This industry has traditionally been associated with organised crime and sleaze, and there would surely be criminal elements who would try to exploit this," Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee told the gathering of law enforcers from around the world.

Singapore Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui told reporters that organised crime was not "physically present" in the city-state -- one of Asia's safest cities -- but police were ready for the worst.

"Just to assure you that we are well prepared," he said.

Poker Cheating: Strip poker

Strip Poker Cheat: I got an interesting e-mail today that really made me laugh. A young lady complained that she was cheated in a game of strip poker. Before I read the next line, I was already guessing ahead to what she could mean...actual cheating with cards or some guy somehow trying to cheat her clothes off. Well, it was about the clothes alright, but not about a guy!

It was a Lesbian Strip Poker game!

She said that she was drunk and one of her fellow players...or "playerettes" took advantage and removed two articles of clothing off her body instead of the one that was dictated by the rules. Naturally, you can all guess what that second article of clothing was, and she did tell me, but then I wondered why she was writing me about this. After all, I might be a world-renowned sleight of hand artist but I only worked with cards and chips, not bras and panties...well, at least as far as cheating casinos is concerned!

Anyway, I e-mailed her back and asked her exactly that, why was she telling me that a lesbian suitor was cheating clothes off her body?

Her answer was "I just wanted a straight guy's opinion." Weird enough, huh?

But there's one thing I left out: she sent me a picture! No, it wasn't a nude photo, but I will tell you this: Damn, how I would've liked to have been in that Strip Poker game!

Poker News: Online Gambling / Identity Theft

Online Gaming Ban...If there's one state in the US serious about banning online gambling, it's Washington. I came across this article that appeared in several Washington newspapers and it gives a chill up the spine to those who are involved in the multi-billion-dollar online gambling business. Heck, they're even mixing it up with Identity Theft:

DON'T BET ON INTERNET GAMBLING IN WASHINGTON


Internet poker is one of the more popular forms of online gambling, which is illegal in Washington state. The Seattle Seahawks set a Super Bowl record in its 2006 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately for ‘Hawks’ fans, it wasn’t on the field. The game drew a record $94.5 million in Nevada sports books bets, as reported by the USA Today. Last year’s Indianapolis Colts-Chicago Bears matchup fell $1.5 million short of the Seattle-Pittsburgh action.

Gambling experts believe next Sunday’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants may top $100 million in bets for the first time in history, but Washington State gamblers need to be aware of the rules.

Online betting is against the law.

As of 2006, Internet gambling is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Other class C felonies include possession of child pornography and animal torture.

Gamblers and Web site administrators are at risk of conviction if caught engaging in illegal gambling. State officials are focusing on Web site operators and service providers in an attempt to reduce scandals and cheating, according to Washington State Gambling Commission spokesperson Susan Arland.

“If we hear of an operator, the procedure is to contact them and advise them to stop. Normally they will,” Arland said.

The commission recently shut down an illegal gambling site operated out of North Seattle called Betcha.com. The site owners filed an appeal on Dec. 5.

Gambling has three requirements in order to be considered illegal in Washington. It must involve a paid fee, or a buy-in. It must involve chance. And a prize must be the ultimate goal.

Removing any of those three factors legalizes the activity. Fantasy sports played for money are considered illegal gambling, Arland said.

Internet gambling was changed to a felony in 2006 because offenders were not deterred by a misdemeanor, said Arland. The state’s goal is to encourage voluntary compliance.

But state officials say the threat of a $10,000 fine should be the least of an online gambler’s worries.

Identity theft and scams are a large factor in the state’s attempt to crack down on Internet gambling.

“You have no idea who’s behind that computer screen,” Arland said. “There’s no recourse if you’re not paid or if you’re cheated. It’s extremely risky.”

Internet gambling is a $1.5 billion industry involving more than 15 million players worldwide, according to the National Law Journal. Many experts believe the popularity of online gambling can be partly attributed to the emergence of Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments broadcast on major TV networks.

In 1995, the Journal of Gambling Issues reported 24 Internet gambling sites, according to the state gambling commission. In 2006, the number had increased to 2,500 sites.

Sports media like ESPN have had conversations centered on the odds of the upcoming Super Bowl on Feb. 3. Commentators have discussed oddsmakers in Las Vegas who continue to close the gap between the favored Patriots and underdog Giants and what affect that will have upon the betting industry.

About 80 percent of bets to this point have been placed on the Giants, according to USA Today, but most bets are usually placed 72 hours or less before kickoff. The state’s enforcement of Internet gambling laws has come under scrutiny since the law was passed in 2006.

A Bellingham man was reprimanded by the state for writing about gambling on a Web site. He posted reviews of online casinos, links and listed casinos that were known to cheat people out of their money.

State officials called it “aiding and abetting” online gambling, according to a Seattle Times column. The paper itself drew fire for posting a poker how-to column on its Web site with a link to a poker site where people can discuss the game.

Although Washington is one of the nation’s strictest states on gambling, according to Arland, certain methods are allowed. Businesses can conduct a sports board where players bet $1 on each numbered square. The winning number is the square with the combined score of both teams in the Super Bowl. All winnings must be returned to the players, businesses cannot make any money on sports boards.