Don't let anyone tell you that online poker in the US is dead yet. Some big-wig politicians, who themselves are online poker players and have written me about my book "Dirty Poker," are supporting the Poker Alliance to preserve online poker and even pushing legislation for credit card use in Internet gambling. An article about one politician on the front lines follows.
And speaking of "Dirty Poker," I am thinking of writing "Dirty Poker 2." This book would name names and give even more concrete evidence of big-time cheating. Please give me your thoughts on this.
April 26, 2007, 5:23 pm
Frank Introduces a Long-Shot Online Gambling Bill
Damian Paletta reports on a gambling bill.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney
Frank introduced a bill today that would allow people
to gamble over the Internet using their credit cards,
a practice Congress banned just last year.
Frank
“The issue is whether adults who work for their money
in the comfort of their home should be allowed to
engage in a form of recreation which is enjoyed and
which has no conceivable negative impact on anybody
else,” Frank said at a press conference.
Frank said many of his colleagues didn’t realize what
they were voting for when they passed the Internet
gambling restrictions last year. There were “a number
of members who basically said to me, ‘I voted for
what?’” he said.
Under Frank’s bill, licenses would be distributed by
the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,
and gamblers would have to be at least 18 years old.
Licensees would be required to pay taxes and have
safeguards to prevent money laundering and compulsive
gambling.
The issue is a matter of personal freedom, Frank said,
adding: “I don’t play cards because every time I start
playing cards I start talking and people say, ‘Will
you shut up, you are distracting me.”
The poker players were encouraged. The Poker Players
Alliance, which took particularly umbrage with last
years bill since it carved out exceptions for online
gambling on horse races, fantasy sports and state
lotteries, called it a “common sense approach.” Former
New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, now PPA’s chairman,
said the bill “creates good public policy that
establishes real safeguards that protect minors and
problem gamblers while allowing the majority of adults
to enjoy poker and other games online.”
The bill faces long odds. Frank conceded he had some
work to do in order to attract more support, and said
he hadn’t yet discussed the bill with Democratic
leadership but figured they would be “against it.”
Good luck, Barney!
DICE CONTROL
Along with e-mails about roulette computers and online poker bots, I have been getting numerous queries concerning dice control. For those of you who have never heard of this, dice control is a skill (or purported skill) with which a crafty craps shooter can control the dice to a certain degree that would give him an edge over the house. In doing this he would have to roll the dice in a legitimate fashion or at least give the appearance that his roll is legitimate, mainly that each die hit the back wall of the craps table and tumble, and that no obvious "skid" be employed to move either die across the table to the back wall.
Well, people want to know if there is any truth to this method of beating casinos and does it constitute cheating. Dice control has made it to big-time TV, as an episode on both the History Channel's "Breaking Vegas" series and the UK Challenge TV's "World's Greatest Gambling Scams." There have also been books written about this, mainly by Frank Scoblete who actually gives seminars teaching would-be winning gamblers his methods of dice control.
Do I, as the world's greatest casino cheater, buy any of this?
Afraid not. I would sooner subscribe to the theory of a roulette dealer controlling the ball's landing than I would a dice-shooter's controlling that of the dice. It's just too difficult given the distance the dice travel and their crashing against the wall. I'm not saying that craps tables cannot at all be manipulated by skilled dice hustlers, but they cannot do this with regulation rolls of the dice. Lackadaisical casino craps crews can be taken advantage of in some situations. Sometimes they let it go when only one die hits the wall, in accompaniment to a heed of "please hit the wall with both dice, sir." Other times they might let several rolls like that go by. Only in these instances can dice manipulators gain any edge against the casino, and even so it is not a big one.
Is it cheating? Yes and no. Yes meaning that it is technically cheating, no meaning that it would be difficult to prove and easily stopped on the spot by boxmen calling out "no roll" whenever a die fails to hit the back wall.
So in conclusion, if you're reading up on this while thinking it might be your way to casino profits, you'd do better by playing poker, counting cards or hustling pool.
My new book "The World's Greatest Gambling Scams" is now in stores, and as you can imagine none of the scams I've written about is dice control.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Making a hit in Asia!
I just returned from lecturing on casino surveillance in Asia and am happy to say that audiences were very impressed, and even captivated. I performed demonstrations of many different casino moves and also recounted some great stories from my career that are found in my books. When I boarded the plane in Singapore and was given a newspaper by the flight attendant, I was both shocked and thrilled to see that I was the headline!
Here's the article, which also contained my photo on the front page.
ONCE A GAMBLING CHEAT, NOW A MUCH SOUGHT-AFTER CONSULTANT
By Jasmine Yin, TODAY | Posted: 17 April 2007 1028 hrs
He amassed a whopping US$20 million ($30.3 million) from casinos all over the world, simply by deftly switching his chips right under the dealer's nose after the game had been played. And not once in 20 years was he ever caught.
Professional gambling cheat Richard Marcus played this trick time and again at casinos across the world, from Las Vegas to Europe and Macau, but he was so good that surveillance eagles never figured out what he had done. In the end, they even resorted to putting up posters of the American to warn their staff to be on the lookout for him.
"It's so simple," said Mr Marcus, who retired after New Year's Eve in 1999, speaking exclusively to TODAY on the sidelines of a three-day Asian Casinos Executive Summit 2007 that began on Monday.
He now does consultancy work for casinos and will share with industry players today how casino cheats operate even under the watchful eyes of modern-day surveillance.
"If I played Baccarat and the player hand won, after the dealer paid out the correct amount to me, I would change the bet amount by replacing the low-value chips, and tell the dealer: 'Hey, you made a mistake, I'm betting $5,000 chips instead of $15'. And I'd get paid for that."
Unseen by all, the low-value chips would deftly disappear into his jacket, leaving only the big-value chips on the table — making the dealer believe he or she had indeed made a mistake.
To increase his odds of pulling off the scam, he later incorporated into his technique a gentle tap of rebuke on the dealer's hand — contact with the dealer is a no-no — to further throw him or her off balance.
Indeed, he was "so convincing" in his act that they "very rarely" got suspicious enough to check the surveillance footage. And when the game got too easy for him, he reversed his ploy. He would bet high every time at the roulette table, changing the chips with smaller ones during a losing bet instead.
His partner in crime, who would stand next to the dealer, would watch the spinning ball intently, discerning where it fell a split second quicker than the dealer did and signalling Mr Marcus. He calls his signature "Savannah" technique — named after a topless dancer in Las Vegas — "the best cheating move of all time" that had the best brains in the casino surveillance world stumped.
"It's so stupid, that's why it worked," said Mr Marcus. For should the casino's pit boss get suspicious of his string of wins and play back the surveillance videos, the footage would show his winning bets to be precisely what they were — legitimate — since he only cheated on the losing bets.
A former Blackjack and Baccarat dealer himself, Mr Marcus laughed when asked what kept him at his cheating spree for two decades. Holding mock gaming chips to his face, he quipped: "Money, honey. And ego."
The millionaire who, as a teenager used to sleep under a highway underpass, today makes his home in France — where, he jokes, his money cannot be touched by the United States taxman, since it is stashed away in an underground vault.
"My ex-wife got a lot of it too," he quipped.
Since retiring, Mr Marcus has published four books on his exploits — he cannot be prosecuted for his past misdeeds, thanks to the US Statute of Limitations — and is waiting to hear from Hollywood about a movie to be based on his first book, American Roulette.
Incidentally, his foray into writing was inspired by the Steven Spielberg movie, Catch Me If You Can. "I thought that my story was way better than that," he said.
Just like the Leonard DiCaprio character, Mr Marcus is now being courted by the very people who used to be after him.
Without any pretence at modesty, he said: "I am the most successful cheat in the history of the world. I never had any equipment (when cheating), except my hands, my brains and my balls.
"Most people who cheat stay in one place and keep winning. My thing was, one move and I was done, and off I went to another table or casino."
So would he make a target of Singapore's upcoming casinos at the two integrated resorts?
"Even if I'm not retired, I will never do this in Singapore because I don't want to get caned. They cane people here," he said. - TODAY/fa
Here's the article, which also contained my photo on the front page.
ONCE A GAMBLING CHEAT, NOW A MUCH SOUGHT-AFTER CONSULTANT
By Jasmine Yin, TODAY | Posted: 17 April 2007 1028 hrs
He amassed a whopping US$20 million ($30.3 million) from casinos all over the world, simply by deftly switching his chips right under the dealer's nose after the game had been played. And not once in 20 years was he ever caught.
Professional gambling cheat Richard Marcus played this trick time and again at casinos across the world, from Las Vegas to Europe and Macau, but he was so good that surveillance eagles never figured out what he had done. In the end, they even resorted to putting up posters of the American to warn their staff to be on the lookout for him.
"It's so simple," said Mr Marcus, who retired after New Year's Eve in 1999, speaking exclusively to TODAY on the sidelines of a three-day Asian Casinos Executive Summit 2007 that began on Monday.
He now does consultancy work for casinos and will share with industry players today how casino cheats operate even under the watchful eyes of modern-day surveillance.
"If I played Baccarat and the player hand won, after the dealer paid out the correct amount to me, I would change the bet amount by replacing the low-value chips, and tell the dealer: 'Hey, you made a mistake, I'm betting $5,000 chips instead of $15'. And I'd get paid for that."
Unseen by all, the low-value chips would deftly disappear into his jacket, leaving only the big-value chips on the table — making the dealer believe he or she had indeed made a mistake.
To increase his odds of pulling off the scam, he later incorporated into his technique a gentle tap of rebuke on the dealer's hand — contact with the dealer is a no-no — to further throw him or her off balance.
Indeed, he was "so convincing" in his act that they "very rarely" got suspicious enough to check the surveillance footage. And when the game got too easy for him, he reversed his ploy. He would bet high every time at the roulette table, changing the chips with smaller ones during a losing bet instead.
His partner in crime, who would stand next to the dealer, would watch the spinning ball intently, discerning where it fell a split second quicker than the dealer did and signalling Mr Marcus. He calls his signature "Savannah" technique — named after a topless dancer in Las Vegas — "the best cheating move of all time" that had the best brains in the casino surveillance world stumped.
"It's so stupid, that's why it worked," said Mr Marcus. For should the casino's pit boss get suspicious of his string of wins and play back the surveillance videos, the footage would show his winning bets to be precisely what they were — legitimate — since he only cheated on the losing bets.
A former Blackjack and Baccarat dealer himself, Mr Marcus laughed when asked what kept him at his cheating spree for two decades. Holding mock gaming chips to his face, he quipped: "Money, honey. And ego."
The millionaire who, as a teenager used to sleep under a highway underpass, today makes his home in France — where, he jokes, his money cannot be touched by the United States taxman, since it is stashed away in an underground vault.
"My ex-wife got a lot of it too," he quipped.
Since retiring, Mr Marcus has published four books on his exploits — he cannot be prosecuted for his past misdeeds, thanks to the US Statute of Limitations — and is waiting to hear from Hollywood about a movie to be based on his first book, American Roulette.
Incidentally, his foray into writing was inspired by the Steven Spielberg movie, Catch Me If You Can. "I thought that my story was way better than that," he said.
Just like the Leonard DiCaprio character, Mr Marcus is now being courted by the very people who used to be after him.
Without any pretence at modesty, he said: "I am the most successful cheat in the history of the world. I never had any equipment (when cheating), except my hands, my brains and my balls.
"Most people who cheat stay in one place and keep winning. My thing was, one move and I was done, and off I went to another table or casino."
So would he make a target of Singapore's upcoming casinos at the two integrated resorts?
"Even if I'm not retired, I will never do this in Singapore because I don't want to get caned. They cane people here," he said. - TODAY/fa
Sunday, April 08, 2007
FBI Enters Virtual Gambling Craze!
And they were invited!
It's all about gambling online at "Second Life" with "Linden dollars," you know, the kind of economy that reminds me of Club Med, where you vacationed at beachfront facilities and conducted all your affairs in Club Med currency, and got to leave broke in real $. What I really find amusing about this story is that the creators of Second Life, Linden Labs, actually convinced the FBI to check out their online virtual gambling gig! What is this world coming to?
The FBI was once interested in me, but that was at least for good cause, or what they thought was good cause, because they accused me of running an interstate casino-cheating ring, and then in cahoots with Interpol accused me of being in control of an international cheating ring. Now, we all know that none of that could ever be proved, so maybe the FBI now figures it will have better luck chasing Second Lifers and giving them "life" in a real non-virtual prison in a real non-virtual world. We shall see. The story as it was written follows:
FBI investigators have visited Second Life's Internet
casinos at the invitation of the virtual world's
creator Linden Lab, but the U.S. government has not
decided on the legality of virtual gambling.
"We have invited the FBI several times to take a look
around in Second Life and raise any concerns they
would like, and we know of at least one instance that
federal agents did look around in a virtual casino,"
said Ginsu Yoon, until recently Linden Lab's general
counsel and currently vice president for business
affairs.
Second Life is a popular online virtual world with
millions of registered users and its own economy and
currency, known as the Linden dollar, which can be
exchanged for U.S. dollars.
Yoon said the company was seeking guidance on virtual
gaming activity in Second Life but had not yet
received clear rules from U.S. authorities.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Northern
California declined to comment.
Hundreds of casinos offering poker, slot machines and
blackjack can easily be found in Second Life. While it
is difficult to estimate the total size of the
gambling economy in Second Life, the three largest
poker casinos are earning profits of a modest $1,500
each per month, according to casino owners and people
familiar with the industry.
The surge in Second Life gambling coincides with a
crackdown in the real world by the U.S. government,
which has arrested executives from offshore gambling
Web sites.
Most lawyers agree that placing bets with Linden
dollars likely violates U.S. antigambling statutes,
which cover circumstances in which "something of
value" is wagered. But the degree of Linden Lab's
responsibility, and the likelihood of a crackdown, is
uncertain.
"That's the risk; we have a set of unknowns, and we
don't know how they're going to play out," said Brent
Britton, an attorney specializing in emergent
technology at the law firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey in
Tampa, Fla.
Britton said Linden Lab could face criminal charges
under the 1970 Illegal Gambling Business Act or the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The latter
law, passed last year, takes aim at credit card
companies and other electronic funds transfers that
enable Internet gambling.
"What they did was go after the processors, and made
it a crime to process payments that relate to online
gambling sites. Linden could potentially be held as
the same sort of processor," said Sean Kane, a lawyer
at New York's Drakeford & Kane who has studied the
legal issues of virtual worlds.
"If you're buying money on the Lindex (a virtual
currency exchange) and utilizing it for gambling
purposes, Linden could have a much higher level of
responsibility," he added. "If they would be found in
violation, that's difficult to say, but I can see a
much stronger case being made."
Linden Lab's rules prohibit illegal activity.
"It's not always clear to us whether a 3D simulation
of a casino is the same thing as a casino, legally
speaking, and it's not clear to the law enforcement
authorities we have asked," Yoon said.
Even if the law were clear, he said the company would
have no way to monitor or prevent gambling in Second
Life.
It's all about gambling online at "Second Life" with "Linden dollars," you know, the kind of economy that reminds me of Club Med, where you vacationed at beachfront facilities and conducted all your affairs in Club Med currency, and got to leave broke in real $. What I really find amusing about this story is that the creators of Second Life, Linden Labs, actually convinced the FBI to check out their online virtual gambling gig! What is this world coming to?
The FBI was once interested in me, but that was at least for good cause, or what they thought was good cause, because they accused me of running an interstate casino-cheating ring, and then in cahoots with Interpol accused me of being in control of an international cheating ring. Now, we all know that none of that could ever be proved, so maybe the FBI now figures it will have better luck chasing Second Lifers and giving them "life" in a real non-virtual prison in a real non-virtual world. We shall see. The story as it was written follows:
FBI investigators have visited Second Life's Internet
casinos at the invitation of the virtual world's
creator Linden Lab, but the U.S. government has not
decided on the legality of virtual gambling.
"We have invited the FBI several times to take a look
around in Second Life and raise any concerns they
would like, and we know of at least one instance that
federal agents did look around in a virtual casino,"
said Ginsu Yoon, until recently Linden Lab's general
counsel and currently vice president for business
affairs.
Second Life is a popular online virtual world with
millions of registered users and its own economy and
currency, known as the Linden dollar, which can be
exchanged for U.S. dollars.
Yoon said the company was seeking guidance on virtual
gaming activity in Second Life but had not yet
received clear rules from U.S. authorities.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Northern
California declined to comment.
Hundreds of casinos offering poker, slot machines and
blackjack can easily be found in Second Life. While it
is difficult to estimate the total size of the
gambling economy in Second Life, the three largest
poker casinos are earning profits of a modest $1,500
each per month, according to casino owners and people
familiar with the industry.
The surge in Second Life gambling coincides with a
crackdown in the real world by the U.S. government,
which has arrested executives from offshore gambling
Web sites.
Most lawyers agree that placing bets with Linden
dollars likely violates U.S. antigambling statutes,
which cover circumstances in which "something of
value" is wagered. But the degree of Linden Lab's
responsibility, and the likelihood of a crackdown, is
uncertain.
"That's the risk; we have a set of unknowns, and we
don't know how they're going to play out," said Brent
Britton, an attorney specializing in emergent
technology at the law firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey in
Tampa, Fla.
Britton said Linden Lab could face criminal charges
under the 1970 Illegal Gambling Business Act or the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The latter
law, passed last year, takes aim at credit card
companies and other electronic funds transfers that
enable Internet gambling.
"What they did was go after the processors, and made
it a crime to process payments that relate to online
gambling sites. Linden could potentially be held as
the same sort of processor," said Sean Kane, a lawyer
at New York's Drakeford & Kane who has studied the
legal issues of virtual worlds.
"If you're buying money on the Lindex (a virtual
currency exchange) and utilizing it for gambling
purposes, Linden could have a much higher level of
responsibility," he added. "If they would be found in
violation, that's difficult to say, but I can see a
much stronger case being made."
Linden Lab's rules prohibit illegal activity.
"It's not always clear to us whether a 3D simulation
of a casino is the same thing as a casino, legally
speaking, and it's not clear to the law enforcement
authorities we have asked," Yoon said.
Even if the law were clear, he said the company would
have no way to monitor or prevent gambling in Second
Life.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
New Book Out!...How professional cheaters grade casinos.
My new book, "The World's Greatest Gambling Scams," is now available on Amazon and will be in the bookstores shortly. You can link to it on my home page. This is the book that details all those great gambling scams you've seen on the History Channel's/Discovery Channel's Breaking Vegas series as well as those you've seen in Europe on Challenge TV and the Crime Information Network. In the book you will read exactly how the scams went down as well as the colorful histories of those who devised them and carried them out. Most of this detail had been omitted on the TV series. I also ironed out many of the inaccuracies on these shows. I promise you're in for some real entertainment, and quite a learning experience as well!
CASINO LEAGUES
Did you know that professional cheating teams rate and assign casinos much like legitimate corporations do in their marketing strategies? For instance, my teams always used certain casinos for definite functions. Some casinos served as training grounds. That's where I trained mechanics, claimers and check-bettors (refer to American Roulette if not familiar with these terms) before bringing them to the big leagues in the major casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Monte Carlo and the rest of the world's glamour spots. I assigned casinos varioius levels of importance. For example, an AAA casino was the cream of the crop: the Bellagio in Vegas; Le Grande Casino in Monte Carlo; or one of the new gaming palaces in Macau. These casinos have high action and, more importantly, high denomination chips. In my business, the bigger the chips, the bigger the profits!
Smaller casinos with less action, those where $500 and $1,000 chips do not readily circulate, served as boot camp for my cheating trainees. By practicing little moves for a few hundred bucks a pop, they gained experience while we slowly fattened up the bankroll in the process. Even my famed Savannah move was fashioned at the Fremont Casino in Vegas, a downtown gambling joint with very moderate action. But after ironing out her kinks, (and believe me, there weren't many!), we took her right to Caesar's Palace, an AAAA casino if ever there was one, and danced her to the tune of ten grand a pop!
CASINO LEAGUES
Did you know that professional cheating teams rate and assign casinos much like legitimate corporations do in their marketing strategies? For instance, my teams always used certain casinos for definite functions. Some casinos served as training grounds. That's where I trained mechanics, claimers and check-bettors (refer to American Roulette if not familiar with these terms) before bringing them to the big leagues in the major casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Monte Carlo and the rest of the world's glamour spots. I assigned casinos varioius levels of importance. For example, an AAA casino was the cream of the crop: the Bellagio in Vegas; Le Grande Casino in Monte Carlo; or one of the new gaming palaces in Macau. These casinos have high action and, more importantly, high denomination chips. In my business, the bigger the chips, the bigger the profits!
Smaller casinos with less action, those where $500 and $1,000 chips do not readily circulate, served as boot camp for my cheating trainees. By practicing little moves for a few hundred bucks a pop, they gained experience while we slowly fattened up the bankroll in the process. Even my famed Savannah move was fashioned at the Fremont Casino in Vegas, a downtown gambling joint with very moderate action. But after ironing out her kinks, (and believe me, there weren't many!), we took her right to Caesar's Palace, an AAAA casino if ever there was one, and danced her to the tune of ten grand a pop!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Major Newspaper Article About Your Favorite Casino Cheater
The following article with photos appeared on the cover of the Las Vegas Review Journal business section on Sunday, February 25th. It is not very accurate as far as the descriptions of my moves go, but it does do some justice in describing what I've done to casinos over the years!
CASINO BUSINESS: Blink and you'll miss him
Casino cheat shows how subtle moves squeezed out cash
By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Richard Marcus claims to have made more than a healthy living cheating
casinos all over the world.
It is a claim that has to be taken on faith because he was never caught.
"I looked at what I did as an art," said Marcus, who said his teams took
casinos around the world for $20 million. "Let's face it, who's going to
feel sorry for a casino?"
Not Marcus.
Judging by reactions of casino surveillance executives around the world,
the green felt tables on every continent were his victims.
As Marcus demonstrates his signature moves at roulette and blackjack
on a series of instructive DVDs, viewers can only shake their
heads.
Casino surveillance technology continues to evolve. Now cameras watch
every move in the pits and radio frequency identification track casino
chips. Nevertheless, Marcus tells his audience that their best protection
against professional cheaters is still educating dealers and floor
supervisors about what to spot.
"Even as technology progresses, my thing was still to beat the people on
the floor so they didn't bring the cameras into play," Marcus said.
Marcus, a former dealer, said he knows how boring floor jobs can be and
how he could psychologically manipulate the people his teams dealt with.
Hour after hour, shift after shift, year after year, he said, dealers
become robotic and pit bosses become complacent. Any little disruption can
throw casino personnel off their game.
"Touching a dealer is like hitting him over the head with a bat," Marcus
said.
In one of Marcus' blackjack past posting moves -- past posting is when a
player switches a bet after the outcome has been determined -- the player
reaches out and taps the dealer with one hand while replacing a bet chip
with the other right after being paid.
Marcus said that early in his career, casinos didn't run cameras on all
the tables at all times, so the casino staff could not always go to the
tapes for replays.
It wasn't until The Mirage opened in 1989 that casinos ran cameras at all
times.
By gathering inside information, Marcus said he came to learn how
different casinos operated security. Ironically, with the arrival of the
"eye in the sky" he found an unlikely alibi.
He developed a signature move, "The Savannah," named for a stripper in
Reno where he first executed it. The move was built around hiding a
legitimate bet in plain sight on the roulette table. The move required
patience because it could take anywhere from a half-hour to two hours to
set up, he said.
The pit boss must see the cheat playing for a while and the dealer must
become relaxed by the person's presence at the table.
Here's how it works. Standing farthest from the dealer, the cheating
bettor places what appears to be three $5 chips. But a higher-valued chip
is placed at the bottom of the stack, which the dealer fails to see more
than 95 percent of the time, Marcus said.
If the bet loses, the player rakes off the chips and replaces the high
chip with a $5 chip. If caught raking, which is illegal, he bumbles out an
explanation, apologizing profusely.
If the bet wins, the bettor acts surprised, as if the wager had been
placed by accident.
If the casino wants to look at the tape, which it rarely did, it would
only verify the bet.
If the bet hits, the bettor keeps playing, giving some of the money back
through losses. He then tips the dealer and slips away.
Marcus said he made $7 million during a 25-year run that ended in 2000
when he felt he had enough money and wanted to write books about his
experiences.
He pitches himself as the ultimate riches-to-rags-to-greater-riches story,
albeit not legitimately.
According to Marcus' memoir "American Roulette," a not-quite-yet
21-year-old Marcus blew into Las Vegas from the East Coast in 1975 with
$20,000. He promptly lost it all and found himself living under an
overpass.
After a few failed attempts at employment, Marcus landed a job dealing at
the Four Queens. Legitimacy only lasted until he was approached by a
professional cheat who had seen him at work and convinced him to run an
inside cheat.
After running the cheat, which netted him $2,500, Marcus switched sides of
the table and was soon past posting craps with a four-man team all over
the city.
For the next two decades Marcus traveled the world ripping off casinos. He
was never caught, although he did end up in the casino back room five or
six times being sweated by casino security.
Nothing ever stuck.
Marcus has written two more books about the underbelly of casino gambling.
His fourth, "World's Greatest Gambling Scams," is scheduled for release
later this year.
Marcus said he receives e-mails from people who want him to teach his
techniques. He refuses, saying his story is for entertainment.
He also points out that if someone is caught cheating in a casino they
could face serious legal charges.
Marcus, who lives in France, said he has no moral qualms about how he
obtained his money or the lifestyle it still brings him.
"I've never stolen a penny from anyone in my life," he said. "If I went to
a restaurant and didn't have enough money to leave a tip I would feel
guilty."
CASINO BUSINESS: Blink and you'll miss him
Casino cheat shows how subtle moves squeezed out cash
By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Richard Marcus claims to have made more than a healthy living cheating
casinos all over the world.
It is a claim that has to be taken on faith because he was never caught.
"I looked at what I did as an art," said Marcus, who said his teams took
casinos around the world for $20 million. "Let's face it, who's going to
feel sorry for a casino?"
Not Marcus.
Judging by reactions of casino surveillance executives around the world,
the green felt tables on every continent were his victims.
As Marcus demonstrates his signature moves at roulette and blackjack
on a series of instructive DVDs, viewers can only shake their
heads.
Casino surveillance technology continues to evolve. Now cameras watch
every move in the pits and radio frequency identification track casino
chips. Nevertheless, Marcus tells his audience that their best protection
against professional cheaters is still educating dealers and floor
supervisors about what to spot.
"Even as technology progresses, my thing was still to beat the people on
the floor so they didn't bring the cameras into play," Marcus said.
Marcus, a former dealer, said he knows how boring floor jobs can be and
how he could psychologically manipulate the people his teams dealt with.
Hour after hour, shift after shift, year after year, he said, dealers
become robotic and pit bosses become complacent. Any little disruption can
throw casino personnel off their game.
"Touching a dealer is like hitting him over the head with a bat," Marcus
said.
In one of Marcus' blackjack past posting moves -- past posting is when a
player switches a bet after the outcome has been determined -- the player
reaches out and taps the dealer with one hand while replacing a bet chip
with the other right after being paid.
Marcus said that early in his career, casinos didn't run cameras on all
the tables at all times, so the casino staff could not always go to the
tapes for replays.
It wasn't until The Mirage opened in 1989 that casinos ran cameras at all
times.
By gathering inside information, Marcus said he came to learn how
different casinos operated security. Ironically, with the arrival of the
"eye in the sky" he found an unlikely alibi.
He developed a signature move, "The Savannah," named for a stripper in
Reno where he first executed it. The move was built around hiding a
legitimate bet in plain sight on the roulette table. The move required
patience because it could take anywhere from a half-hour to two hours to
set up, he said.
The pit boss must see the cheat playing for a while and the dealer must
become relaxed by the person's presence at the table.
Here's how it works. Standing farthest from the dealer, the cheating
bettor places what appears to be three $5 chips. But a higher-valued chip
is placed at the bottom of the stack, which the dealer fails to see more
than 95 percent of the time, Marcus said.
If the bet loses, the player rakes off the chips and replaces the high
chip with a $5 chip. If caught raking, which is illegal, he bumbles out an
explanation, apologizing profusely.
If the bet wins, the bettor acts surprised, as if the wager had been
placed by accident.
If the casino wants to look at the tape, which it rarely did, it would
only verify the bet.
If the bet hits, the bettor keeps playing, giving some of the money back
through losses. He then tips the dealer and slips away.
Marcus said he made $7 million during a 25-year run that ended in 2000
when he felt he had enough money and wanted to write books about his
experiences.
He pitches himself as the ultimate riches-to-rags-to-greater-riches story,
albeit not legitimately.
According to Marcus' memoir "American Roulette," a not-quite-yet
21-year-old Marcus blew into Las Vegas from the East Coast in 1975 with
$20,000. He promptly lost it all and found himself living under an
overpass.
After a few failed attempts at employment, Marcus landed a job dealing at
the Four Queens. Legitimacy only lasted until he was approached by a
professional cheat who had seen him at work and convinced him to run an
inside cheat.
After running the cheat, which netted him $2,500, Marcus switched sides of
the table and was soon past posting craps with a four-man team all over
the city.
For the next two decades Marcus traveled the world ripping off casinos. He
was never caught, although he did end up in the casino back room five or
six times being sweated by casino security.
Nothing ever stuck.
Marcus has written two more books about the underbelly of casino gambling.
His fourth, "World's Greatest Gambling Scams," is scheduled for release
later this year.
Marcus said he receives e-mails from people who want him to teach his
techniques. He refuses, saying his story is for entertainment.
He also points out that if someone is caught cheating in a casino they
could face serious legal charges.
Marcus, who lives in France, said he has no moral qualms about how he
obtained his money or the lifestyle it still brings him.
"I've never stolen a penny from anyone in my life," he said. "If I went to
a restaurant and didn't have enough money to leave a tip I would feel
guilty."
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
St. Valentine's Day/Poker Bots Special
Firstly, I wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day, and if you've been lucky enough to make a score in casinos, whether by cheating or honest play, don't forget to share some of the booty with that special person in your life. If you don't, I will be very offended, especially if my blog has been directly or indirectly responsible for your score!
Now to POKER BOTS:
Since my book Dirty Poker was published in March, 2006, there's been lots happening with poker bots. It remains the second most common form of cheating online, if we consider collusion cheating. Virtually all the bots you see for sale online are NOT effective enough to get you over the hump and give you a consistent percentage advantage that overcomes both solid honest players and the sites' rakes; don't waste your money on them as they are not even as good as Mark Howe's roulette computers. However, there are purveyors of non-commercial bots that really have the goods! Over the past month I have seen several demos of these good ones in action. They win at a rate of 2.5 percent, which is very strong. Most of these are selling for around $5,000 US, however, the people making them are not advertising them online, preferring to deal through intermediaries and contacts. In addition to this, there have been improvements to "artibots," which are bots that actually have artificial intelligence, able to maneuver and change their play, invoke bluffing and fake steaming! These give an advantage of 5 percent or better, but are quite expensive.
Naturally online poker rooms are going to tell you that their security programs can detect all of these new innovations in play, but don't believe a word they say. The fact is that their use has no effect on their bottom line, so just as land-based casinos trump up their protestations of watching out for poker cheaters and colluders but in fact do virtually nothing, so do the spokesman for online poker rooms. In short, the bots are getting better, harder to detect and bringing in heaps of cash to those using them. I will have more on poker bots in the upcoming posts, in addition to some very special information that no one out there wants to miss, the most exciting revelation since the inception of this website!
Now to POKER BOTS:
Since my book Dirty Poker was published in March, 2006, there's been lots happening with poker bots. It remains the second most common form of cheating online, if we consider collusion cheating. Virtually all the bots you see for sale online are NOT effective enough to get you over the hump and give you a consistent percentage advantage that overcomes both solid honest players and the sites' rakes; don't waste your money on them as they are not even as good as Mark Howe's roulette computers. However, there are purveyors of non-commercial bots that really have the goods! Over the past month I have seen several demos of these good ones in action. They win at a rate of 2.5 percent, which is very strong. Most of these are selling for around $5,000 US, however, the people making them are not advertising them online, preferring to deal through intermediaries and contacts. In addition to this, there have been improvements to "artibots," which are bots that actually have artificial intelligence, able to maneuver and change their play, invoke bluffing and fake steaming! These give an advantage of 5 percent or better, but are quite expensive.
Naturally online poker rooms are going to tell you that their security programs can detect all of these new innovations in play, but don't believe a word they say. The fact is that their use has no effect on their bottom line, so just as land-based casinos trump up their protestations of watching out for poker cheaters and colluders but in fact do virtually nothing, so do the spokesman for online poker rooms. In short, the bots are getting better, harder to detect and bringing in heaps of cash to those using them. I will have more on poker bots in the upcoming posts, in addition to some very special information that no one out there wants to miss, the most exciting revelation since the inception of this website!
Monday, February 05, 2007
Hi-Tech Team Felled by Greed Again!
If you've been reading my blog, you've noticed how I constantly talk about how it takes more than just the sophisticated equipment to get the money out of casinos without ending up busted. And here once again is living proof of what I've been talking about. Read the story below about a hi-tech camera scam that beat Uk casinos out of several hundred grand only to get the perpetrators busted because they wanted too much too fast. I can tell you that I'm personally aware of just about every electronic-video-audio scam in existence, and believe me, this was a good one! If these three scammers had practiced better internal security and less greed, no telling how much casino cash they would have made. In any event, kudos to them for their efforts, and as in the UK cheating at gambling is not deemed so serious by the courts, they'll be back scamming the casinos in no time!
ARTICLE:
A team of gamblers used James Bond-style spy equipment to beat the odds in a highly sophisticated casino swindle, a court heard yesterday. The two men and a woman wired themselves with miniature cameras and communication devices during games of three-card poker in order to cheat casinos owners out of more than £250,000. In what was described as a "virtually foolproof" system, one of the team would secretly film the cards being dealt, another, in a van outside, would establish their identity and a third make bets based on the information.
The only flaw in their scam was that the trio, all of Chinese descent, were too successful. Casino managers realised that they must be cheating because they were winning too many hands.
The leader of the gang, Yau Lam, 45, a chef and experienced poker player, was jailed yesterday for nine months. His accomplices Fa Tsang, 41, and Bit Wong, 39, were also sentenced to nine months but their jail terms were suspended. They must complete 150 hours of community work. The sentencing judge said: "Between you, you constructed a sophisticated and unusual system. The result was a virtually foolproof advantage over the dealer which enabled you to walk away with thousands of pounds. But you were not so clever as you thought because eventually you were caught. (This is because of their greed) Southwark Crown Court heard that both Tsang and Wong would sit at the poker table while Lam was outside in a van. Tsang then used a micro-camera hidden up a sleeve or in a handbag to record the croupier dealing the cards. The images were beamed to Lam who, using hi-tech video equipment, slowed down the film and was able to identify the cards as they flew through the air on to the table. He then instructed Wong via a tiny transmitter in her ear on how to bet. Scotland Yard believes they may have netted more than £250,000 from casinos across the country. They were rumbled on Sept 13, 2005, when managers at the Mint Casino, in South Kensington, became suspicious of Wong's apparently extraordinary run of luck. Out of 44 "plays", she lost just 10 - well above statistical odds. In just 50 minutes she had amassed more than £6,000. The Metropolitan Police's Gaming Unit was called in and discovered the hidden devices the team were using. Tsang, 41, of Paddington, Lam, 45, of Edgware, and Wong, 39, of Swiss Cottage, all north-west London, pleaded guilty on Dec 12 to one count each of cheating at gaming. Derek Mather, prosecuting, said: "The use of such equipment is clearly an ill practice, which subverts the whole element of gambling and indeed skill within the game. All three were handed an "exclusion requirement" order which prohibits them from entering any casino for two years. Michael Hoskins, the director of security for Stanley Casinos, which owns the Mint, said: "I am pleased that our crime prevention systems were tested and were successful in detecting what for the UK casino industry was the first success against this type of electronic theft." What he didn't say was that had the three not been so greedy, they never would have caught them.
ONLINE POKER BOTS
I am currently gathering data for my next post on improvements to online poker bots, which have been quite substantial since the release of my book "Dirty Poker." It should be up within two weeks.
Keep on pluggin'!
ARTICLE:
A team of gamblers used James Bond-style spy equipment to beat the odds in a highly sophisticated casino swindle, a court heard yesterday. The two men and a woman wired themselves with miniature cameras and communication devices during games of three-card poker in order to cheat casinos owners out of more than £250,000. In what was described as a "virtually foolproof" system, one of the team would secretly film the cards being dealt, another, in a van outside, would establish their identity and a third make bets based on the information.
The only flaw in their scam was that the trio, all of Chinese descent, were too successful. Casino managers realised that they must be cheating because they were winning too many hands.
The leader of the gang, Yau Lam, 45, a chef and experienced poker player, was jailed yesterday for nine months. His accomplices Fa Tsang, 41, and Bit Wong, 39, were also sentenced to nine months but their jail terms were suspended. They must complete 150 hours of community work. The sentencing judge said: "Between you, you constructed a sophisticated and unusual system. The result was a virtually foolproof advantage over the dealer which enabled you to walk away with thousands of pounds. But you were not so clever as you thought because eventually you were caught. (This is because of their greed) Southwark Crown Court heard that both Tsang and Wong would sit at the poker table while Lam was outside in a van. Tsang then used a micro-camera hidden up a sleeve or in a handbag to record the croupier dealing the cards. The images were beamed to Lam who, using hi-tech video equipment, slowed down the film and was able to identify the cards as they flew through the air on to the table. He then instructed Wong via a tiny transmitter in her ear on how to bet. Scotland Yard believes they may have netted more than £250,000 from casinos across the country. They were rumbled on Sept 13, 2005, when managers at the Mint Casino, in South Kensington, became suspicious of Wong's apparently extraordinary run of luck. Out of 44 "plays", she lost just 10 - well above statistical odds. In just 50 minutes she had amassed more than £6,000. The Metropolitan Police's Gaming Unit was called in and discovered the hidden devices the team were using. Tsang, 41, of Paddington, Lam, 45, of Edgware, and Wong, 39, of Swiss Cottage, all north-west London, pleaded guilty on Dec 12 to one count each of cheating at gaming. Derek Mather, prosecuting, said: "The use of such equipment is clearly an ill practice, which subverts the whole element of gambling and indeed skill within the game. All three were handed an "exclusion requirement" order which prohibits them from entering any casino for two years. Michael Hoskins, the director of security for Stanley Casinos, which owns the Mint, said: "I am pleased that our crime prevention systems were tested and were successful in detecting what for the UK casino industry was the first success against this type of electronic theft." What he didn't say was that had the three not been so greedy, they never would have caught them.
ONLINE POKER BOTS
I am currently gathering data for my next post on improvements to online poker bots, which have been quite substantial since the release of my book "Dirty Poker." It should be up within two weeks.
Keep on pluggin'!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Why some casinos deserve to get cheated
If casinos don't already make enough money! Read this article, then tell me after doing so if you could feel sorry for casinos getting ripped off?
More Casinos Realize They Can Blame Software Glitch
And Not Pay Out Big Prizes
Last summer, we suggested a new business model for
casinos, after hearing the story of one casino blaming
a software glitch in order to not pay out a jackpot a
player had supposedly won. In that case, the guy was
supposedly hiring a lawyer, but we haven't heard an
update. However, it appears that others are picking up
on the trick. A new casino in Pennsylvania had a slot
machine tell a player that he had won $102,000,
supposedly "the big jackpot" of the day. Various
casino staff came up and congratulated him, until
someone else came over and offered him two free meal
coupons, saying that the jackpot message (which even
stated his name) was a software glitch on their
internal computer system, and was due to some internal
testing that never should have reached the actual
machine. Specifically, they claim it was "a
communications error." The article does note that the
slot machines have a disclaimer that the casino is not
liable for machine malfunctions, but there are
questions about whether or not that covers this
situation, since it wasn't technically the slot
machine that malfunctioned, but the casino's computer
system. Either way, it seems pretty sleazy, and
probably isn't particularly good publicity for a new
casino trying to drum up business.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Some Clever Early Gadget Cheaters
Check out these articles about some crafty early gadget cheaters who worked the casinos when Vegas went legal in the early 1930s. You'll see that today's modern cheaters had some very cool ancestors!
Cheating gambler technology roundup from 1933
This Popular Science expose on crooked gambling
technology from November, 1933 is a maker's dream --
these con artists were genius tinkerers, it seems:
Even so simple a gambling proposition as spinning or
flipping a coin is made crooked by relatively common
alterations now being made in underworld workshops.
There are on the market coins with beveled edges sure
to stop spinning and fall with the high side
uppermost. Again, dollars are sometimes sawed in half
and the two heads and the two tails sweated together
in such a way that the line of joining is practically
invisible. They are substituted for genuine coins by
the cheaters during play. Whichever side comes up, the
result is the same.
Not long ago, in a western city, police raided a
gambling joint and confiscated, among other thmgs, a
crap stick that had won thousands of dollars for the
house. Such sticks, made of rattan and curved at the
end, are used to rake the dice back after they have
been thrown upon the table. When an officer
accidentally twisted the handle of this stick, the
secret of the players’ ill luck at this table became
apparent and very simple to explain to the victims.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/09/cheating_gambler_tec.html
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/09/strange-inventions-used-by-crooked-gamblers/
Cheating gambler technology roundup from 1933
This Popular Science expose on crooked gambling
technology from November, 1933 is a maker's dream --
these con artists were genius tinkerers, it seems:
Even so simple a gambling proposition as spinning or
flipping a coin is made crooked by relatively common
alterations now being made in underworld workshops.
There are on the market coins with beveled edges sure
to stop spinning and fall with the high side
uppermost. Again, dollars are sometimes sawed in half
and the two heads and the two tails sweated together
in such a way that the line of joining is practically
invisible. They are substituted for genuine coins by
the cheaters during play. Whichever side comes up, the
result is the same.
Not long ago, in a western city, police raided a
gambling joint and confiscated, among other thmgs, a
crap stick that had won thousands of dollars for the
house. Such sticks, made of rattan and curved at the
end, are used to rake the dice back after they have
been thrown upon the table. When an officer
accidentally twisted the handle of this stick, the
secret of the players’ ill luck at this table became
apparent and very simple to explain to the victims.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/09/cheating_gambler_tec.html
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/09/strange-inventions-used-by-crooked-gamblers/
Saturday, December 30, 2006
More on Roulette Computers and Chess Cheats
Happy New Year, everyone. I hope that 2007 brings big profits for all you gamblers, cheaters and whoeverelsers trying to beat the casinos!
It has recently come to my knowledge that the situation concerning the legality of using roulette computers in the UK is even more murky than before. Apparently, depending on who you ask, or which barrister you seek out, there is some degree of illegality to using roulette computers or other devices to predict where the ball will land. However, it is still my opinion and that of most people involved in the practice of UK law that anyone caught using these devices will not be prosecuted to the extent that there is a risk of jail time or serious fine. As the famous (not infamous) Ritz team proved, UK law is not very interested in prosecuting those who simply monitor where the ball will land without affecting that landing. However, if you try to manipulate the ball itself, as that ballsy French team so successfully did at Casino Deauville, you will face harsher penalties in UK courts. As I am told now, sometime in 2007 computers will be declared officially legal--but it won't last. Legislation to illegalize it will then follow. How long this "grace period" will be, I'm not sure. But it will give you enough time to make a killing!
Roulette players are not the only ones using electronic equipment to gain the edge. Now some prospective "Kasparovs" have turned to artificial brainpower. I certainly don't have a problem with innovators using equipment to beat the casinos, but chess champions cheating doesn't sit quite well with me. Shame on them! Here's the article that toppled the king!
Chess Player Banned 10 Years For Cheating With
>Bluetooth, Computer
>
>>The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year
>sanction on a player who had been using a Bluetooth
>device stitched into a cap he typically pulled down
>over his ears.
>
>By Gregg Keizer
>InformationWeek
>
>Dec 27, 2006 11:34 AM
>
>An Indian chess player was banned Tuesday from
>competition for 10 years after he was caught using a
>Bluetooth headset sewn into a cap earlier this month
>to get help from a computer.
>
>The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year
>sanction on Umakant Sharma, who had been using a
>Bluetooth device stitched into a cap he typically
>pulled down over his ears. According to the
>federation, Sharma's accomplices relayed moves made by
>a computer chess program to him via the Bluetooth
>headset. Bharat Singh Chauhan, the AICF treasurer,
>showed the cap and Bluetooth device at a meeting
>convened Tuesday that decided Sharma's punishment.
>
>Sharma was found out during a random check at a New
>Delhi tournament Dec. 4; he had been seeded second in
>the tournament.
>
>The World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale
>des Echecs, or FIDE) bars the use of mobile devices
>during play. "It is strictly forbidden to bring mobile
>phones or other electronic means of communication, not
>authorized by the arbiter, into the playing venue,"
>the group's rules read. "If a player's mobile phone
>rings in the playing venue during play, that player
>shall lose the game."
It has recently come to my knowledge that the situation concerning the legality of using roulette computers in the UK is even more murky than before. Apparently, depending on who you ask, or which barrister you seek out, there is some degree of illegality to using roulette computers or other devices to predict where the ball will land. However, it is still my opinion and that of most people involved in the practice of UK law that anyone caught using these devices will not be prosecuted to the extent that there is a risk of jail time or serious fine. As the famous (not infamous) Ritz team proved, UK law is not very interested in prosecuting those who simply monitor where the ball will land without affecting that landing. However, if you try to manipulate the ball itself, as that ballsy French team so successfully did at Casino Deauville, you will face harsher penalties in UK courts. As I am told now, sometime in 2007 computers will be declared officially legal--but it won't last. Legislation to illegalize it will then follow. How long this "grace period" will be, I'm not sure. But it will give you enough time to make a killing!
Roulette players are not the only ones using electronic equipment to gain the edge. Now some prospective "Kasparovs" have turned to artificial brainpower. I certainly don't have a problem with innovators using equipment to beat the casinos, but chess champions cheating doesn't sit quite well with me. Shame on them! Here's the article that toppled the king!
Chess Player Banned 10 Years For Cheating With
>Bluetooth, Computer
>
>>The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year
>sanction on a player who had been using a Bluetooth
>device stitched into a cap he typically pulled down
>over his ears.
>
>By Gregg Keizer
>InformationWeek
>
>Dec 27, 2006 11:34 AM
>
>An Indian chess player was banned Tuesday from
>competition for 10 years after he was caught using a
>Bluetooth headset sewn into a cap earlier this month
>to get help from a computer.
>
>The All India Chess Federation slapped the 10-year
>sanction on Umakant Sharma, who had been using a
>Bluetooth device stitched into a cap he typically
>pulled down over his ears. According to the
>federation, Sharma's accomplices relayed moves made by
>a computer chess program to him via the Bluetooth
>headset. Bharat Singh Chauhan, the AICF treasurer,
>showed the cap and Bluetooth device at a meeting
>convened Tuesday that decided Sharma's punishment.
>
>Sharma was found out during a random check at a New
>Delhi tournament Dec. 4; he had been seeded second in
>the tournament.
>
>The World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale
>des Echecs, or FIDE) bars the use of mobile devices
>during play. "It is strictly forbidden to bring mobile
>phones or other electronic means of communication, not
>authorized by the arbiter, into the playing venue,"
>the group's rules read. "If a player's mobile phone
>rings in the playing venue during play, that player
>shall lose the game."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
