Best Roulette Cheating Scam Ever!

The recent UK roulette scam reminds me of one of the most spectacular French casino scams ever perpetuated. I included a description of it in my book even though I had no part in the particular scam (and I never would have because it involved using tools, which I never used on any cheating moves as they constitute evidence if caught). This earlier scam used different technology from the recent UK one but was surprisingly similar in the resulting odds it yielded to the crew perpetrating it.

The French scam took place in the summer of 1973. A ham radio buff employed as a roulette dealer at the Casino Deauville on the Atlantic coast built a radio transmitter into a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, embedding the tiny receiver into a roulette ball he snuck into play. His brother-in-law placed the bets while his sister, a sexy raven-haired temptress, softly pressed an invisible button on the cigarette pack as the ball was spinning, sending it into a controlled dive which resulted in the ball’s landing in groups of six numbers with ninety percent accuracy. In a week the Casino Deauville was beat for five million francs ($1 million at the time).

The owners of the casino could not figure out what was hitting them. First they thought the wheel itself was defective and that somebody had measured it. They had experts come in and completely dismantle the wheel, examine every working piece integral to the ball's spinning around the disk and the wheel's revolutions in the opposite direction. When the astonished owners were told that the wheel was in perfect balance, and that there was not even the slightest imperfection which could produce biased outcomes, they began suspecting the dealer. They watched him secretively from above, but his motion was the same every time; he was doing nothing out of the ordinary to control the movement of the ball. It always made the same number of revolutions before going into its descent.

The scam was truly a marvel, the best I’d ever heard, and neither the ball nor the cigarette pack ever malfunctioned. Like most ingenious scams do, it came apart for a reason that had nothing to do with the scam.

The problem was that the dealer's sexy raven-haired sister was a bit too sexy and drew the attention of the principal casino owner who wanted to make her his mistress. He had subtly approached her in the casino several times while she was working the gadget. Being a chain smoker, he was often asking her for a cigarette with his apologies. The raven-haired beauty was cool and able to operate despite the man's presence. She told her husband about his advances, but he replied that the owner's libido couldn't hurt the scam, so they continued.

Finally, the owner—realizing he was going nowhere fast with the temptress—began watching her from a different eye. Why was she so often in the casino, apparently alone? Why did she always stand by the same roulette table without making more than an occasional bet? And most of all, what was the connection between her and that table losing so much money whenever she was in the casino? All the answers came when the owners, at last suspecting some kind of radio interference with the roulette wheel, had an expert debugging crew come in and sweep the casino while the wheel was in action. The next time the principal casino owner asked the temptress for a cigarette, the chief of the Deauville Police Force was there at his side to confiscate the pack and put the lovely raven-haired beauty in handcuffs.

More from the newly minted cheater (see earlier posts)

My exchange with XXXXXX, the new cheater out there hitting the tables with my moves:


Sounds like you did a good job on that improvisation of my move! Like you said, stay patient and never be greedy and you’ll get your twenty grand back and even profit if you want to keep going. It is worth being warned: if you engage a partner in casino cheating activity you are opening yourself up to big problems if the other guy gets grabbed and taken to the backroom and doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. The worst charge you can face ripping off the casinos is a conspiracy to violate the gaming statutes. So one guy ratting out the other is a big mess. You gotta know your partners can stand up. That’s why I always walked the dozen or so times I saw the back room. Read about the Chinese baccarat scam in my book. One guy cracked under Gaming Enforcement pressure, ratted out the team and instead of keeping the millions they stole they ended up in prison with big terms.

As for the school, I’ll tell you what. You start it, get the students and I’ll come along as a guest speaker and give demonstrations. If you put the time in it you could probably get something set up!



Richard,
You absolutely correct about picking someone to work with. I’ve approach a couple of people who are heavy gamblers and substantial losers, both these guys still haven’t figure out you can’t beat the casino’s edge. I’ve know them a little having seem them lose consistent at the roulette tables. (I thought it would be easier to approach someone who already knew the casino games and casino operations.) We talked a little, then I wrote the title of your book with the authors name and the told them where it was available. Gave them my number and suggested we get together after they’ve read the book and discuss it. I was trying to force them into showing some initiative. So far it hasn’t worked, I haven’t heard from either of them; now I wondering if gamblers read, or can even read.

I did read the cheaper with the mini-baccarat team that would have walked had not one guy cracked and ratted. I do understand the distinction between conspiracy to violate gambling statues and actually getting caught in violation of these statue’s and its a big important distinction.

Sooner or later I will find someone I can work with and it has to be someone who won’t crack under the heat. I think of how you found “balls” who was an old acquiesce from New York. I was thinking the people I was approaching here were more like him. Maybe these people are more like the degenerate gambling “Dawn” who tried to set you up. I suppose people that hooked can never be trusted. I will have to be more careful.

I’m hoping to do more moves. I’ll let you know.

Thanks XXXXXX


AND, my reply

You have to be patient. It is always difficult to find people who have both the brains and the balls to do this stuff. In the original manuscript of my book, which was cut by 50 percent by the publisher, I had told about the trials and tribulations of finding new partners after old ones retired or couldn’t make it. There were many disasters encountered trying to teach people this stuff. Some had all the brains in the world but no balls, others had all the balls you could want but couldn’t count to ten. I once had a guy I never met fly in from Iran to meet me, I was told about him from a mutual acquaintance. I was told he withstood torture by the Iranian secret police during the Shah’s reign of that country. Maybe so, but when I put him behind a craps table to claim a move he froze up like a Siberian snowman. Would you believe I eventually found a severely overweight woman with no self esteem or confidence and made a great casino cheater out of her? Her story was also in the original manuscript but got cut. Someday I hope to tell all this stuff, but I will have to wait until after the History Channel broadcast

Even with my book out giving away all the moves, they can still be done right under their noses, as you and others are proving.

Good luck with the adventures and keep me apprised.

Richard

UK Casino Scammers Get to Keep Winnings

The BBC has a report about the group of scammers who used modified cell phones outfitted with laser tracking technology to predict the likely winning numbers on a roulette wheel. They can now keep their loot.

Prior reports of the March scam perpetrated by a Hungarian woman, aged 32, and two Serbian men, aged 33 and 38 stated they took in £1.3m in winnings from the Ritz Casino in Picadilly. The high-profile venue in the former ballroom of The Ritz Hotel initially seized the trio’s money. But police said the case had now been closed, with no charges brought.

A good explanation of the truly impressive scam can be found here.


My team used to work exclusive European casinos like the Ritz, where gaining admittance is a big part of the scam. In fact, one such trip made for one of my funniest casino cheating adventures , wherein we decked out a London cabbie as a high roller and paid for his membership just to sponsor our admittance.


I am curious to see how the gaming industry reacts to the scam pulled on the Ritz. It is quite easy to make such a laser scanner scam illegal, or to clearly establish its status under current law. But considering the ubiquity of cell phones, it will be interesting to watch casinos try to deal with modified cell phone devices without overeacting against legitimate casino patrons.

In the meantime, congratulations to the guys who beat the Ritz!