Computer Casino Cheat Keith Taft Nominated For Poker and Casino Cheats Hall of Fame!

Keith Taft with "George"

With all the emphasis on high-tech poker and casino cheating these days, and old name from this type of casino cheating has come back to the surface and been nominated for 2012 entry to the Poker and Casino Cheats Hall of Fame.

Keith Taft was a real-life "Inspector Gadget" character, a true genius who spent three decades developing and perfecting electronic devices to cheat US casinos. He began working with casino computers with his son, Marty Taft, back in the late 60s. Today he is believed to be the first casino or poker cheat to develop a computer that captured digital video the way today's microcomputers are processing data filmed in false-shuffle and other baccarat and blackjack cheat scams.

While vacationing in the Bahamas in the 60s, Taft got interested in Edward O. Thorp's famous blackjack card-counting book "Beat the Dealer." In fact, he quickly became obsessed by it. However, he did not make any money counting cards at blackjack using Thorp's plus-minus count system.

Thus he turned his attention to developing computers to beat the blackjack tables. His first and now famous invention was a 5-kilo computer that he called "George." He used it to enter data while counting cards at blackjack, using his toes to enter the data to the prototype computer he had tucked underneath his baggy shirt. He later decided that George was a bit unwieldy and developed a lighter device that he called "David."

Taft had immediate success with David, beating Vegas casinos out of fifty grand in the first two weeks of operation. made $40,000 the first week he used it. After taking some heat in casinos, Taft decided he would do better by selling his minicomputers based on the David prototype for ten or fifteen grand apiece, which included his training of the buyers.

This decision Taft made after being grabbed up in a casino and taken to the back room, where he was interrogated by Nevada Gaming Control Board agents as well as the FBI. But neither law enforcement agency had the slightest idea of what the microcomputer actually was and failed to make any legal connection to casino cheating that they could use in court, therefore Taft was releaed.

Another casino.cheating computer deeloped by Taft´s sons Marty and Keith was called the "belly-telly." This was a small video camera they fitted into their belts and could film the dealer's hole-card at blackjack. The image was then transmitted to their cheating partners sitting in a van at the casino's parking lot. These cohorts would then send a signal back to the cheating blackjack players at the table, identifying the value of the hole card.

Yet another electronic gismo invented by Taft and his sons was the "Thor" computer, which could track the positions of cards in a multiple-deck shuffle. This was the first casino-cheat invention that directly led to today's high-tech video-reader devices that are used in blackjack and baccarat shuffle-tracking scams, which are currently costing casinos worldwide millions, especially in Macau.

In 1986, the Nevada Gaming Commission created a law making it illegal to use any electronic devices whatsoever in gaming casinos, which today is a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison.

A true casino-cheating pioneer, Keith Taft was also inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004.

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Keynoting 2007 WGPC in Las Vegas/

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Study Says Online Casinos Use Software that Cheats Craps Players!

Source: Pittsburgh Live

At least two online casinos use software that cheats craps players, two leading gambling statisticians say.

The software by BLR Technologies, based in Costa Rica, detects a player's bet and increases the chances of a losing roll, according to gambling consultant Michael Shackleford, known as the "Wizard of Odds," and Eliot Jacobson, operator of Jacobson Gaming, which audits and certifies casino games around the world.

Legends.com and World Wide Wagering (www.wager.dm) use the BLR software in their craps games, according to rating service SportsBookReview.com. A third operator, 5Dimes.com, said it dropped BLR after the studies were posted on Shackleford's WizardOfVegas.com site.

Rachel Miller, general manager of Legends, said the software used on her site plays fairly. She said the company has invested thousands of dollars in new random number generators to work with the BLR software. She said she could not agree or disagree with the Shackleford and Jacobson studies because they did not test the craps game at Legends.

"I guarantee that everything is perfect on our end," she said.

A spokeswoman for 5Dimes said the company had no comment beyond a statement to Shackleford's site that it had removed BLR software from its casinos.

"BLR was given ample time to address the concerns of (WizardOfVegas) forum members as well as our direct questions," the statement said. "No acceptable answers were given, so the casino platform was removed."

BLR and World Wide did not respond to phone and e-mail requests for comment.

Legends, licensed in Panama, and 5Dimes, based in Costa Rica, are among only five online sports books with an A-plus rating from SportsBookReview.com, which grades hundreds of sites for customer service, incentives and pricing. World Wide, licensed in Dominica, West Indies, has a B grade.

The complaint about the craps software surfaced last month in a WizardOfVegas player forum.

Norman Clem, 66, of Las Vegas said he had been playing craps at World Wide for about a year and was slightly ahead before he suddenly started losing.

"I thought I was just on a bad run. But it never stopped," he told Player's Advantage. He documented his play, recording each bet and each outcome in a spreadsheet. From May 14 to Aug. 27, he videotaped 3,200 rolls in which he bet "pass" or "don't pass," the simplest bets in craps.

Those bets should win almost 49 percent of the time. Clem said he won 856 times, about 27 percent.

Intrigued by Clem's postings, Shackleford played craps at 5Dimes, which was using BLR software at the time. He said he bet only the pass line, winning 81 times and losing 247.

"It would have been easier to win the Powerball two out of two times than to be as unlucky as I was," said Shackleford, who has helped design slot machines for Internet casinos.

Jacobson said he devised a test to see whether the software "would really misbehave." With his approach, he would win something unless a seven came on the next roll.

"Suddenly, it produced a lot of sevens," he said. In 74 chances, a seven came up 41 times, or more than once in every two rolls; with fair dice, a seven comes up an average of once every six rolls.

"Thousands of people have been ripped off by this software," Jacobson said.

Clem said World Wide refunded his losses.

"It's obvious I was cheated, so what were they going to do?" he said.

Shackleford said 5Dimes refunded his losses. It's unclear whether others received refunds.

Jacobson said BLR also makes software for online blackjack, video poker, roulette and slots, but he does not know of any research into those.

Legends, World Wide and 5Dimes are primarily sports books, but offer casino games as another gambling attraction. Miller said less than 10 percent of Legends' 7,500 active gamblers use the casino.

She said Legends continues to use BLR, in part, because the software works so well with the site's main function of handling sports bets.

The United States does not license or regulate online gambling. Federal law prohibits American gamblers from collecting winnings from Internet casinos.

The federal government's April 15 crackdown on Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Ultimate Bet was based on accusations that they violated U.S. banking law.

Although those sites were shut down in the United States, 300 offshore companies continue to offer online gambling to U.S. players, according to the American Gaming Association, an industry group.

Shackleford and Jacobson said the BLR case should hasten the move toward U.S. regulation of online gambling.

"It only goes to show that when there's no regulation, there's nothing to stop these types of things from happening," Shackleford said.

"This kind of issue just shows how much (regulation is) needed," Jacobson said. "People are going to continue to gamble at these sites. There are still thieves and crooks creating crooked software."

My take: Well, how do we know that this study is not using software to cheat readers??? Really, your guess on this is as good as mine.

Syndicate Casino Cheating on the Rise in Singapore

Asian Cheat Favorite 3-card poker

Ever since two giant casinos opened in Singapore, casino and poker cheating has plagued the nation`s gaming tables. At first the casino-cheating attacks came from small international professional cheat groups and rank amateurs mostly from Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries. But know big-time Mafia-type Chinese and Asian crime syndicates are getting into the act, and I don't mean only loan-sharking and money-laundering types of crime. I am also talking about good old-fashioned table games and slot machine cheating scams. These syndicates are specializing in baccarat scams and poker-derivative-game scams, especially 3-card poker where they are using digital cameras and other high-tech equipment to scam Sinapore`s casinos.

And what makes these kinds of cheats a real pain in the ass for casinos is that they have muscle behind their cheating scams. They can scare authorities into not taking legal action against them when they are caught.

My suggestion to Singapore casino game-protection authorities: Start teaching your floor personnel to spot and stamp out casino table game scams before the cash rolls out of the cages!

Good Example of How Casino Steaming Leads to Casino Cheating

Source: Asia One News

A Malaysian visitor was frustrated and angry after losing $18,000 on his first visit to Marina Bay Sands.

At about 5pm on Oct 26, Tan Kuan Loong tried to cheat at a three-dice game, sic bo, by placing a late bet of $30 on the winning combination.
It should have won him $1,500, but his cheating ways were found out after dealer Chaiyaboot Narumon told her pit manager about her suspicions of the bet.

As the surveillance department reviewed the video footage of that bet, Tan tried to sneak in another bet of $30, when one of the dice already showed a five.

Tan pleaded guilty to one charge, while the second cheating offence was taken into consideration by the judge in the sentencing. Tan's defense counsel Rajan Supramaniam asked for leniency, saying his client had a five-year-old daughter with a hole in the heart. He had also resorted to cheating in a moment of foolishness. Tan was fined $1,500. He could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $10,000.

My take: This type of entry into casino or poker cheating is always a risk for those who steam while losing at gambling and out of desperation decide to cheat. At least in this case, the authorities and the judge had the decency to cut Tan a break. It was hard to hear about the hole in his daughter's heart.

Piggyback Casino Cheating...Can it be Done?

I was asked an interesting question yesterday: "I am a fairly intelligent guy and was wondering if I can go to Vegas and spot a casino cheat team or individual cheat or a poker team and piggyback onto their operation without taking any of their heat if they get caught?

Like I said, interesting.

Well, as far as the poker piggyback cheating goes, forget it! You can't join a collusion ring your not part of, nor can you read marks on cards their marking if you don't already have the right lenses in your eyes.

But in casino table games it is possible, albeit rare and difficult. With advantage-play teams at blackjack and baccarat tables, it may be possible to read their advantage if they are counting cards, ace-tracking, hole-carding or any of the other scams done on those tables that do not involve chip manipulation. On craps tables the idea of piggyback cheating would be more feasible. One example would be with dice-sliding, where the dice-cheat slides one of the dice so that it does not tumble or hit the back wall, therefore staying put on the number he has set up, usually six. If you pick up on a guy throwing dice and one of them not hitting the back wall and consistently coming up six or any other number, you could piggyback onto the scam and not take heat because you are not rolling the dice. So if you can see a guy rolling one of the dice six, you know that on a come-out or come-bet roll, you have a 2 to 1 edge right off the bat of a winner 7 or 11, against a craps loser 12. And there are many other opportunities like this involving field bets.

UK Casinos Say Their Video Software Will Thwart and Catch Poker Cheats and Casino Cheats

Source: newscientist.com

People trying to cheat in casinos may soon be taking more of a gamble than they realise. Grosvenor Casinos, a major UK chain, is assessing software that can spot cheating at the roulette table and alert the croupier.

Some people cheat at roulette by placing their chips on the table after the croupier has already called "last bets". Doing so gives a player a real advantage, because as the ball slows it becomes easier to predict which quarter of the wheel it will land in, says Boghos Boghossian, head of technology at London-based Ipsotek, which has come up with the system. Cheats will often work in pairs, with one trying to distract the croupier while the other places bets.

The new software would be installed on the existing CCTV cameras in casinos. To prevent cheating, the software analyses the video feed to first monitor the speed of the ball to determine when last bets are called. It then detects whenever a hand enters the betting area of the table and leaves a chip. Footage from the cameras is used to train statistical models to look for this type of event or activity.

It can also pick out another form of cheating called "top-hatting", which hinges on each player using specific-colour chips. This is when a cheat places a bet after the ball has landed, but the stack they place includes different coloured chips, borrowed from an accomplice, at its base.

If the croupier is on the ball and spots the late bet the cheat's chips will be removed from the table. But unless the croupier is really sharp they may assume that the accomplice's chips were already there and so leave them on the table. The software spots this by keeping tabs on the colours of chips placed during betting. So when a late bet is made and removed, the system knows if other chips have been added.

"When you have 10 people around a table all trying to place bets as late as possible it can be difficult to see these things," says Sean Cunningham, director of security for Rank Group, which owns Grosvenor Casinos. The software is currently only designed to work on roulette tables but if trials go well the plan is to extend this to blackjack and baccarat, says Boghossian. The group is due to make a decision on installing the software in January.

Casinos have used surveillance cameras for some time, but having an automated system to spot cheats is like giving the croupier an extra pair of eyes, says James Ferryman, who researches automated surveillance systems at the University of Reading, UK.

It's not the first time such software has been used in casinos. One system called MindPlay, now discontinued, used embedded cameras and invisible ink to keep track of cards. But it required specialist hardware and was not successful at detecting cheats.

Ipsotek's software is different because it uses the existing CCTV network. "You're trying to pick up anomalies, or anything that is unusual in the context," says Ferryman.

Followed, one camera at a time
A system called Tag and Track can automatically track people and vehicles in a town as they move from one camera to another.

Developed by Ipsotek, the software first detects and categorises different types of object. Once identified, these objects can then easily be tracked by the camera.

What's clever about the system, claims Boghos Boghossian of Ipsotek, is that after being shown training footage it can automatically learn the location of the different cameras in relation to one another. This means it can infer when someone leaves one camera, and where they will reappear. The system was shortlisted at the Global Security Challenge in London last week.

My take: Well, all this high and  higher-tech video surveillance equipment in casinos is great--but it will never deter or catch the best of the cheats like myself and other highly-professional poker cheat and casino cheat teams.

UK Casino Cheat Dealer Goes Down For Inside Roulette Cheating Scam

Source: Bolton News

A cheating croupier teamed up with gamblers in a casino fraud to help him pay off debts. Peter Fisher paid over the odds when they placed bets at his roulette table at the Grosvenor G Casino, Bolton Magistrates Court heard. Two gamblers approached the croupier in January this year asking him to help them cheat. Crippled by a car debt from his teens and struggling to come to terms with his father’s death, he agreed. Fisher, aged 26, of Molyneux Road, Westhoughton, pleaded guilty at magistrates court yesterday to three counts of cheating at gambling.

Over three days, the customers made just less than £1,000, splitting their profits with Fisher. The town centre casino lost more than £2,000 in potential earnings, the court was told. William Donnelly, prosecuting, said: “All of a sudden, the punter has made a substantial profit without doing anything. “You can double your winnings without too much trouble.”
One of the gamblers had been discreet, always betting on the same numbers, the court heard. But the other was not, throwing money at Fisher for him to change. Another gambler spotted “something dodgy”, Mr Donnelly told magistrates, and reported Fisher to casino bosses. They reviewed CCTV footage of the table and uncovered the fraud. Fisher lost his job and his gaming licence, and following a police investigation, the former croupier was arrested and interviewed in May. William Birtwell, defending, said Fisher had brought shame on his family, especially his brother, who is a serving police officer. Mr Birtwell added: “He is disgusted with himself that he has allowed himself to get caught up in this. It was a moment of madness. He had worked hard to get where he was, but he has lost his gaming licence and can no longer work in the gambling profession.”

The court was told that croupiers were constantly asked to cheat by punters. Fisher had always said no, but finally relented in January this year, as his debts mounted. He had taken out a £5,000 loan for a car in his teens, but had taken out further high-interest agreements since then, in an attempt to consolidate his loans. January also marked the anniversary of his father’s death, the court was told. Chairman of the bench Frank Whittaker said: “You were caught redhanded. It is a significant amount over three days. If it had continued over, say, two years, it would have been an awful lot of money. You were a trusted senior member of staff. You didn’t do it alone, there was a level of organisation and premeditation.”

Police are currently investigating the other men involved in the fraud.
Following the hearing, Fisher said: “I do regret what I have done, it was a stupid mistake and it wasn’t like me at all. It was completely out of character and I have apologised for it.”

Fisher was warned by the court that he faces a high level community order when he is sentenced tomorrow.

More Trouble For Giant Online-Cheat-Plagued Full Tilt Poker--This Time It's a $900 Million Lawsuit!

Source: paidcontent.org

In a lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court, two Los Angeles men are demanding that Full Tilt give back money— $10 for one of the men and $120,000 in the case of the other—they say is owed to them after they were unable to cash out their accounts. They also seek punitive damages and $900 million for other Americans who are out of pocket after Full Tilt allegedly cheated them in games and after owners began helping themselves to customer money.

The class action, which names famous poker stars Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson, appears to be based on many of the dramatic allegations set out in an FBI indictment unsealed last April. The owners of Full Tilt are accused of using flower stores and pet shops as front companies to trick U.S. banks into processing customers credit card and check transactions. The owners used the front companies because payment requests from them did not carry a transaction code used to flag online gambling, which is illegal in the United States.

The class action also demands that the site owners and celebrity players repay customers for cheating in the online poker games. Full Tilt’s nastiest tactic allegedly involved the use of robots—computer players hatched by Full Tilt that would appear at sparsely populated games and use their card-counting skills to fleece the real players. According to the complaint, Full Tilt assured players that they had “zero tolerance” for robot players—but went ahead and deployed robots created by two company owners with degrees from MIT and UCLA. Even worse, Full Tilt used customer hatred of robots as a pretext to rob successful players:

Certain players who repeatedly lost to a skilled player would start on-line jihads against the successful player, accusing that player of being a robot. The Defendants discovered over time that cancellation of real player accounts accused of being a “robot” was another profit center, as the player account money of the wrongly-accused player was confiscated.

Online gambling is a vast and lucrative enterprise as evidenced by reports that the US government was able to seize $115 million from Full Tilt simply by intercepting a percentage of the payments made to the front companies. Full Tilt and two other major poker sites began struggling in the last two years, however, as increasing pressure from US authorities made it increasingly difficult for the companies to circumvent rules that forbid businesses from processing online gambling transactions. During this time, the Full Tilt owners allegedly began raiding customer accounts, leading US prosecutors last months to describe the company as a “Ponzi Scheme.”

It is unclear whether there will be anything left to collect if the class action suit is successful. The U.S. Department of Justice is already demanding a $1 billion civil penalty from many of those listed in the California suit. There may be good news for customers based on a report that a French investment firm is promising to make losses whole if it can take over the business. The bad news is that the new prospective owner served prison time for stealing from a soccer club he owned.

Poker Cheats and Casino Cheats Boot Camp?

Getting fit to poker cheat

According to an email I received today, that's exactly what one potential casino and poker cheating person wants. He directed me to the days of poker boot camps that I believed were started by Phil Hellmuth and a few other notable cheating and non-cheating poker pros.

Well, I can't take this poker and casino cheat request TOO seriously because even if I wanted to actually do it, it would be pretty hard to pull off. First off, it would have to be completely underground as I could not freely advertise it, even on my poker cheating website! Can you imagine me printing "Poker Cheat Boot camp Available To All!" or "Casino Cheats, Come To Me and I will Hone your Skills!"???

Afraid not! I might find myself in some serious trouble with all sorts of crime fighting agencies. And besides, I really don't want to actually encourage people to try cheating casinos and poker games. It is VERY dangerous!