Whoever enters a casino today is under observation for the entire duration of their stay. Every game, even every move, is recorded by the camera systems and can be followed afterwards. Nowadays, it is meticulous that criminals do not succeed in using computer systems or other aids to turn the probability of winning in their favor in games such as roulette , blackjack or slot machines .
Nevertheless, there are always stories of spectacular cases in which criminal masterminds have nevertheless managed to outsmart the casino and steal immense winnings. Needless to say, most of the examples listed are illegal and punishable and therefore unsuitable for imitation.
Casino Scam 1: The Cannes Contact Lenses
The first story is simple and ingenious at the same time. A group of four consisting of three French and one Italian set out to defraud the casino in Cannes in 2011. The quartet used invisible ink to mark the playing cards at the poker table with symbols that represented the value of the cards. With the help of special contact lenses, the ink was only visible to the group. Overall, the men managed to leave the casino with a whopping $ 84,000.
The story doesn’t end well for the quartet, however. Hoping to get even more money, the men went to the same casino to do the same trick again. Since the streak of wins seemed too unrealistic, the casino began to take a close look at the group and how they played. As soon as the wrong game was revealed by the casino, the authorities were turned on. The men were subsequently sentenced to years in prison.
Casino Fraud 2: Pai Gow John, the card fraudster
He cheated on 25 US casinos for a whopping $ 7 million. $ 868,000 of this alone in 90 minutes in mini-baccarat. How could Pai Gow John steal so much money and go undetected for so long? Pai Gow John managed to gather a syndicate of dealers who pretended to shuffle cards. In reality, however, the order of the cards was not changed.
In his prime, Pai Gow John scraped around a team of around 30 dealers. Hidden microphones were also used to send instructions to other players at the same table – Pai Gow John knew how to organize the right people as well as the right equipment for his coups. Nevertheless, even the best team and the best equipment did not help: the thorough casino surveillance ultimately uncovered the scam, with years of imprisonment for everyone involved.
Casino Scam 3: High Tech Roulette Scam
In 2004 a group from Eastern Europe managed to clear more than $ 2 million in roulette at the Ritz. The group only used a smartphone and an application as an aid that made it possible to film the roulette wheel and ball in order to calculate the most likely point on which the ball will land.
After the group was blown, the casinos tried everything in their power to get the money back. However, from a legal point of view, the group had not done anything wrong and was therefore allowed to keep the money. However, it can be assumed that the group has been banned from the defeated casinos for life.
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