Poker Cheating and Casino Cheating Blog: American Roulette

The Interview The World Game Protection Conference and Willy Allison Don't Want You To See

2009-07-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

World Game Protection Conference Conspiracy.
Atlantic City Surveillance News Involved As Well.
Evidence appears starting the second paragraph, so please read this entire article.
Question 13 in the interview below is what triggered the conspiracy.

This article is written for casino operators and tribal or gaming commissions who use Bill Zender, Sal Piacente, Bob Del Rossi or any other game protection training consultants connected to Willy Allison's World Game Protection Conference in Las Vegas. The purpose is to show how Allison, who sponsors and organizes various game protection seminars apart from his annual WGPC in Las Vegas, and surely profits from them, is behind a conspiracy to drive game protection consulting business away from Richard Marcus, who is by far the most qualified game protection consultant in the industry but is not one of Allison's inner group. As well, Zender, Piacente and Del Rossi have lots to lose by casinos calling me instead of them for game protection training. Moreover, Piacente and Del Rossi have questionable credentials to be considered real game protection consultants. Neither has intrinsic knowledge of cheating operations, and Piacente is really more a card trickster with a catchy wannabe name (Sal The Hitman) than anything else. After speaking with him on numerous occasions, I do not see how he qualifies as a game protection consultant. Zender, on the other hand, is a likeable guy with some cheating knowledge, however, many of his articles that have appeared in Casino Enterprise Management Magazine contain faulty information, especially those on the subject of cheating in casinos. Despite these facts, these three have managed to secure a monopoly on the game protection consulting and training business while effectively having me blacklisted. Of course Willy Allison is the unifying force behind them.

The first evidence of this was Allison's allowing Jeff Murphy to write an article convincing casinos not to hire ex-casino cheats for game protection cheating. Without mentioning my name, it was clear that Murphy's article was singling me out. Murphy had a vendetta against me because I mentioned in an article I wrote for CEM that many surveillance people had very little knowledge on casino cheating, which is an absolute fact.

But stronger evidence of this World Game Protection Conspiracy has just come to light.

In May, 2009, I received an e-mail (which can be seen upon request) from Anthony Weiss, who publishes the Atlantic City Surveillance News that appears on Willy Allison's Catwalk Newsletter, which is sent out to all of you. Weiss asked me for an in-depth interview that he could use to enlighten you as to how sophisticated professional casino cheat teams operate and how you can effectively fight them and train your people.

He wrote in his e-mail: "You are the one person I can think of who could share this valuable information with our industry."

He also wrote: "The industry is missing the boat by not taking as much information as
possible and using it to understand the art of the move. I want the readers to see how much they are missing by only thinking about game protection from a casino employee standpoint and not from all sides of the table."

I agreed to do the interview and responded very thoroughly and thoughtfully to his questions, which he sent to me by e-mail. After I answered his questions, Weiss e-mailed me back to say how he was really excited about publishing the interview in the July, 2009 issue of his ACSN newsletter. He wrote, "this is fantastic stuff!"

But yesterday, I received this e-mail from Weiss:

"Hi Richard, wanted to drop you a quick email thanking you for answering all of the questions for the article we worked on. At this time I have decided to hold back on releasing it on the internet version of the Catwalk for various reasons as it was not a fit for this particular issue."

Please! Give me a break! He really insulted my intelligence with that. The real reason that the interview was quashed is that Willy Allison and his consortium of game protection consultants do not want you to read what I wrote, because when you read it, you will realize that you should be perhaps hiring me to train your tribal and gaming commissions and casino personnel in the field of game protection, and not only them.

In any event, here is the interview that transpired between me and Anthony Weiss of the Atlantic City Surveillance News:

1 ) Anthony Weiss: You spent parts of your youth in Jersey involved in typical schoolboy gambling scam hustles. Is cheating something that is in your blood or is it developed over time?

Richard Marcus: I don't think cheating was ever in my blood. What got me involved in cheating at a very young age was being a victim of cheats myself. While flipping baseball cards as a ten-year old, some kids a few years older than I fleeced me out of my entire card collection by pulling seconds much the same way blackjack mechanics do in handheld blackjack games. When I discovered I was being cheated, I turned the tables on them and soon began developping the skills needed to hold my own in poker games infested with sharks. After my schoolboy hustles, I gave up the cheating and went to Vegas just to gamble legitimately. That I actually became a casino cheat happened by chance, not by my wanting to.

2) AW: What causes the adrenaline to flow, getting the cheat move on or the payment of the scam?

RM: The successful result of pulling the wool over the casino's eyes is what gets the adrenaline flowing. Just like in any other endeavor, legal or illegal, when you work hard to develop a skill and see it work and pay dividends, you get an adrenaline rush, which of course is most intense when the move gets paid. The first time I got paid $10,000 on a $5,000 check on a roulette column with the Savannah move, I can tell you that the adrenaline rush was truly better than sex!

3) AW: As you moved towards your early twenties and the hustles became larger, it was apparent that Vegas would eventually call out to you. It is interesting that you fell victim to “the hook” by having a large win on the baccarat tables as your first experience in the gambling Mecca. Once the streak ran its course and you were broke, it was obvious that you needed a job. That is where dealing seemed to be a perfect fit. Vegas had no idea what they were in for as you were given the keys to the store. Every procedure, security measure and precaution employed on the table games were being explained by seasoned downtown pit bosses. Do you feel that you had a huge advantage over many of the typical grifts out there as you knew many of the game protection policies from the inside?

RM: Not really. Although I did learn much about casino game protection policies as a dealer, a lot of that knowledge is easily picked up by skilled casino cheats from the outside. It doesn't take long to see how a casino reacts when a questionable bet comes into play, and a cheat can watch as the heat develops and moves about the casino. Most casino people on the floor have no idea how to act and react when they are suspicious of a cheater at the table. There is usually no subtlety and lots of panic. My own security systems (which all good cheat teams have) were always better than the casinos', to the point where I never had to worry much about the cameras above. So please, don't blame Vegas's pit bosses for letting me put the screws to their tables!

4) AW: You had a run of organized team cheating for well over a decade prior to Savannah coming into your life. Please enlighten us how it is possible to pull of past post moves on craps, blackjack and roulette knowing casinos know the moves. How important is the selling of the move as compared to the move itself?

RM: That's where you're wrong. The casinos THINK they know the moves, but they really don't. To illustrate what I'm saying, let me use an allegorical equation. If a cheat move equates to 5+5=10, the casino only knows about the 10; they don't know what the two 5s are. Putting this into a pastposting example: sure, the casino knew about my pastposting $100 checks straight up on roulette numbers. So they put their dealers and pit personnel on the lookout for unannounced $100 checks showing up on winning numbers, with instructions to immediately call surveillance for bet verification. Hence, the "10" sum of the equation is the unannounced winning $100 check on the number. But what are the two 5? They are the essential inredients to the move that makes the 10 possible. One 5 is the way I set the casino up, the other is the psychology I use that enforces the set-up and convinces the floor personal that I am a legitimate high roller who bets $100 chips straight up on roulette numbers. The result is that the pit supervisors very seldom call surveillance, despite their having been told to do so.

This is the selling of the move, which is as important as the move itself. If the casino doesn't buy it, the move, no matter how much talent the pastposter displayed laying it in, it is for naught.

5) AW: Please detail a few variations of your moves that were changed out of necessity over the years? How did you get the large gaming cheques purchased knowing you need high-denomination gaming cheques on your person prior to a large pastpost.

RM: Before the advent of the Savannah move, my casino cheating operations were based on preventing the floor personnel from calling surveillance. My main weapon for this was the use of set-ups and psychology. One of my blackjack pastpost moves was where I switched an original bet of three $5 checks to two $500 checks with a $5 check on top AFTER the bet won and was paid, and then claim the dealer paid me wrong. I made two major changes to that move over the years, which kept its pay-rate above 95% for two decades. One was to gently tap the dealer's hand when I claimed the mistake. This completely shocked the dealer because no player ever touches a dealer's hand. The dealer forgets what he'd originally seen in the betting circle and only comprehends what he sees now, the move checks.

The second change was to push the dealer's payoff checks back toward the dealer, which prompted the dealer to pick them up and put the three $5 checks back in the table check rack. This served me well when the supervisor appeared at the table and only saw my two $500 checks capped by the $5 check in the betting circle. What he was looking at was "clean." And don't forget, I had ten more $500 checks on the layout, which had been hidden from the dealer before the claim, to back up my credibility. This same philosophy was used when switching $25 checks for $1,000 checks and $100 checks for $5,000 checks.

Getting the large denomination checks was done through off-set procedures. One player would go to a baccarat or craps table, buy in for a large amount of cash and get $500 checks right away on the buy-in. He would give a little action, while being off-set by one or two other team members betting approximately the same amount on the opposite side (bank/player pass/don't pass), then simply leave the table. This was done to avoid losing money. When $1,000 and $5,000 checks were needed, the primary player would go to a second table already having the $500s, give a little action, then color up to $1,000s or $5,000s. To avoid repetitive buy-ins to get $5,000 checks, I kept a reserve of them from all the Vegas casinos that used them. Game protection measures could have caught on to this if properly followed in casinos.

6) AW: The Savannah move is actually complex in its design. You utilized principles such as vantage point and perfect angles within the peripheral vision of the dealer to camouflage the large wager. The obvious choice was noting the first column wager was the furthest wager from the dealer. It didn’t hurt that you were getting 2-to-1 odds when the move was successful. What other physical designs were utilized in your career that would not normally be considered?

RM: Every move I've ever done took into consideration the measurements of the "green-felt battlefield," as I liked to call it. With Savannah, it was, as you say, a question of creating a perfect angle with the checks to camouflage the large denomination checks underneath. Doing other conventional moves before that, I was mainly concerned with controlling the dealer's movements, especially at roulette. So by betting a specific number of checks in certain areas of the layout, both inside on the numbers and outside on the proposition boxes, I forced the dealer to move about his working well and the layout as I wanted, giving me the split-second I needed to physically do the move. Selecting certain color roulette checks because of their position in the dealer's well enabled me to perform certain pastposts. In craps, I preferred to do my moves right next to the dealer, whose hands paying bets blocked out the vision of both the stickman and boxman. Other moves, such as the blackjack pastposts, I did from every position on the table. No physical design was needed there.

7) AW: The roulette staff takes great pride in running a smooth operation. I have worked with table games and surveillance professionals from Ireland, England and Scotland who understand all of the known cheat moves such as the non-value denomination switch, Italian past post team distractions and chip pass-offs, computer play and even Savannah. Please explain how scouting the staff and knowing their experiences is important to getting the scam in place. What are you looking for when scouting? Do you concentrate on each casino’s procedures and lack of enforcing game protections? Is a strong pit supervisor or dealer more of a concern to a cheat team?

RM: Most professional casino cheating teams will do a lot of scouting of the staff, but top teams such as mine do not concern themselves with doing this. In my team's case, our moves were designed to beat ALL casino dealers, floor staff, and when it came to Savannah, even all the surveillance personnel. In fact, I preferred going up against the most skilled and sharp casino dealers and pit personnel because the less skilled dealers often caused problems by their ignorance, and they often needed help form their supervisors to get the payoffs right for my moves. These scenarios sometimes evolved into a steamy situation because of all the confusion. There are some funny stories in my book "American Roulette" about how green dealers in the early days of Atlantic City, Foxwoods and Mississippi inadvertently created problems for me simply by trying to get the payoffs right. You can imagine the chaos on craps tables when I switched $1505 and $1505 (three $500s and a $5) for two $20 bets (four $5s), one on the pass line and the other the odds bet behind! Break-in dealers had a heck of a problem figuring how to pay the odds on a $1505 bet.

Run of the mill cheat teams will look for sloppy dealers or for dealers and pit personnel who seem preoccupied or uninterested. They take advantage of the monotony of a dealer's job. Back in the late '70s when I did my first cheat move as a dealer, which was a false-shuffle baccarat scam exactly the same as the one done by the Tran Organization 25 years later, I took advantage of my pit boss who was an ex-boxer who didn't care about the job and spent his time talking boxing and flirting with women players instead of watching the games.

8) AW: Here we are in the year 2009. Surveillance now places heavy emphasis on table games performance by analyzing wins. We look for patterns that show up in daily gaming win versus loss spreadsheets. Surveillance staffs are made up of experienced veterans and young associates working together to protect every angle of operations within the casino. The possibility exists that Savannah would expose herself as a large win with short play in the performance of a table game and reviews. Many surveillance departments now track players and pick up entire gaming sessions that might include the pinched switch on another game prior to the actual legitimate win of the Savannah move later in the day. Surveillance is getting better at developing theories to investigate scams and the equipment and databases are improved and communication is at an all-time high. At what point do you take surveillance serious enough to factor us in your preparation?

RM: Naturally I will always factor surveillance into the carrying out of any move. When you speak of surveillance interfering with a move in progress on its own, that never happened. When you speak of surveillance stopping a payoff, to prevent that I "worked" the floor personnel to avoid surveillance being called. If surveillance wasn't called, they were effectively disarmed. When you speak about surveillance picking up on Savannah after I've been paid and am long gone from the casino, that's a different story.

First off, whenever I laid down the Savannah bet in any casino, win or lose, another bet would not be made in the same casino on any shift for at least 24 hours. That policy more or less wiped out any chance of surveillance "marrying" a payoff to a pickup, which would of course expose the move. On some major event-nights in Vegas, such as boxing championships at Caesars and the MGM Grand when the casinos were mobbed up with lots of $5,000-check action, we would hit them with double and triple moves but leave after the first loss so they couldn't put it together. With tons of action in a high-limit casino, it would be hard for casino surveillance to pick up on this kind of move simply because it lost $20,000 at roulette for the shift. Back in the mid 90s when we were switching $300 blackjack bets into $10,100 with two $5,000 checks capped by one $100 check, we had three occasions where we beat two different casinos for more than a $100,000 on a single shift. We did twelve to fifteen moves each time, all of which were paid with not one pit supervisor even thinking of a surveillance verification. True, it might not be that easy today, but unless casinos are better prepared to understand how cheaters really operate, surveillance recaps and tracking alone will not stop professional cheat operations.

9) AW: New Jersey is considered to have one of the strongest regulatory enforcement acts (Casino Control Act). Do jurisdiction regulations matter to a cheat team? How aggressive was your team in the early days of tribal gaming?

RM: What mattered to my cheat team was only the laws if ever we got caught! For instance, when Yassir Arafat opened his Gaza casino in 1993, we weren't about to go there, no matter how easy it would have been to take it down...Why? Because if you get caught, they chop off your hands! Once we were relaxing on the beach in the middle of a European casino trip when my partner suggested we go to Istanbul, Turkey and do a few moves in its new Hilton casino. I looked at him as though he were nuts and said, "I guess you never saw the movie "Midnight Express!"

As far as regulatory bodies go and how strong the enforcement was, this was not much of a factor. In the vast majority of the world, casino cheating crimes are generally not punished very severely, except for major repeat offenders and interstate slot rings. In spite of that, I always knew I could go to prison but the chances were very low. My moves were quite good and they had very little exposure and no repeat action. So the reward well outweighed the risk.

The fact that New Jersey has one of the strongest enforcement acts doesn't filter down the game and slot protection viaduct from the sky to the floor. What I mean by that is that there is little difference in how the casino floor operates from Vegas to Atlantic City to Connecticut to Mississippi. I remember (with a laugh) the Gaming Enforcement officials in Atlantic City who walked around in their uniforms spying the games. I moved in front of them on several occasions, and they had no clue.
Early days of tribal gaming? Read my book! What happened at Foxwoods during their first month of operation was a brutal rampage. To give you an idea how inept they were, you could toss a $500 chip across the casino, and if it landed anywhere on a gaming table they would pay it! Of course I am exaggerating a bit, but that gives you an idea how agressive we were. Same thing in Mississippi, and Atlantic City was so great the first six months that my team rented a house in Brigantine!

10) AW: I remember back in 1985 predicting Villanova could beat the mighty Georgetown Hoyas in the NCAA basketball championship if they played the perfect game. I felt like a genius as they won the game and proved all of the skeptics wrong. You basically called the poker corruption scams well before anyone even thought it was possible and must have felt some sense of pride within the prediction. Here's another chance to show the industry your insight: In your opinion what is the next major scam that will hit the gambling industry? Do you see one area of concern that casinos continue to overlook or disregard?

RM: Well, Tony, if you predicted Villanova beating Georgetown in '85, I think I might be able to use you on my next roulette wheel-clocking team!!! LOL... You're right about the poker scams. When I predicted them in my book "Dirty Poker," lots of people accused me of this and that, only to learn in the end I was a hundred percent right. As for the next major scams to hit the industry, I think we will see some more high-tech scams, especially aimed at marking cards at poker and, in spite of the difficulties, more computer-chip hacking scams aimed at slots. I think there's a chance as well that we might see some major marker/credit scams as ID thieves and hackers could do a number on casino credit departments. This has been happening recently in Canadian casinos.

However, as casinos shift their surveillance operations more toward high-tech cheating, some very clever low-tech cheaters are going to take advantage, and someone will duplicate the simple ingenuity that I had in thinking out and designing "Savannah." in fact, I don't know if I should tell you this, but about a year ago I thought of a move that could be even better than Savannah. Of course, I am long retired and would never bring it to the development stage, so I guess I'll just take it to the grave.

I don't see casinos overlooking an entire area of asset and game protection, but what I do see is an involuntary overlooking of certain aspects because of faulty information that passes around these fields. I will give an example of that in response to question 13.

11) AW: Let’s gamble? How about a hand of poker? Are you bluffing with the $5,000,000 reported career total? I will “call” you and say it’s more?

RM: Who reported ONLY $5 million? Tony, are you moonlighting as an IRS agent?

12) AW: You have had a successful series of books exposing cheating in the gambling industry to include your career with your favorite girl, “Savannah”, documentaries, articles, key note gambling convention engagements and traveling around the globe as a paid consultant. Our question to you is what happens when you get that itch? Are you John Elway who went out on top or Brett Favre who says he retired and can’t help getting back in because it really is in his blood? For the sake of the industry, thanks for honestly answering our questions and bringing light to the thought process of a casino cheat.

RM: No, Tony, I am long done. When I made the decision to write the book "American Roulette," I knew I would never again do a casino move unless it was for educational or entertainment purposes, which as you know, I've done for both. I am the John Elway here. To be both frank and honest, even though I now teach casinos how to defend against cheating, I am not doing that out of guilt or remorse for my having cheated casinos for 25 years. I am doing it simply because cheating casinos is the only thing in life I know. I am not old enough to retire to Florida, so I need to keep myself occupied. Getting into game protection training is just the natural course to follow for someone of my experience and talent.
My 25 years cheating the casinos were great, and I loved it! Heck, I get adrenaline rushes just telling the war stories in bars and parties! But as far as me getting the itch and doing another move for real...stick a fork in me.

13) THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS WHAT WILLY ALLISON AND HIS INNER GROUP OF GAME PROTECTION TRAINING CONSULTANTS DO NOT WANT YOU TO SEE!

AW: Final Question: Obviously you have greatly enlightened the casino industry about how cheaters operate and what some casino weaknesses are, but some casinos will hesitate hiring you to consult for them on game protection training. What would you say to them? Why would it be beneficial for casinos to hire you instead of a conventional game protection consultant?

RM: There are many valid reasons for casinos to hire me to shore up their game and asset protection defenses. First off, not only was I probably among the most skilled casino cheats ever, I was also a casino dealer and I know the inner workings of casinos and what their weaknesses are, especially their vulnerabilities to inside scams. I also have very intimate knowledge of casino cage operations and how cheat teams use them to avoid taking heat cashing out their ill-gotten gains, which would expose their very operations. As well, I am always abreast of the latest money laundering and credit scams that victimize casinos. I wrote extensively about this in my book "Identity Theft Incorporated."

And finally, and perhaps most important, I know how cheats, fraudsters and major criminals clandestinely communicate in casinos. This is superimportant and something a conventional consultant does not know. If a casino can recognize a cheat team's mode of communication, it can get one step ahead and have a shot at catching them in the act, instead of waiting for table reports to tell surveillance that "something must be up."

When it comes to learning how to defend your business from any threat, best is to go to the source, someone who has actually done what your trying to protect your entity from. There is a great difference between learning game protection from a conventional consultant and learning from one who has actually done the moves and can hands-on teach the dealers and floorpeople how to avoid being victimized. Learning to protect your casino against cheats from someone who's never been one is like being in a flight simulator instead of flying the plane; it's just not the same. This is why security companies use ex-computer hackers to design software to prevent future hackings into information systems. Online casinos do this as well. The same should hold true for brick and mortar casinos. However, some casinos just can't reconcile themselves to hire an ex-cheat, but really, it is very foolish for casinos to think there is any harm in hiring me. I can only give them knowledge that no one else can.

In a previous question, I referred to an abundance of false information that spreads throughout the game protection industry. Let me cite an example of this: I often read casino industry magazines in which there are articles on game protection. Some of the writers, who are respected game protection consultants, have on several occasions made reference to me, my moves and other moves I had taught them. In writing about these moves, which I had detailed to them in person, they have made errors in their articles not only about the order and mechanics of the moves, but also on how and what casinos should do to protect themselves from them. I imagine that the same consultants while training casino personnel at the properties make the same mistakes showing the casino how these moves go down and how they can be defensed.

Of course this could be dangerous to casinos wanting to protect themselves from the cheats, but no one can expect a conventional game protection consultant to know cheating moves in and out if he has never done them himself. But when the moves and game-protection advice come from me, you can bet that the casino is going to have the best chance to defend itself. I like to say at the beginning of a casino game protection seminar that my goal for the casino is for it to be able to catch me doing moves should I come back in a month and try them.

I have discussed this possibility with one European casino, where I would enter the casino with surveillance's knowledge but unbeknownst to all floor personnel and do the moves. As of now they have not agreed to this blatant form of game protection training. If this ever happens, I will be sure to let you know.
If you want complete and accurate info about Savannah and many more cheating moves, it is available on my website richardmarcusbooks.com

Also, copies of e-mails to and from Anthony Weiss of the ACSN are available upon request.

Poker Cheating At Buckingham Palace!

2009-07-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I have heard of some ROYAL Places where poker cheating has gone on through the centuries, like the stately casinos at Baden-Baden and Monte Carlo, but Buckingham Palace??? That takes the cake! Accoring to testimony in a £3 million betting and property scam trial, an ex-royal protection officer accused of running the scam has claimed colleagues played poker inside Buckingham Palace and cheated by swapping cards and playing in collusion. What this basically means is that British cops protecting Queen Elizabeth and the royal family in Buckingham Palace were moonlighting as poker cheats! Gotta love it!

Paul Page, the 38 year-old guy on trial, allegedly cheated investors out of life savings. He testified that police officers were running the poker cheat scams and that a lot of them were even involved in online poker collusion cheating together during their down time. He also said that the same officers could earn up to £60,000 a year with overtime "for doing very little," which can be translated "for playing crooked poker."

Anyone interested in a crooked royal poker game?

Why Rehash "60 Minutes" Online Poker Cheating Scandal Story?

2009-06-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

I reported yesterday that CBS and the Washington Post both re-released their stories on the huge UltimateBet online poker cheating scandal. But some people want to know, is there any good to this? Or is it just the media grabbing at poker straws to keep a good story going?

Well, my opinion is that it is a good thing to re-release this story of an insidious poker cheating scam. But for only one reason. That being that absolutely nothing has become of it in terms of the online poker sites doing something to prevent a scam of this nature from happening again. Sure, they may have beefed up their security protection for software source codes and things like that. But the only real effective measure in the aim of future deterrence that can be taken is to see some prosecution for the UltimateBet scam. By all accounts, Russ Hamilton, the alleged mastermind behind it, is guilty as sin. But to date there is no sign that he will ever be prosecuted, depsite the tens of millions of dollars players lost to the scam. I know it is difficult to prosecute online poker fraud in the murky jurisdictions of online poker and online gambling, but unless it is figured out how and where to prosecute people like Hamilton and others who have initiated huge online poker and gambling cheat frauds, more poker cheat masterminds will continue to develop online poker scams to cheat the online poker-playing public out of millions.

Perhaps regulation of online poker in the US is the only first step to the solution of curbing cheating in online gambling.

You can see the rerun of CBS' online poker cheating segment on "60 Minutes" this Sunday in the US and of course on YouTube shortly thereafter.

CBS, Washington Post Update on UltimateBet Online Poker Scandal

2009-06-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

Back in November, as most of you know, the American network CBS in conjunction with the newspaper The Washington Post featured the huge online poker scam at UltimateBet in both TV segments and newspaper articles. They have now updated the story. To read it click here.

Raised-Limits Colorado Casinos Sweating The Cheats

2009-06-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

The cheaters have refined and jettisoned their tricks over the years. And casinos, in turn, have honed their methods for detecting them. Colorado regulators don't see it much anymore, but they remember the old "monkey wand" — a long wire with a small light bulb attached to its end. Rogue slot-machine players would slip it into the game to fool the money counter, triggering a gusher of coins.

In recent years, card sharks across the country have inserted tiny cameras into cigarette cases or shirt buttons so they can glimpse the card at the bottom of a deck during blackjack. Both cheats have been exposed, leading to monkey-proof slot machines and more-sophisticated camera systems to sweep casino floors. With betting limits rising from $5 to $100 in Colorado and business going 24 hours starting July 2, casino operators say it's a sure bet that the number of cheaters with newer gambits will rise too, prompting the casinos to take extra precautions.

Owners of The Lodge and Gilpin casinos in Black Hawk have hired new security officers, added cameras and brought in a cheat expert from Harrah's in Las Vegas to help train dealers on how to shrewdly watch behavior during craps and other games.

"What happens is that the trick gets identified and people will stop," said Ed Weisel, the Vegas veteran and new director of table games for the two casinos. "But they will just go on to do something else."

The eyes are seemingly everywhere at The Lodge. Between it and the Gilpin, 1,500 cameras dangle in the shadows, linked to a new digital computer monitoring system.

But the eyes, and experience, of the 52-year-old Weisel may pose the most powerful deterrent. He's helped spot 100 suspected cheaters in his 30-plus years working in the gaming business. He knows how they usually work in groups, using partners to distract dealers while one "slides" dice instead of rolling. And how they "pinch" bets by quickly pulling half their chips back.

Colorado gaming communities don't appear to have a cheating problem — of 13 complaints, only two tricksters have been arrested in the past three years, and those were casino employees, according to the Colorado Division of Gaming. But the introduction of craps and its variety of bets is certain to invite more monkey business, according to Donald Burmania, communications director for the Division of Gaming, which added 13 new investigators to increase scrutiny as the rules change.

"We feel like we're prepared," Burmania said.

Are they really? I doubt it.

Online Bots Poker Cheating Update

2009-06-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering what is going on in the online poker cheating bot world these days, here is the latest trend information I have on online players cheating with bots:

Bot cheating is still on the rise. It hasn't been getting the press the past two years that it once had, but that's mainly because reporting on the online poker cheating world has been dominated by the huge insider hole-card-reading scandals and financial and banking problems online poker sites are having with the United States Justice Department. Highly skilled computer people are continually out there designing and putting bots into play. The ones with artificial intelligence will certainly beat the majority of human players, though there are not too many of these around. They are very expensive and writers of these highly sophisticated cheat programs are keeping them amongst themselves and cheating online poker with their creations.

I suspect we may hear more about this online toward the end of this year and into next. As far as which sites are hosting the most bots or are vulnerable to them, the best is to check with my online poker safety rankings, which heavily takes bot play into consideration.

Indian Casino Indicted For Cheating!!!

2009-06-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Wait! Don't get too excited reading this. I mean an Indian casino in India, not a reservation casino in the US. However, this is the first time in twenty years I've heard about any legitimate casino getting indicted for cheating. It happened in Goa, India...

Goa police’s crime branch on Friday registered case against a five star hotel’s casino management for failing to cough up Rs 1.25 crore to state tourism minister Fransisco Pacheco which he had won in gaming. The Crime Branch which is probing the case has filed first information report against staff and management of the in-house casino of Majorda Beach resort under section 420 read with 34 of Indian Penal Code.

The minister earlier had complained to the state police accusing the casino management of duping him to the tune of Rs 1.25 crore. The casino management, on the other hand, had alleged that the minister along with his aide had threatened to kill him. (Wow! This might make a good Bollywood movie!)

The state government had transferred the case to Crime branch, which is now investigating it. The FIR filed with the Crime Branch implicates that the accused persons who are staff and management of the in house casino at Majorda beach resort had fraudulently and dishonestly induced the complainant to play in the casino.

The minister had complained that he had won Rs 1.53 crore during his gaming from May 15 to May 22, 2009. He informed the police that the casino management had repaid him Rs 28 lakh. “They induced the complainant to purchase gaming coins with the promise to repay the prize money if the complainant wins,” the crime branch’s FIR reads.

Police Inspector S U Shirodkar, who is investigating the case, has said that the accused persons dishonestly failed to make available the payment of Rs 1.25 crore to the complainant, which he won as a prize money.

Online Poker Cheating Via Seeing Your Opponents Hole Cards

2009-06-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ever since the Hole Card Online Poker Cheat Scam at UltimateBet broke, we've been seeing poker and casino cheating websites pitching software that you can put on your computer and see your opponents' hole cards and therefore cheat their pants off.

But the reality of this is that if you buy any of this so-called hole card online poker cheating software, you will be cheating your own pants off. This is because all this mass-market online poker cheating software for sale is a BIG SCAM designed to rip you off. I am not saying that "outside" online poker cheating software to see your opponents' hole cards does not exist (it does). I am only telling you, or better yet, warning you, that you are not going to find it online by searching "online poker cheating" or "online poker cheating software." Don't be fooled that the sites offering this stuff for sale are very highly ranked by Google for these types of searches. The reason they are is that they convince enough suckers to buy their poker cheat software and then refunnel some of their profits into search engine optimization.

So please, DO NOT FALL FOR THESE ONLINE POKER CHEATING SOFTWARE SCAMS!

Online Poker Cheat Headed To 2009 WSOP Main Event!

2009-06-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Move over Russ Hamilton! One of your online poker cheating peers is going to join you at the main event! His name is Dan Martin, known to online poker players as "Wretchy." Wretchy received a three month ban from the world’s biggest online poker site, Pokerstars, when he was caught playing poker under two names, in addition to playing poker in the same tournaments as his girlfriends.

Martin has admitted to most of these allegations, but attests that this level of cheating in online poker is the equivalent to smoking weed. He said about cheating in online poker: "Everybody does it, everybody knows it, it’s against the rules, and everyone knows that too, but nobody cares. I don't understand what I need to apologize for. I feel that having a cash game account is sort of the same thing as smoking weed. Everyone knows that it's illegal and yet it's a common thing.

According to online poker news reports the poker player was banned by PokerStars for a period of three months, ending on August 6th. In addition to the punishment handed down by PokerStars, Wretchy’s girlfriend will no longer be able to play at the same poker tables as him. Wretchy received similar bans from Full Tilt Poker, where he was banned for a period of thirty days, more a statement than an actual punishment some say.

Wretchy’s girlfriend received no punishment from Full Tilt. Wretchy said he’s off to play in the 2009 World Series of Poker, where he’ll have a little more time to focus on the Main Event. However, Wretchy should be able to play on both Full Tilt Poker and Ultimate Bet during this year’s WSOP.

"Both sites concluded this," Martin said. "That I played under WhatsLogic for an ample time period (6-9 months) but that I did not ever play both accounts that were in a tournament. The hand histories proved this because the style of play was completely different. They also concluded that I used WhatsLogic for cash games, but I do not know a pro that’s backed who doesn't have a separate name for cash games, but it's still against the TOS."

The poker community seems torn about Martin. There are those that wish him well, and can’t wait to see Wretchy get this behind him. Others demand an apology, no matter how hollow. They have labeled Wretchy a poker cheat and wish him all the worst.

Small Cheat Controversies Popping Up at WSOP

2009-06-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

There are always arguments here and there between tournament players at the WSOP, but seldom does one player accuse another of cheating at the poker table. Yesterday at table 77 during the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event 46, a shouting match ensued when Fabio Coppola insisted he should have won the low half of the pot that was awarded to John Juanda. With four cards on the board Juanda had two pair with a bad low but was awarded the pot when Coppola mucked his cards. Coppola insisted he had Ace-deuce which would have given him the low and that half the pot was his.

The dealer, Juanda and most of the table argued that it did not matter what Coppola may have had in his hands, when he did not show his cards his hand was dead. Coppola refused to concede and the floor was called. “It’s real simple,” the floorman told Coppola. “If you don’t table your cards, you don’t have a live hand. You must table your cards. The whole pot goes to John.”

When moved to table 80 Coppola accused the dealer of cold-decking him. “It’s obvious you’re setting me up. I haven’t won a hand since you sat down,” he yelled. The dealer insisted he was not cold-decking or cheating in any other way but it was not enough. Coppola soon started mucking every hand dealt to him and did not let up until a new dealer took a seat at the table.

Later at table 72, the issue of tabling hands came up again. A player claimed he was entitled to half the pot, but the dealer insisted the hand was dead because the player did not table the cards. The floor was again called and this time took to reviewing the tapes to determine if the player had tabled the cards. In the end the floor ruled the cards had not been tabled and the hand was dead. Like Coppola, the player was not awarded half the pot he claimed to have won.

Russian Online Poker Cheat Mobs Screwing Around With Wimbledon Again?

2009-06-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

There have been a handful of tennis betting scandals over the last few years and each of them had connections to certain Russian gamblers and gangsters with ties to Online Poker Cheating Scandals. The Russian cheats, who have also become the dominant force in worldwide brick and mortar poker cheating, may again be mixed up in the lastest Wimbledon tennis betting scandal that came to light yesterday.

Tennis authorities have launched an inquiry into insider trading after suspicious betting on a minor first-round match at Wimbledon that drew more than $1.5 million in wagers from online gamblers.

The Tennis Integrity Unit, an anti-corruption group set up by the international tennis authorities, was tipped off yesterday over "concerns" about a Wimbledon match involving Jürgen Melzer, an Austrian ranked No 30 in the world, and Wayne Odesnik, a South African-born American ranked 109. Melzer was the clear favourite to win, but bookies were alerted by the strength of betting on a proposition bet of a straight set victory. Melzer eventually won 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

Betfair, the internet betting site, reported that around $1 million was bet before the match started, with another $600,000 flooding in during play, the vast majority of wagers on Melzer. Ladbrokes and Paddy Power were among High-Street bookies who suspended betting before the match, as did many online operators.

The Integrity Unit will focus on whether gamblers were privy to any insider information. Odesnik had suffered a minor muscle injury on Monday, although the player insisted that he was fit and well and that he had not told anyone of his injury, nor had he been approached by a potential match-fixer. But on Betfair alone, $500,000 was bet on a straight-set Melzer victory with odds falling as short as 1-9. This was a low profile match between relatively unknown players on an outside court with little public interest that would normally attract about $15,000 worth of bets.

News of the inquiry at the All England Championships came after UK newspapers revealed that the Tennis Integrity Unit was already investigating a match played in a pre-Wimbledon tournament involving Daniel Kollerer and Oscar Hernandez. Betting on the match was voided after bookies spotted suspicious betting patterns.

Hernandez crashed out of Wimbledon Tuesday, losing 6-0, 6-0, 6-4 to Argentinia's Leonardo Mayer. The Spaniard was clearly unhappy and refused to speak to reporters afterwards.

I will tell you one thing: The Russian online poker cheats are getting their dirty hands into everything!

Poker Cheat Card Swappers Increasing Ranks!

2009-06-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

I have been tracking brick and mortar poker cheating across the world very seriously the past few months and I can now report that the fastest growing area of live poker cheating is that of professional poker card-swapping cheat teams. There have been a few busts during this month, notably the one occurring in London, England at the Empire Casino's poker room. However, there are many teams flourishing out there and very few getting caught. Poker card swapping is a very fine art and takes talent and nerve for the cheats to pull it off. What I can tell you is that the majority of these card swapping poker cheat teams are Russian and Serbian, some also coming from Hungary. Most of them do not speak fluent English, so watch out for Russian language in and around games as well as poker players speaking English with a Russian accent. If you come across any of these types who seem suspicious, they may indeed be part of a poker cheat card-swap team.

Beware!

World Series of Poker Cheating Tips

2009-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone in his right mind ought to be concerned about poker cheats reigning at the 2009 WSOP, especially those playing in the poker tournaments. So how can you spot poker cheats at work at the WSOP? I ran across these cheat tips from Poker Player magazine, and their right on, so have a look.

What do you need to look for in poker tournaments when you suspect someone of cheating? Familiarity with other players is a good first hint. If two players are often making conversation, eye contact, studying chip placements on cards, marking cards, or having overly interest in a rail observer, you should take note.

Let’s look at these signs of deception a little closer.

Chip placements on hole cards are a common signaling tool. An example might be four chips side by side with one chip on top, forming a pyramid, which would represent J-10, five chips with one chip on top would be 9-10 and so on. Easier chip formations to figure out are two chips side by side on top of the hole cards signaling A-A, two chips on top of each other and stacked side by side signals K-K and so on.

Certainly memorization becomes the key to signaling, but if that doesn’t get the attention of your coconspirator, then ordering food or drink can become a useful tool to the cheater. Word association is probably the most deceptive tool cheaters can use simply because general conversation won’t be suspect. Calling the cocktail waitress over seems innocent enough, but if the player is ordering a different beer or drink every time he orders, maybe he’s getting more than a drink. How about suggesting what one might order to eat? A hamburger sounds good, signaling A-Q, but maybe a hotdog might be better, signaling A-K.

Moving chips from table to table is a very risky move, yet the more practiced professional cheaters have become chip magicians and can often palm chips and hand them off on breaks. Chip dumping also occurs to move the highest stack in the team closer to the money. This is essential when teams of cheaters are playing in the same tournament. The player with the largest chip stack is most likely to make the money and the final table becomes the team’s target. They will do everything in their power to get chips to that player so that they all will share in the profit in the end.

Russian Poker Machine Cheats Caught Cheating Aussie Pokies!

2009-06-21T11:29:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty clever poker machine scam, and Australia was probably the right place to do it as poker and casino cheating penalties there are pretty lenient when you get caught. Unfortunately for these two guys, they got caught cheating the poker machines a little quicker than they would have liked!

An Oak Flats man who stole more than $5000 in a statewide poker machine scam narrowly avoided jail during his sentencing in Wollongong Local Court yesterday.
Stevce Gorgijovski, 29, and co-accused Nick Petrovski, 25, of Lake Heights, managed to accumulate $5690 by tilting poker machines in such a way that they paid out cash without losing the credits accumulated on the screen. The pair carried out their supposed foolproof plan at several clubs in regional NSW over a three-month period last year.

On September 11, they were given a $950 payout at Macksville Ex-Services Club. An audit at the club revealed the discrepancy and the pair was identified from CCTV footage. On November 28, Petrovski and Gorgijovski pulled the same scam at Catalina Country Club, in Batemans Bay. Petrovski pushed the machine to an angle and an object was placed under it. During the course of the evening, the pair received four payouts from the club totalling $2181.90.

Petrovski was also charged over a similar scam netting $2550 at Cooma Ex-Services Club on November 28 and at Merimbula-Imlay Bowling Club on December 11, where he accumulated $869 before a staff member noticed him acting suspiciously and he fled the club empty-handed. Gorgijovski was charged over a separate incident at Grafton District Services Club on October 4, where he stole $2200.

Both men pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining money in connection with a gaming machine and interfering with a machine's operation. Magistrate Ian Guy suspended Gorgijovski's sentence of nine months' jail on a good behaviour condition. Petrovski was ordered to serve 100 hours' community service.

Actual Surveillance Shot of UK Poker Card-Swapping Cheats!

2009-06-20T09:58:00.001-07:00

These guys are good poker cheats, but apparently the dealer at one of the poker tables at London's Empire Casino caught on to their cheating act. The actual surveillance photo above shows Mehmet Mersin and Suleyman Arik swapping cards under the poker table, a carefully rehearsed move they used at least seven times to net more than £5,000 in illegal winnings. Meanwhile a third man (far left), thought to be a professional distracter, engages the croupier in conversation. The third man was not arrested. Arik and Mersin are currently in prison serving six and eight month terms respectively. Arik, a Turkish national, will be deported when he is released. Mersin has been banned from entering any British casino for 10 years.

But don't think for a minute that these guys won't be pulling the same cheat moves in prison poker games!

The New Poker Cheating Age Will Becometh!

2009-06-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

As we get ready to put the first decade of the twenty-first century to bed, the second twenty-first-century-decade coming will bestow upon us better and more "high-teched" cheats. First, let's examine what we will see in the brick and mortar poker rooms in the early 2010s. The key advent here will be lasers. The key scam will be marking cards with them. For more than a century, marking cards at poker has been one of the most popular cheat methods, dating back to the days of the Wild West. Every method under the sun, including using the sun itself to burn marks into poker cards, has been tried. However, poker card-marking is turning the way of the laser, where sophisticated poker cheats will use laser pens and other tiny laser devices to mark the cards and cheat the poker tables. This is one area of poker cheating that I am keenly interested in, and I will keep you abreast of how it develops.

As far as online poker cheating goes, we are already in the second decade of the twenty-first century, if not the third! Look for more scams hitting online poker from the outside and less from the inside. The outside hackers have learned a lot from the inside cheating scams at UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. They will surely use their newly acquired knowledge to write new software and crack security codes so that they may better cheat online poker games. Of course the online poker sites' security departments will be doing their best to monitor and fight the cheating, but the edge always goes to the cheats, that being both online poker cheats and brick and mortar poker cheats.

Party Poker Takes Poker Cheats to War!

2009-06-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging about player safety in internet poker for four years now and Party Poker has been one of the few sites that during this time has both avoided cheating scandals and consistently appeared on my Top-10 rankings for the safest poker sites. In addition to its clean record as far as cheating and player-accounts security are concerned, Party Poker has also been a leader in offering the best player sign-up bonuses as well as maintaining top of the line customer support and service, with online response times among the best in the online gaming industry.

Another field of excellence from Party Gaming is its online betting and sportsbook offering accurate wagering lines on various sporting and gaming events from all over the world including American, Australian and European professional leagues as well as wagering opportunities for popular lawn and pub games like cricket and darts. Just about all the action you can think of is waiting for you at Party Poker, so if you´re new to Internet Gambling or you´re a veteran looking for a change for the better, don´t hesiteate to sign up.

My advice is that you can feel safe and protected from cheating scandals when playing on Party Gaming´s sites.

Join the world's premier online poker room and enjoy a range of exciting tournaments. Play Omaha Hi Lo Poker in our busy poker rooms, with free practice play, and a range of money play games.

Another Casino Cheat Complaint in India

2009-06-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

This article sounds like a joke, when you read the various ridiculous-sounding currencies involved, but evidently it is not.

The tourism minister for the resort province of Goa, Fransisco Pacheco, yesterday filed a complaint against a casino operator for cheating him to the tune of Rs 1.25 crores, the money which he had won in the casino. What the heck are crores??? I thought Indian money was rupees!

The minister has filed the complaint with Colva police station against in-house casino at Majorda Beach Resort in South Goa. Pacheco has said the casino operator has failed to pay him money despite his winning the gambling between May 15 and May 22 this year.

"When I asked for the money, the casino staff requested me to give them a day or two to make the payment since they never held so much of money in their treasury, "the complaint mentions. So obviously those crores are a heck of a lot of money, or Indian casinos only keep pennies available at the cage. If anyone out there can straighten this out for me, I will not only appreciate it but give you mention of honor on my poker and casino cheating blog!

The NCP minister said that he had won Rs 1.53 crores, of which Rs 28 lakhs were paid to him in installments over a period of about ten days; the last payment was received on May 28. Now what the heck are lakhs!!! I thought we were talking about crores! Please, help me understand this!

Pacheco said a partial payment by the casino operator was made only after intervention of Manish Khanna, Director of Majorda beach resort and Krishnan, the general manager of the resort.

Whatever the case, this looks like a pretty nice place. I have never cheated Indian casinos, but maybe I will come out of retirement just to get this one!

World Series of Poker Cheat Report

2009-06-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

We are more than halfway through the 2009 World Series of Poker tournaments, and many of you must be wondering how much cheating is going on at the poker tables, both the tournament tables and the cash games. Here is what I know so far:

Not much of noteworthy cheat complaints have come my way in the tournaments. I have heard some snippets about softplay on final tables and an instance or two of adding chips to stacks during breaks, but none of this appears to me to be significant. However, like I have written about many times, I expect the bulk of the 2009 WSOP Tournament cheating to take place during the period July 15th to November 7th, that of course being the time between the determination of the final table and the first day of play at that final table. This is when the dirty deal-making begins, which leads to softplay and chip-dumping at the final table.

In the poker ring games, however, I have heard significant reports of cheating from several different sources. The Russian collusion teams have been hitting the mid-stakes tables, mostly between $15/30 and $75/150. There are three Russian poker cheat teams that I know of, and they are all excellent. They avoid the bigger games because they are hesitant to engage the well-known pros who play them, not scared of their play but rather scared of being detected.

Their is also a card-switch team working both the mid-level and big games. This is the team that is based around the L.A. card clubs, whom I have seen in action on four occasions. They have about fifteen members know, equally divided between men and woman, and they are all excellently trained and never have a losing session.

If anything else on cheating at the WSOP comes my way I will post it.

Leonardo DiCaprio To Make Movie About Online Poker Cheating!

2009-06-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, it´s true. DiCaprio has announced that he is making a movie about the Online Poker Industry in Costa Rica, and no doubt this has been fueled by the huge UltimateBet and Absolute Poker Online Poker Cheating Scandals and Scams. I don't know how much of movie will entail actual cheating online, as the script is being kept secret, but you can bet it will be heavily depicted. I imagine that this yet untitled film will be released sometime in 2011, and all I can say is that I hope it's better than all these brick and mortar poker films we've been subjected to the past few years.

Also, the new poker documentary All-In has been released this week. I haven't seen it and don't know how and if it treats cheating in poker, but I imagine it's a bad as all the rest of them. If any of you see it, let me know how much poker cheating there is in it.

Online Poker Funds Bust Heats Up Battle Over Legalization or Regulation!

2009-06-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Prosecutors' seizure of $34 million belonging to online poker players ups the ante in a long-running struggle between the Justice Department, which wants to shut down the online-gambling industry, and members of Congress who want to make it legal.

The government has used several laws to prosecute online gambling. Critics claim those laws are unclear and are sometimes contradicted by a patchwork of state laws.

Last month, Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, proposed legislation to legalize and regulate Internet gambling so revenues could be taxed and consumers would have some protections.

The Poker Players Alliance, a lobbying group, said there are 10 million Americans who play online poker for money, spending about $6 billion a year. The group attacked the recent seizure, carried out by the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, saying funds belonging to 27,000 online poker players were frozen. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.

"It's a big gamble by the Department of Justice," said Prof. I. Nelson Rose, a senior professor at Whittier Law School and a leading expert on gambling law. The seizures could lead to a court ruling that actually supports Internet poker, Mr. Rose said.

Previous efforts in Congress to legalize and regulate Internet gambling have failed because of opposition by conservative Republicans and others who worry it would encourage gambling, particularly among gambling addicts and minors.

Mr. Frank and other legalization advocates argue that Internet gambling is a reality, and that consumers would be better off if there were some rules in place to require games to be run fairly and to require age verification of players.

"You've got an industry that already exists. You can't shut it down," said Jan Jones, vice president of government relations for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. Harrah's is one of several companies pushing Congress to legalize online gambling. Ms. Jones said the company would like to enter the business itself.

Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the financial-services panel, has blasted Mr. Frank's legislation, calling it a "clear danger to our youth, who are subject to becoming addicted to gambling at an early age."

The seizures by the U.S. attorney have sparked outrage among online-poker enthusiasts. "I'm screaming mad," said Mike Markee, an online-poker player from Flint, Mich., who said he can't afford most other forms of entertainment. Mr. Markee said he has spent only $123 in the past two months playing Internet poker at least two hours each day.

He said he has stopped playing for now, because he is worried about the government seizures. "I didn't think it was technically illegal. I don't want to jeopardize my job," he said. After the seizures, he emailed his congressional representatives to urge them to protect online poker.

The government has prosecuted online-gambling sites for years, and views most Internet gambling as illegal -- with some important exceptions. Online horse betting is legal in some states, for example. Online gambling sites are legal in many countries outside the U.S., but companies in the industry tread on dangerous legal ground when they cater to U.S. players.

The U.S.'s resistance to legalizing online gambling is part of a nascent trade dispute with the Europe. On Wednesday, the European Union released a report that says U.S. Internet gambling laws violate international trade rules. European companies can't offer gambling services to Americans under the rules, but U.S. companies can offer some online gambling services, such as horse betting, to Europeans.

The EU said Wednesday it would hold off on filing a formal complaint in hopes of negotiating some sort of solution with the Obama administration.

"Internet gambling is a complex and delicate area, and we do not want to dictate how the U.S. should regulate its market," said EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton. "I hope that we will be able to reach an amicable solution to this issue."

Blackjack Cheating by Card Counting With Your iPhone

2009-06-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

We have been hearing about blackjack card counting made simple by your iPhone. Yes, it is, but I don't think running out to get your iPhone just for this purpose is worth the bother. As fast as iPhone blackjack card counting came, it is going to go. That's because casinos are getting hip to it fast, and it is pretty difficult to use your iPhone without casino personnel picking up on you doing it. Soon iPhone counters are going to find themselves skulking around blackjack tables just to enter the count. And besides, counting cards at blackjack with an iPhone is soon going to be considered felony cheating in most areas of the US because using any gadget to help you beat casinos is a crime! So my advice to you iPhone users is to have fun with them and chat away, but do the card counting in your head.

Online Poker Accounts Frozen By Feds!

2009-06-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

In the latest skirmish in the battle over Internet gambling, online poker advocates say the government has frozen more than $30 million in payouts affecting thousands of players.

The Poker Players Alliance released a statement Tuesday claiming that the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York instructed four banks to freeze accounts belonging to online payment processors. John Pappas, the group's executive director, claims the frozen accounts contain funds owed to 27,000 players who used offshore poker Web sites.

In a letter dated Friday and faxed to Alliance Bank of Arizona, the prosecutor alleged that accounts held by payment processor Allied Systems Inc. were subject to seizure and forfeiture "because they constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses," according to the Associated Press. The letter was reportedly signed by Arlo Devlin-Brown, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Representatives for Citibank and Wells Fargo confirmed to the New York Times that the banks have frozen funds at the request of federal prosecutors. A spokesperson for the Southern District Attorney of New York declined any comment to Post Investigations, citing a policy "never to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation." The Department of Justice also declined to comment.

The alleged seizure is the latest development in the long-running debate over the legal status of online poker in the United States. In April 2009, the same U.S. attorney's office effectively shut downU.S. operations of PartyGaming Plc, which was one of the largest online poker sites in the U.S. before the President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The measure prohibits online gamblers from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to place and settle bets.

Meanwhile, online poker advocates have pushed the federal government to license and regulate online gambling, arguing that U.S. players are being steered to unregulated offshore poker sites.

Card Switch Poker Cheats First To Be Busted With UK's Gambling Act!

2009-06-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Two men have been sentenced to a total of 14 months imprisonment in what is believed to be the first convictions for cheating at gambling under the Gambling Act 2005 in London. Mehmet Mersin, 46 and Suleyman Arik, 24, were arrested on 19 May 2009 by Westminster Police after being called to Empire Casino in Leicester Square.

Staff had suspected them of cheating at the venue on two occasions only the week before during which they won a total of £5,115. As a result when the pair returned on 19 May, they were identified and detained by the staff.

Their plan to cheat was underlined by Arik's use of a false name and Mersin's attempt at disguise using a wig. A total of £2,000 was recovered from Mersin and £450from Arik at the scene. Investigating detectives from the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit viewed CCTV footage that showed the two of them swapping cards under the table during a game of three card poker.

During interviews both said they had a gambling addictions, and Mersin admitted giving Arik £500 to gamble with. Appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, both pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling.

Arik, a Turkish national, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a deportation order. Mersin was today sentenced to eight months and issued with an ASBO banning him from visiting any casino across the country for the next 10 years.

Detective Inspector John Anderson from the Clubs and Vice Unit said: "There is no doubt Mersin and Arik planned to continue making money through cheating, and even believed they could get away with using false names and disguises. "This case shows such offenders can and will be prosecuted under the Gambling Act."

Facebook Gets Involved In Online Poker Issue! Cheating?

2009-06-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

A very interesting debate is underway revolving around what does and what does not constitute gambling. Facebook and MySpace are the world's two most recognizable social networks, and each of the sites offers applications in which their members can take quizzes, sign up for other sites, or even play poker against other members.

It is the third of these applications that have suddenly thrown themselves into the forefront, with growing speculation that they too will draw the attention of some aspiring lawyers or politicians looking to crack down on Internet Gambling including online poker.

Users of the applications such as Zynga's Texas Hold ‘Em, the poker application of choice and the largest such software on the social network sites, would find this to be quite strange, since after all, they are not playing for real money and have no way of depositing or withdrawing fake funds. However, legal experts that have been reviewing the laws as are currently constituted point to the presence of virtual "gifts", items that members can send to other members for trading in some of their play money to attain. For example, Facebook allows players to send up to 16 "gifts" to other Facebook users per day. The intent of the gifts are to promote the application and to encourage other people to take part in the games. The "gifts" cost $5-$10 virtual dollars and are not actual physical items, more of a status symbol that appears on news feeds or a Facebook person's "wall".

It should be noted however, that there is currently no law expressly making it illegal to play online poker at the Federal level.

The argument that lawmakers could point to is that by promoting and advertising a gaming platform of any kind, the developers would ultimately be profiting from online gambling. Advertising would stream in more customers, and thus more advertisers, and thus more scrutiny.

As followers of these types of stories know, there are items in the works in government which would regulate internet gambling. Should this actually happen, then social networks would be in the clear. However, the specter that prosecution could actually arise from such activity, though frivolous to some, is one that should remain in the public consciousness.