Electronic Roulette Wheel Chjeats Out There!

Many of you may think that casino cheats cannot cheat electronic roulette wheels, but think again! Roulette cheats have come up with ingenious ways to do just that. In one case, a casino pit boss colluded with a group of organized casino cheats and pressed a button which signalled the ball to drop in one of the numbers his cohorts had wagered on. In another clever electronic roulette scam, the cheats converted casino comps into cash by covering all the bets on the layout which nullified their bets.

But the real ingenious scam on which clever electronic roulette cheats needed no inside help was the one where the cheats figured out, much the way they do on biased roulette wheels, that both the little ivory roulette ball and spinning wheel on several electronic tables never deviated speeds, thus they simply "clocked" those speeds and figured where the ball would land and bet accordingly.

My take: I love to hear casinos getting beat in areas where they think they cannot be!

Full Tilt Poker Denies Ponzi Scam Poker Cheat Allegations

In a statement made to Reuters on Wednesday, Washington-based attorney Jeff Ifrah, who represents Full Tilt Poker, has rubbished the US government’s allegations that Full Tilt Poker was engaged in running a global Ponzi scheme.

While admitting that Full Tilt Poker made some mistakes, the lawyer said that there is absolutely no evidence supporting the US government’s claim that the online poker giant ran a Ponzi scheme.

On Tuesday, the US government levelled a new allegation against Full Tilt Poker that its directors pocketed over $440 million after cheating its players. This is in addition to the charges of illegal gambling, bank fraud, and money laundering that the Department of Justice (DoJ) levelled against FTP in April. In connection with its latest allegations, the US government has sought that all FTP assets be seized by the government.

It may be recalled that the US federal government cracked down on Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, and PokerStars on April 15 this year, a day commonly known as the Black Friday of online poker, seized their domain names and arrested their CEOs. According to the US indictment of April, 11 people associated with Full Tilt Poker were charged with illegal gaming, bank fraud, and money laundering, and on Tuesday, the federal government added the charges that FTP was involved in a giant global Ponzi scheme, cheating its players of millions of dollars.

The operators of a Ponzi scheme use funds supplied by new investors to pay existing investors till the funds stop flowing in and the scheme dies a natural death. Explaining the term, Prof. Daniel Richman of Columbia Law School says that a Ponzi scheme refers to the act of receiving funds and not paying them back, but sustaining them through future deposits.

The prosecutors say that Full Tilt Poker defendants deposited these funds in accounts at Isle of Man and Switzerland. They also claim that Full Tilt Poker continued running the Ponzi scheme outside the US following the events of April although it lacked the required funds to pay back its US players.

In June, US poker players proposed to jointly sue Full Tilt Poker for failing to refund them, in which case Jeff Ifrah might step down from his position as the legal representative of Full Tilt Poker and its board of directors. Last month, he had stated that to continue as FTP’s attorney “would result in an unreasonable financial burden on our law firm.”

US Justice Department Accuses Full Tilt Poker of Cheating and Running a Ponzi Scam!

Source: Tight Poker

Full Tilt Poker attorney Jeff Ifrah said that Full Tilt Poker should not be treated like an illegal investment scheme; instead its situation should be understood as a problem bank. The DoJ is yet to respond to this.

Full Tilt Poker lawyers have responded to an amendment to a civil complaint lodged by the DoJ on Tuesday, accusing the owners and executive officers of Full Tilt Poker of cheating their players of $444 million.

The online poker company is, in the meantime, fighting to regain its licenses, which were suspended pending investigation this June.

The recent development has sparked fiery responses from online poker players, who have posted fiery comments on online poker forums and social networking sites. These players, who once held accounts at Full Tilt Poker, are still waiting for their money.

The Ponzi scheme allegation is the latest in the list of allegations leveled against the fallen online poker giant by the US government, the others being bank fraud, illegal gambling, and money laundering. The government has also filed criminal charges against the company executives and owners.

Mr. Bitar, for instance, has been charged with bank fraud and money laundering, but hasn’t been arrested yet because he does not live in the US.

The government’s civil complaint of Tuesday was accompanied by a statement claiming that Full Tilt Poker is “not a legitimate poker company, but a global Ponzi scheme.” The term “Ponzi scheme, however, was not used in the civil complaint, which however explained the scheme. The government has alleged that Full Tilt Poker made its customers play with “phantom money,” which the giant company neither possessed nor collected, as a result of which it fell short of the cash it owed to its US players. The government also alleges that Full Tilt Poker directors and owners collected $444 million for themselves from April 2007 and April 2011.

The government’s labeling of Full Tilt Poker’s troubles as a mismanaged “Ponzi scheme” makes its chances of renewing its license very slim. The latest allegation has also discouraged potential investors who might have provided over $300 million that the company requires for paying its poker players.

Meanwhile, Full Tilt wants a 30-day extension from its license provider AGCC to build up its case to get back its suspended license.

My take: well, this is one of those "any way you want to look at it" situations that can be bent to look like any way. I think the governments considering regulation should be more worried about protecting online poker players from the online poker cheats playing on the sites.

Is Master Singapore Casino Cheat Really Dead...Or Just Hiding?

Source: Straits Times

The authorities in the Philippines are still pursuing fugitive Singaporean lawyer Loo Choon Beng despite news reports of his death in China. They are investigating if Loo, who went by the alias Ben Lui and is wanted in connection with a $25 million casino scam there, is really dead.

Dead Casino Cheat?

They are also continuing their search for assets registered in his name, and have kept him on the Interpol Purple Notice List. This requires countries which are members of Interpol, the international police body, to provide information on him should he be spotted.

My take: $25 Million!?? What the hell did he do...walk out with the building housing the casino? This all sounds like a big piece of crap? I never heard any specific details about twenty-five mil coming out of any or all of Singapore's casinos

Poker Pros Fleeing the US For Fear of Online Poker Cheat Allegations!

Online Poker Cheat Bonomo

A bunch of US based poker pros who are citizens have been getting out of "Dodge", which in this case is the United States of America. Some notables who have recently fled are Mike Brooks, Phil Galfond, Jon Agular, and Vanessa Selbst. They have all given reasons such as "looking for work" but is this not a cover to avoid problems and even possible prosecution by the US Department of Justice over online cheating accusations?

Ask Haseeb Qureshi and Dan "jungleman12" Cates, who have also vacated the US since the recent online-cheat scandals they’ve been accused of participating in. Maybe they'll receive some permanent ID changes including cosmetic surgery so that they may pay live poker again.

Or ask Justin Bonomo, a well-known poker pro and accused online poker cheat. He has just left the US for the destination of Malta!...which, I might add, has quite a few online poker rooms based there. Bonomo says he's moving there for its key location close to various European brick and mortar poker tournaments.

What do I think? Come on, Justin, you're running from the online poker judges!!!

$15 Million-Winning Blackjack Player Don Johnson Reveals How He "Cheated" Atlantic City Casinos

$15 Million BJ Chea....WINNER!

Let's start with the name. "Don Johnson" is already a cool start, and this version of that name is even cooler than the ultra-cool Don Johnson who played the ultra-cooler Detective Sunny Crockett in just about the coolest cop show in television history. This casino whiz Don Johnson, if you remember, beat three Atlantic City casinos out of a very, very cool $15 million bucks over a six month period beginning in late 2010 and ending in May, 2011. Yep, that's right! FIFTEEN MIL! That certainly has to be one of the great wins in casino history, cheating or not.

So DID he cheat?

Last July Johnson told several magazines and newspapers that his huge AC winning-streak not just massive good luck. He admitted conning the three casinos, Caesars, the Borgata and the Tropicana, into accommodating him with special rules that he knew (they didn't) would give him an actual percentage advantage over the house. He used those casinos' VIP player promotions to snow them over.

First he got the casinos to actually change their house blackjack rules. Then taking advantage of the huge competition between AC casnios to hook high rollers, he manipulated them into custom-tailoring their rebate policies, which actually give losing players a percentage of their losses back.

Johnson dictated to the three DUMB casinos that if they wanted to keep his action they had to oblige him a twenty percent rebate against his losses. That is a GIGANTIC offering! And if that weren't enough, he stipulated that the casinos attach a $500,000 loss-limit before the rebates kicked in, while getting them to raise their blakjack betting limits to a $100,000 per hand. For these courtesies, Johnson put a million bucks up on deposit in each casino cage.

What the stupid casinos didn't grasp was that Johnson, playng at a hundred grand per hand, often reached the $500,000 loss-limit very quickly and began getting 20% of his money back on succeeding losing hands. While he got to being ahead the five hundred grand, he gave the casinos back squat.

With all these stipulations, Johnson actually had a bigger advantage over the casinos than the casinos have against basic-strategy blackjack players.

Hard to believe three different casinos fell for this!...And more power to you, Mr. Cool, Don Johnson.

Labor Day Poker Cheats and Casino Cheats Labor Laboriously on Labor Day!

Yeah, sounds like a tongue-twister but nevertheless it's true. When I was in my prime cheating casinos and poker games, Labor Day Weekend was always one of the prime times to cheat the casinos. I spent practically every Labor Day Weekend from 1979 to 2000 working Atlantic City, whose Boardwalk is filled to the gills and swelling with end-of-summer gamblers...and cheats! I never failed to go home with less than twenty grand profit for the weekend.

Even now, I see, Atlantic City is more popular than Las Vegas among the casino and poker cheating community. I have heard that the AC casinos were hit hard, especially the Borgata which was victimized by blackjack pastposters and organized poker cheating collusion teams. One of the elements that make Atlantic City so good for cheating during summer holiday weekends is the mass crowding on the Boardwalk, which allows for casinos cheats taking heat inside the casino to get out quickly through back doors and onto the Boardwalk where they can disaappear immediately in the throng.

Remember, when cheating casinos and poker rooms, the most important logistical element inside is the best door for escape!

All-Time Poker Cheating, Online Poker Cheating and Casino Cheating Money List Now Published!

Lots of you have been waiting for this list and here it is, compiled as accurately as humanly possible. Although the online poker cheat at the top of this all-time casino and poker cheating money list is of now surprise, some of the other names here might indeed surprise you.

ALL-TIME POKER AND CASINO CHEAT MONEY LIST

CHEAT DOMAIN/ ESTIMATED CHEAT EARNINGS/ DISPOSITION

1) Russ Hamilton: online poker (UB.com) $16,500,000 Never Charged; 2) Dennis Sean McAndrew: Slot machine cheating rings 15,500,000 two prison sentences; 3) Pat Mallery: casino pastposting/pinching 8,000,000 charged with 0 convictions; 4) Phuong Quoc Truong: Inside Baccarat Scams 6,500,000 seven yrs prison; 5) Van Thu Tran: Inside Baccarat Scams 5,250,000 three yrs prison; 6) Richard Marcus: casino pastposting/pinching 5,000,000 Never Charged; 7) Andre Nestor: Slot machines 3,500,000 Criminal Case Pending; 8) Tommy Glenn Carmichael: Slot machines 3,000,000 one yr prison; 9) Balls Abramowitz: casino pastposting/pinching 2,500,000 charged, 0 convictions; 10) Monique Laurent: rigging roulette wheels 2,000,000 1 yr prison

Honorable Mention: All the poker and casino cheats in the Poker Cheating and Casino Cheating Hall of Fame

You can read in-depth about all these infamous poker and casino cheats on the Hall of Fame page

Lock Poker and Poker Strategy.com Run Away From Portuguese Online Poker Cheat Jose "Girah" Macedo

Online Poker Cheat Macedo

Source: Casino Scam Report

Lock Poker and Poker Strategy.com have distanced themselves from poker player Jose “Girah” Macedo over the past weekend and both have released him from contract. It seems that “Macedo” confessed to participating in a high roller scam at these sites. Allegedly Macedo who is well known at Lock Poker and Poker Strategy.com, had invited some friends to the sites for some poker games, but one friend took a big hit and lost more money than he wanted, and that’s when Macedo decided to teach him how to cheat.

Macedo, who is know by the nickname, Portuguese Poker Prodigy, had become a very respected and trusted player among internet gamblers and once he was able to persuade them to manage their online skype meetings where he was given total access to their cards during each hand, which he then passed on to that player’s rivals at the table. Since his cheating days and ultimate exposure, Macedo has agreed to reimburse amounts totaling $300,000 to all players involved in his scams.

Officials at Lock Poker released a statement stating they had no idea of this cheating scam and were in absolute shock when told about it and who was involved. They have banned Macedo permanently, and Poker Strategy.com who had just joined with Macedo as a coach in the tutorial video content force has terminated their alliance with Macedo. The online poker community itself is left confused and frustrated by Macedo’s actions. Why would a poker pro with a good reputation risk it all? Money, respect, career and integrity for such a small total of cash, it is shameful.

My Take: This is what all the online poker networks do when a cheat is exposed inside them. What does it mean as far as the anti-cheating safety of Lock Poker and Poker Strategy.com? Nothing really. Whether or not more online poker cheat scandals emerge on these networks is still a random proposition.

Canadian Reservation Blackjack Flashing Hole-Card Cheat Scam Called "Stupid" But Still Netted Nearly a Hundred Grand Before Tanking Out

The Asians involved in this dealer/player inside casino cheat scam may not have been as sharp as the Tran Organization, which also specialized in cheating Canadian casinos, but they still managed to cheat their target casino out of nearly a $100,000...in spite of being called stupid by the judge who accepted the cheats plea bargains.

Article:

A Chinese immigrant who cheated at the Golden Eagle Casino says he didn't know why the dealer initiated the three-month-long scam.

Xiajun "Jim" Zhuang, 32, pleaded not guilty to cheating at play, but guilty to the lesser included offence of theft under $5,000, for knowingly cheating the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority of $1,500 between October 2008 and January 2009.

He was sentenced Monday to a conditional discharge that will spare him a criminal record after he completes five months on probation and repays the stolen money.

Zhuang was one of several customers who benefitted from a crooked dealer who is alleged to have cheated the casino of $86,000 between August 2008 and January 2009, Crown prosecutor Mitch Piche told Judge David Kaiser.

The dealer was seen on surveillance video flashing cards at players, offering insurance to Blackjack players after looking at cards and seeing the player would lose and letting players know when they would win so they could increase their bets, Piche said.

Zhuang was an experienced gambler who knew how to benefit from the dealer's practices.

He was "pushy and persistent," but less culpable than the dealer, Piche said.

Defence lawyer Wei Woo, who appeared by telephone, said his client is a landed immigrant with limited English.

The dealer did not take any profit for himself and Zhuang didn't know why the dealer offered him the opportunities to cheat, Woo said.

Woo blamed the casino for causing the problem, saying it did not appropriately monitor its dealer, who drew players into the offences.

His client showed "stupidity as a new immigrant" by participating in the theft, Woo said.

The conditional discharge is important to Zhuang, who would be at risk of deportation if he incurred a criminal record, Woo said.

Woo said the Crown's suggestion of an eight-month probation was too harsh since his client has agreed to repay the $1,500 and has lost more than $20,000 to the casino.

Kaiser sentenced Zhuang to five months probation, ordered he pay restitution and not go into any SIGA casinos.

Two other players were sentenced last month for participating in the scams. Reuben Ian Bear was sentenced to 12 months on probation for theft and ordered to pay $1,250 restitution. Wade Wang, who had no criminal record, pleaded guilty to cheating at play and was granted a conditional discharge of 12 months on probation and immediately repaid the $2,500 he had taken. Co-accused Christopher Stone-Spyglass and Ken Mark return to court Sept. 28.