‘Laser scam’ gamblers - roulette scam

Posted by yucasino

March 19, 2008

A group of gamblers who won more than £1m at the Ritz Casino in London by using laser technology have been told by police they can keep their winnings. The trio - a Hungarian woman and two Serbian men - were arrested in March but police have apparently decided that they did not break the law.

A laser scanner linked to a computer was allegedly used to gauge numbers likely to come up on the roulette wheel.

But police said the case had now been closed, with no charges brought.

The gamblers managed to earn £1.3m in winnings thanks to the alleged “sting”.

On the first night they won £100,000 and on the second took home another £1.2 m, the Sunday Times reported.

How the plan might work

1 A laser scanner hidden in a mobile phone which measures velocity is aimed at a roulette wheel as it is spun by the croupier.

2 The laser measures the speed of the ball as it is released and as it passes a second point. The ball’s “decaying orbit” can be calculated.

3 The two figures are relayed to a computer, which works out where the ball is likely to come to rest. It would almost certainly not be able to predict the slot but may have been able to work out the sector, improving the odds for the gambler.

4 The computer’s prediction is relayed back to the mobile phone. The bet or bets are placed before the cut-off point of three turns of the roulette wheel. The whole operation takes two or three seconds.

Funds frozen

They allegedly used the scanner to judge the speed of the ball on the roulette wheel and hence the number most likely to come up.

The paper reports the gamblers were able to do the calculations swiftly enough to place their bets as required before the roulette wheel has gone round three times.

The three were arrested after the casino launched inquiries and initially their funds were frozen.

The newspaper said casinos throughout the country were examining security as a result of the case.

A spokeswoman for the Ritz Casino said they had “no comment” to make on the case.

In laboratory conditions it has been done but managing it in a casino with hundreds of thousands of pounds - and the threat of being caught - makes it much more difficult.

It is thought that the gang which allegedly struck at the Ritz may have taken the theory a step further by using the laser scanner to calculate the speed of the ball with more precision.

They would still have had to have got the information back and laid their bets within seconds - an impressive feat which, if proved, will send shock waves around the gambling houses of the world. But whether the three would be brought before a court is a moot point.