News: Computer-Based System To Crack Down On Casino Card Counters

[News Bot]

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Yahoo Tech outlining a system currently being researched: "Card counting is perfectly legal - all a counter does is attempt to keep track of whether the cards remaining in a deck are favorable to his winning a hand (mainly if there are lots of tens and aces remaining in the deck) - but it's deeply frowned upon by Vegas casinos. Those caught counting cards are regularly expelled from casinos on the spot and are often permanently banned from returning. But given the slim house odds on Blackjack, it's often said that a good card counter can actually tip the odds in his favor by carefully controlling the way he bets his hands. And Vegas really doesn't care for that. The anti-card-counter system uses cameras to watch players and keep track of the actual 'count' of the cards, the same way a player would. It also measures how much each player is betting on each hand, and it syncs up the two data points to look for patterns in the action. If a player is betting big when the count is indeed favorable, and keeping his chips to himself when it's not, he's fingered by the computer... and, in the real world, he'd probably receive a visit from a burly dude in a bad suit, too. The system reportedly works even if the gambler intentionally attempts to mislead it with high bets at unfavorable times." It's not developed in Vegas, though, according to the brief description (the other projects are also interesting) from the University of Dundee's release, but rather in conjunction with the Dundee Casino.


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[BlkRb0t]

What wrong with counting the cards. It is a skill of concentration and some simple maths and those who do it perfectly must be allowed to win. I don't know the exact nature of how it is done, just seen it in movies. I think the casinos are afraid of losing their hold on skinning the fools.

[Ze-Tomb]

Originally Posted by BlkRb0t

What wrong with counting the cards. It is a skill of concentration and some simple maths and those who do it perfectly must be allowed to win. I don't know the exact nature of how it is done, just seen it in movies. I think the casinos are afraid of losing their hold on skinning the fools.

Think of it from a business poit of veiw, the Casino has say 5 players on 5 tables counting the cards. If thye all play big, and win big, for a long time the Casino will eventually start losing money.

People don't make Casinos to lose money, it's there to make money. And people who are counting cards are the hole in their money bank.

Gambling wasn't made to be a game of skill anyway.

[jim_T]

Originally Posted by Ze-Tomb

Think of it from a business poit of veiw, the Casino has say 5 players on 5 tables counting the cards. If thye all play big, and win big, for a long time the Casino will eventually start losing money.

People don't make Casinos to lose money, it's there to make money. And people who are counting cards are the hole in their money bank.

Gambling wasn't made to be a game of skill anyway.

...no they're hazard games or game of chance...now counting the cards that kinda takes out the hazard out of the equation...hence no longer a game of chance!

[MarieWoodell]

I can see why Casino's have a problem with it and thereofre I would never do so In a casino but personally I am of the opinion that Blackjack originally mmay have been intended to be played that way. Ie if you were much more skilled at the maths of the game then you could increase your odds of winning.

[TheOneOmega]

Considering card counting to be cheating is flat out stupid and subjective.

Any game that includes its players making choices is a game of skill, or a game of chance and skill combined. This is literally equivalent to saying "make good decisions in order to win, but intentionally make poorer decisions than your best ones."

A very fundamental concept for making an objective rule set (for any game) is to limit the decisions players may make when constructing the rules, not during game play.

[Avneet]

I agree but you wont see casinos agreeing because someone could cash them out doing it constantly

[BlkRb0t]

[MarieWoodell]

Yeah I can see why Casino's don't like it but It is meant to be a game of skill and chance. Most card games are. You can use your skills to tip odds in your favour. I personally think Casino's shouldn't offer a game if they cannot cope with it being played properly.

[TheOneOmega]

Originally Posted by MarieWoodell

I personally think Casino's shouldn't offer a game if they cannot cope with it being played properly.

My thoughts exactly. Of course, forcing this would probably require government intervention in ways that it may not be best to allow, since the persons in charge of the casinos would not (all) be willing to sacrifice speed of income generation for the sake of fairness.

The other possibility would be to educate the public. The general conception of casinos is, in my opinion, risky and dangerous, yet fair and unbiased. That is why finding out about such a subjective practice as this is downright shocking.