Friday, October 23, 2009
Casinos Cheating?
BoingBoing reports that Las Vegas casinos are using computers to count cards and track the bets of customers in an attempt to identify card counters at the blackjack tables.
Card counting falls into the category of things that will get you thrown out of a casino, but that’s because the casino’s can choose not to accept the bets of anybody for any reason not prohibited by law (race, national origin, etc.); it’s pretty widely known that counting cards isn’t illegal. I don’t have any problem with that, per se; nobody has to play a game with somebody with more skill, after all.
That said, it’s interesting to look at a bit of Nevada gaming law:
NRS 465.075 Use of device for calculating probabilities. It is unlawful for any person at a licensed gaming establishment to use, or possess with the intent to use, any device to assist:
1. In projecting the outcome of the game;
2. In keeping track of the cards played;
3. In analyzing the probability of the occurrence of an event relating to the game; or
4. In analyzing the strategy for playing or betting to be used in the game,
except as permitted by the Commission.
This use of computers arguably assists “(i)n projecting the outcome of the game”, obviously “keep(s) track of the cards played”, and is entirely intended to “analyz(e) the strategy for playing or betting to be used in the game”. The only thing that might save the casinos is the caveat that these things are allowed “as permitted by the Commission”.
So, either the casinos are breaking Nevada law, or the Nevada Gaming Commission is complicit in tilting blackjack odds toward the casinos. Since I’m sure the corporations running the casinos spend plenty of money hiring the very best gaming lawyers out there, I bet you can guess what I think is happening.
There are plenty of pure chance games in casinos. If you want one of those (for some reason), try keno, or roulette, maybe. Blackjack is a game of (limited) skill. The casinos do not prevent you from playing badly; they shouldn’t be allowed to use means that would result in a patron’s arrest and imprisonment to prevent you from playing well. Sure, blackjack is a particularly boring game, but even boring people should be allowed fairness in their games.
Comments & Trackbacks
They should just make blackjack purely virtual and eliminate all the physical decks. With a virtual deck, they can randomize every hand, and all the counting/computational methods/computers/etc. become completely irrelevant.
Robert,
I don’t see how that would be any different unless you are never playing with the same deck?
Well, I think the probabilities are already messed up since Robert isn’t playing with a full deck.
(Sorry, Robert, I couldn’t resist the straight-line setup)
You’re always playing with the same deck.
The point of counting in blackjack, from what I understand, is to calculate the changes in the normal random odds of the game from past hands played from the top of the SAME deck. IE, the last two hands saw a lot of aces and face cards, ergo there are less of them available now.
If you always start from a fresh deck for each hand (or an electronic one) then this is impossible. The odds are always “pure” and there’s nothing to count other than the cards on the table at the moment. The casinos don’t start every hand from a fresh deck because that would be a huge pain in the ass. Doing it virtually would remove the PITA part.
You are always playing with a same deck, I think.
I don’t see how that would be any different unless you are never playing with the same deck?
Actually, casinos generally use 5 decks. They put a cut-off at about the 2/3 point, after which they reshuffle. I think they change to all new decks like every hour or so...or maybe just with each new dealer. It is periodically.
This minimizes, but does not eliminate, the effectiveness of card counting.