Oct 04, 2015 Michael Moore, who shot and killed his fiancee, Kayla Humphries in 2013, stands to inherit money from her life insurance. Spin a Win: Cross between roulette and big six. MAY 3 Mini Roulette: Roulette game with only 13 numbers. MAR 28 Organic Roulette Experiment: My investigation to accusations of unfair play. NOV 13 Double Ball Roulette: New coverage added for a single-zero wheel.
- Unfair Roulette Game
- Unfair Roulette Games
- Unfair Roulette Board Game
- Unfair Roulette Random
- Unfair Roulette Blackjack
By Henry Tamburin
When I was a youngster, I used to think it was unfair when teachers gave me homework. When I was a teenager and missed curfew, I thought it was very unfair when my mother “grounded” me. But asI grew older and wiser I realized a lot of things in this world ain’t fair including the games I play in casinos.
When I was a youngster, I used to think it was unfair when teachers gave me homework. When I was a teenager and missed curfew, I thought it was very unfair when my mother “grounded” me. But asI grew older and wiser I realized a lot of things in this world ain’t fair including the games I play in casinos.
I know that the casinos must have some sort of an advantage over players in order to pay their bills and generate the capital they need to build those gambling palaces that we love to visit.But the casino’s advantage is unfortunately a big mystery to most players. It certainly was to me until I finally figured out how they win and why I lose. But nowadays most casino players don’tcare about casino advantages or unfair games. They are just satisfied with having fun and letting Lady Luck determine their fate. If that’s your modus operand when you gamble then stop readingthis article right now. However, if you're tired of being the patsy that always contributes your hard earned cash to the casinos' coiffers and wants to do something about it, then read on, forthere is a light at the end of the tunnel (or in your case cash in your pockets at the end of your casino visits).
Knowing a little about how the casinos create their unfair games to begin with is the first step you must take to become a smarter player. By smarter I mean learning which games and bets arehighly unfair and then avoiding them while at the same time learning how to turn an unfair game into a nearly fair game.
There are three different ways that a casino creates unfair games. One way is to create playing rules that favor the casino so that they win more decisions than the player. For example, atypical craps player that makes a total of 1,980 pass line bets stands to win 976 times while the casino stands to win 1,004 times. The casino rules for the pass line obviously favor the casinowinning more times than the player. This is what creates the unfair game. Pretty simple huh?
It’s the same concept as if I let you play a game in which I have a bowl containing 50 black white marbles and 50 black ones. You get to pick a marble at random and of you pick a white marbleyou win. What are the odds of picking white? Since there are equal number of white and black marbles, the odds are 50-50 and the game is fair. I shouldn’t quit my day job if I offered this gameto you. However, if I placed only 40 white and 50 black marbles in the bowl, it’s clear that this game now becomes unfair for you and I can tell my boss what he can do with this job.
Let’s look at a totally different way casinos create an unfair game. This is the most common way and it has to do with the amount the casinos pay players when they win a bet.
Suppose I flip a coin and if you lose you pay me a dollar and when you win I pay you 95 cents. Is this game fair? Even though the odds of winning is 50-50 the game is unfair becauseinstead of paying you $1 when you win, you get paid only 95 cents. You are short changed 50 cents every time you win. After 100 flips you would stand to win half of them at 95 cents winper flip. The other 50 coin flips you stand to lose $1 per flip. If you do the math, you would stand to lose $2.50 after the 100 coin flips. Quite an unfair game.
The same concept – known as paying less then true odds - is used by casinos when you win a bet at say roulette, the Big Six Wheel, most craps bets, video poker, and even the slots. For example,take the infamous bet on Any 7 (known as Big Red to the craps affieciendos). You plop your chips on Any 7 on the layout and if the next roll is a 7 you win. If it’s not you lose. Pretty easybet to make but also a very devastating one for your bankroll. The reason is because the casinos are giving you a reduced payoff. The odds of rolling the 7 is 30-to-6 or 5-to-1. The casinopayoff isn’t at the true odds of 5-to-1 but rather at the reduced odds of 4-to-1. Get it??
Another way to think about how the casino’s create their unfair game is to just remember they that really make their profits not from player losses but rather from the money that players win,because winnings are paid out at less then true odds. As Frank Scoblete puts it; “You have a partner when you win – the casino”.
The third relatively easy way that casino’s create an unfair game is by simply charging you a fee when you win a bet (what a novel idea). Going back to the bowl of marbles analogy, supposethere are an equal number of white and black marbles. If you lose a pick, you lose a dollar. If you win a pick I pay you a dollar but I charge you a 5% fee (that’s a nickel). I created anunfair game by charging a fee or commission every time you win a bet. That’s how I created the unfair game.
A winning bank bet in baccarat falls under the “you pay the commission when you win”. In fact if you bet on the bank hand you would win more times then the casino wins. For every 100 bankhand decisions that result in a win or loss, you stand to win on average about 51% of the time and the casino wins 49% of the time. The game is extremely fair for the player at this point– infact the player would wipe out a casino by winning 2% more times then the casino. Of course the casino isn’t stupid, they are after all in business to make money not give it away. So tocompensate for the edge a player has by winning more times then the the casino, they smartly impose a 5% commission every time you bet on the bank hand and it wins. I know it’s not fair butthat’s how the casinos do it.
What about playing the slots, the most popular game in a casino? How does the casino create the unfair slot machine? Trust me when I tell you that they don’t do it by having someone in abackroom throw a switch that prevents players from winning jackpots. In fact with slots it’s easy to create an unfair game. The casino just programs the slot computer to keep whateverpercentage that the casino feels like keeping by paying winning combinations at less then the true odds (sound familiar). Sure it’s a lot more complicated with the microchips now being used incasinos with virtual symbols on each reel. But the concept is the same. Pay less then the true odds and you’ve created an unfair game.
In casino jargon the difference between the true odds and the odds paid is called the casino’s advantage. This can be calculated for every game and bet in a casino including those bets in whichthe casino charges a commission or wins more decisions. By ranking the casino’s edge for every bet it’s easy to determine which games and bets are unfair and by how much. And now the caveat.You can become an instantly smarter player by promising to do this on your future casino trips
Don’t make any bet in a casino where the casino’s edge is greater than 1.5%.
Wow that didn’t hurt did it? It all boils down to this. We know the casino offers unfair games but we can control how much unfairness we are willing to let the casinos have. By making thefollowing recommended bets, you will, in essence, be letting the other guys pay the bulk of the casino overhead while you pay next to nothing. What this all boils down to is the following. Onlyplay the following casino games and only make the recommended bets listed.
Blackjack with perfect basic playing strategy
Video poker on full-pay machines with optimum playing strategy
Pass line and don’t pass in craps
Bank and player bet in baccarat (or mini-baccarat)
Pass line and don’t pass line with odds
Interbet mobile app. Place bet on 6 and 8 craps
Slot machines which have a sign guaranteeing at least a 99% or higher payback.
What’s your reward for making only the above bets? For blackjack and video poker you’ll turn an unfair game into a nearly fair game (with the possibility of turning it into an unfair gamefor the casinos to boot). For the other recommended games and bets, you’ll still be playing an unfair game but not by much. Look at it this way - it’s your best gamble in a casino.
Henry Tamburin is the author of the best-selling book, Blackjack: Take The Money and Run, editor of the Blackjack Insider e-Newsletter, and Lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjackcourse featuring Speed Count. For a FREE 3-month subscription to his blackjack newsletter with full membership privileges, visitwww.bjinsider.com/free. For details on the Golden Touch Blackjack course visitwww.goldentouchblackjack.comor call 866/WIN-BJ21. For a free copy of his casino gambling catalog featuring over 50 products call 888/353-3234 or visit the Internetstore atwww.smartgaming.com
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Unfair Roulette Game
For as long as gamblers have wagered money on games of chance and skill, the temptation to cheat has loomed.
Unwilling to let fate decide, casino cheaters use creative and unscrupulous tricks to gain an unfair edge over the house.
Among the earliest methods employed by poker cheats, the gunslinging poker games of the Old West era saw cheats wield aces up their sleeves. These days, cheaters who plague poker can be found in both brick and mortar card rooms and online sites, colluding or dumping chips to team up on unsuspecting opponents.
Cheating in modern casinos predominantly afflicts the skill-based games like poker and blackjack, but you’d be surprised by how prevalent the crime has become in roulette and other games of chance. You wouldn’t think a simple wheel-spinning affair like roulette would be subject to cheating because players don’t really have any influence on the gameplay.
Nonetheless, cheats can be found anywhere real money is being wagered, and the roulette table is no exception. Even with the ever-present “eye in the sky” watching their every move, and eagle-eyed croupiers (dealers), pit bosses, and other staff members trained to detect malfeasance, roulette cheaters just can’t help themselves.
The allure of making easy money without incurring risk certainly makes sense, but trying to cheat the casino while playing roulette is a fool’s errand. Don’t take my word for it though, just ask the long lineup of convicted roulette criminals who tried the five ways to cheat at roulette listed below.
1 – Past Posting or Late Betting to Increase Wagers on Known Winners
Every roulette player knows the feeling well…
When you nail the number perfectly and watch the croupier stack the 35 to 1 payout, wishing you would’ve bet $10 instead of $1, the experience can be bittersweet to say the least. Beating long odds for a big payout is always cause for celebration, but when you only bet a few bucks, it can be easy to kick yourself for not putting more out there.
Some roulette cheaters aren’t content with their minimal payouts, so they resort to a tactic popularly referred to as “past posting.” Also known as “late betting,” the concept of past posting is quite basic on the surface. You add chips to your bet once you know it’s a winner.
When the croupier watches the wheel to find out where the ball landed, it will take them a split second to scan the spaces, find the ball, and turn their eyes back to the table before calling the number. In that split second, past posting artists use sleight of hand tricks to secretly add significant sums to their winning bet.
Let’s say you sprinkled various bets between $5 and $40 on several single-number spaces, using combinations of both the red $5 and green $25 chips. You have the number 17 covered with one $5 chip, but when you see the ball nestle into the 17 space, you instantly dart your hand out and cap the $5 bet with a $25 chip. The croupier never notices your trickery, and just like that, you’ve turned a $175 payout (35 to 1) on $5 into a whopping $1,050.
Why You Shouldn’t Try Past Posting
While potentially lucrative when undetected, past posting is inherently dangerous based on the moving parts in play.
A professional croupier is trained to scan and memorize the bets in play when they wave for final wagers, so they might notice your small chips suddenly transforming into big ones. While you’re watching the croupier, a nearby pit boss outside of your peripheral vision might see you make the switch. And up above, high-resolution cameras are recording every move you make.
Add it all up, and past posting just isn’t worth the risk involved, a fact Charbel Tannous and Constandi Lubbat can attest to. Real slot casino. In 2011, while playing roulette at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Louisiana, the pair were caught red-handed past posting for big money.
Unfair Roulette Games
After authorities used surveillance footage to confirm that over $175,000 was stolen via the roulette scheme, Tannous and Lubbat were charged with felony cheating and swindling over $1,500 and criminal conspiracy.
Tannous was eventually convicted and sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for organizing the roulette racket. This is a harsh punishment US Attorney Stephanie Finley made clear will be the norm for casino cheats:
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision to give this defendant a significant prison term. The casino and the citizens were victims in this case. A portion of the profits from the casino goes to the State of Louisiana and the Calcasieu Parish School Board.
We will continue to partner with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to prosecute crimes of this nature and seek the maximum amount of prison time available.”
We will continue to partner with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to prosecute crimes of this nature and seek the maximum amount of prison time available.”
2 – Partnering With a Croupier to Produce Fake Winners
If you read the previously linked reporting, you know Tannous and Lubbat didn’t work alone.
By conspiring with two croupiers working at the casino, these cheats made sure their past posting antics would never be reported.
That approach certainly makes sense on an objective level, too. By doubling down on the scam, colluding to ensure their cheating is allowed by the people running the table, conspirators don’t leave anything to chance. Having an “inside man” on the team only makes cheating at roulette that much easier, as a corrupt croupier can allow their partner to inflate winning bets or pull back chips on losers.
Why You Shouldn’t Partner With a Dealer
In 2016, a casino pit boss at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, decided to go rogue. He enlisted a croupier to do the dirty deed, and a third partner to act the part of lucky player. Past posting provided the bulk of the team’s $20,000 in ill-gotten gains, but like almost all roulette cheats before them, these three were eventually caught on camera and arrested.
David Dales, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (IDCI), issued a statement explaining how the scam was set up:
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“There was a dealer that was doing some active cheating mechanism on the roulette table at Horseshoe Casino. And there was a patron he was consistently cheating for. The allegations are they were past posting – adding chips to the winning numbers – doing other activities that gave them illegal winnings at a table game.”
The offenders were charged with four felonies, including ongoing criminal conduct, first-degree theft, conspiracy, and cheating at gambling. They faced significant jail time and hefty fines.
3 – “Coloring up” Small Chips for Higher Denominations off the Table Before Cashing Out
An especially clever way roulette players can cheat the game involves the old bait and switch.
To make the “color up” scheme work, two players working in tandem start by sitting at different tables. In roulette, cash is turned into specially designed chips that are only good at the table. To avoid confusion between different players betting, everyone gets a different color chip in the denomination of their choosing.
A color up team moves from table to table, one buying in for the minimum $1 chips, and the other going bigger with a $25 or $100 denomination. When they both receive the same color chips, they’re always at a different table and only six or seven colors are in play so this will inevitably occur, the trap is sprung.
The low stakes player pockets a handful of chips on the sly, then heads off to take a quick bathroom break. With no surveillance cameras to worry about, they wait for their partner to hit the head as well, then they deliver a handful of chips when nobody’s around.
Flush with new chips in the same color as those at the big stakes table, the second player proceeds to play a spin or two with minimal action before requesting a color up and cash out.
When cheaters turn 10 of the $1 chips into an equivalent amount of $25 chips, they’ve instantly “earned” $240 in profit without incurring an ounce of risk. And if a $1 to $100 exchange rate is in play, the color up scam produces a massive $990 profit margin.
Why You Shouldn’t Color up Chips
Between 2012 and 2013, a highly organized team of color up cheaters based in New York toured the country targeting small commercial and tribal casinos. Their run came to an end in Ohio, after the team struck at four casinos and stole thousands of dollars, only for 13 members to find themselves behind bars when it was all said and done.
Karen Huey, director of enforcement for the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC), told local media outlets that the Buckeye State was not alone:
“This is a very organized group of about 70 people. They travel the country. They’ve been identified in 18 states running this scam.”
The roulette cheating team wound up facing 29 felony counts and the possibility of lengthy prison sentences. According to Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office Special Units Division Chief John Weglian, casino criminals will never receive leniency.
“One of the principle purposes of these casinos is to provide revenue to the State of Ohio so the laws that the legislature has passed cover casino violations will be enforced strictly by the Attorney General’s office and this office. We will enforce the laws of the state.”
4 – Using Hidden Lasers to Measure Ball Speed Before Betting Concludes
These last two are so absurd that they hardly merit mention, but based on their scientific innovations alone, they made the cut.
Back in the 1970s, a physicist at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico named Norman Packard postulated that laser beams could be used to measure crucial roulette variables. By using a laser and a computer to chart the ball and wheel speed, Packard succeeded in predicting which quadrant of the wheel the ball would land in.
Here’s how he described the gambit in an interview with New Scientist:
“In the best circumstances, we could predict the quadrant correctly. Even saying which half of the wheel is extremely powerful because the payoff is so good. We definitely got to the point where we were winning money, but we didn’t continue long enough to make large amounts.”
Why You Shouldn’t Use Technology to Cheat
Obviously, pulling out a laser pointer and hiding a computer on your person is impractical in the modern casino setting. Maybe the laser cheat works in a laboratory, or even an old-school gambling hall before cameras became prevalent, but this is a method of cheating at roulette that would never fly nowadays.
5 – Directing the Ball to Certain Spaces by Generating a Magnetic Field
Using a laser pointer and a computer isn’t the most discreet way to cheat at roulette. So, how about a magnetic roulette ball to improve your odds?
Unfair Roulette Board Game
In the early 2000s, a team of Austrian roulette cheats found a way to activate magnetic fields that drew the ball to certain numbers based on where the player stood. While the team didn’t win on every single spin, the use of a remote-controlled ball helped them improve their chances of winning.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Magnets
Unfortunately for this team of conmen, the croupier eventually found the ball stuck to his cufflink. The jig was up, forcing the cheaters to abandon their winnings and run away in shame. Today, some casinos use magnetic field sensors to prevent this from happening.
Unfair Roulette Random
Conclusion
Folks who feel the need to cheat at roulette represent the bottom of the barrel when it comes to casino gambling. Desperate and down on their luck, yet unwilling to simply learn a skill game and play it well, roulette cheats refuse to accept reality. And as the five entries above should show you, the run of free money always ends at some point, leaving prison, probation, and a ruined reputation as the roulette cheater’s only legacy.