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CONNECTICUT NEWS
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Odds Are Card Counters Get Heave-Ho
Casinos Ever Vigilant To Toss Crafty Bettors
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September 16, 2005
By RICK GREEN, Courant Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS -- There was the time Johnny Chang showed up at a casino here dressed as a woman, trying to slide up to the blackjack tables without being noticed.
Chang, part of the famous team of blackjack players from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that ravaged casinos for a time during the 1990s, is among the best of the "card counters," gamblers who know how to beat the house because they watch every card.
They are organized, methodical and, as this well-known Chang story illustrates, willing to do whatever it takes to get a seat at a blackjack table. These days, casinos keep a close watch on card counters, monitoring them with video cameras and compiling computer dossiers on them.
"They might play in Connecticut one weekend, and then they are in Atlantic City the next, and then they are overseas," said Dave Rapp, a former private investigator who now is vice president of security for Biometrica, a company that provides security and intelligence services to casinos.
Card counters aren't cheaters. It's not illegal to do what they do, keeping track of the high-value and low-value cards played so they know when to place a large bet. But casinos like to do everything they can to drive them out, including asking them to leave or excluding them outright.
The cheaters who use high-tech, illegal gadgets to foil slot machines or small cameras and other devices to count cards obviously aren't welcome on the gambling floor.
But it's a little-known side of the gambling world that the casinos also don't want players who are too good.
Consultants at this week's Global Gaming Expo meeting in Las Vegas said the explosion of casino gambling across the country has created fresh opportunities for organized card-counting groups.
With dozens of members, the groups are actively working U.S. casinos, said Charlie Guenther, a security and intelligence consultant.
"They are in paradise," Guenther said. "In the U.S., we probably have six premiere card-counting groups. It is a business."
"They have homes and condos in different parts of the country. They have an incredible understanding of math and how it equates to playing the game of blackjack," he said. "They can track every single card and tell when it is a favorable time to place bets."
Douglas L. Florence, a card counter who now teaches seminars on how to recognize a pro, said casinos have no choice but to watch out for these players because they take too much of the house's money.
With sophisticated cameras that track every game and every player, it's possible to target a blackjack game where it looks like a card counter is in action, Florence said. Usually, it's a game where the house is losing big time.
"We go after the guys out there mining the properties. [Casinos] have the right to refuse service," said Florence. "As a business, we just can't afford to have that type of player."
---------------------
Odds Are Card Counters Get Heave-Ho
Casinos Ever Vigilant To Toss Crafty Bettors
---------------------
September 16, 2005
By RICK GREEN, Courant Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS -- There was the time Johnny Chang showed up at a casino here dressed as a woman, trying to slide up to the blackjack tables without being noticed.
Chang, part of the famous team of blackjack players from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that ravaged casinos for a time during the 1990s, is among the best of the "card counters," gamblers who know how to beat the house because they watch every card.
They are organized, methodical and, as this well-known Chang story illustrates, willing to do whatever it takes to get a seat at a blackjack table. These days, casinos keep a close watch on card counters, monitoring them with video cameras and compiling computer dossiers on them.
"They might play in Connecticut one weekend, and then they are in Atlantic City the next, and then they are overseas," said Dave Rapp, a former private investigator who now is vice president of security for Biometrica, a company that provides security and intelligence services to casinos.
Card counters aren't cheaters. It's not illegal to do what they do, keeping track of the high-value and low-value cards played so they know when to place a large bet. But casinos like to do everything they can to drive them out, including asking them to leave or excluding them outright.
The cheaters who use high-tech, illegal gadgets to foil slot machines or small cameras and other devices to count cards obviously aren't welcome on the gambling floor.
But it's a little-known side of the gambling world that the casinos also don't want players who are too good.
Consultants at this week's Global Gaming Expo meeting in Las Vegas said the explosion of casino gambling across the country has created fresh opportunities for organized card-counting groups.
With dozens of members, the groups are actively working U.S. casinos, said Charlie Guenther, a security and intelligence consultant.
"They are in paradise," Guenther said. "In the U.S., we probably have six premiere card-counting groups. It is a business."
"They have homes and condos in different parts of the country. They have an incredible understanding of math and how it equates to playing the game of blackjack," he said. "They can track every single card and tell when it is a favorable time to place bets."
Douglas L. Florence, a card counter who now teaches seminars on how to recognize a pro, said casinos have no choice but to watch out for these players because they take too much of the house's money.
With sophisticated cameras that track every game and every player, it's possible to target a blackjack game where it looks like a card counter is in action, Florence said. Usually, it's a game where the house is losing big time.
"We go after the guys out there mining the properties. [Casinos] have the right to refuse service," said Florence. "As a business, we just can't afford to have that type of player."
