Posted on 03/14/2005 10:49:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
A BATTERED shoe worn by a Hungarian tourist in Sydney has sparked an investigation into a syndicate cheating top casinos across Europe.
Two Belgian police officers will fly to Sydney later this month to study the shoe design which they suspect could be behind the multi-million dollar European fraud. Four years ago, Sydney detectives arrested Hungarian tourist Laszlo Sendor Kovacs after he won large bets at a Star City casino roulette wheel.
Casino security personnel became suspicious of the then 59-year-old gambler constantly tapping his right foot under a roulette table.
Police found a Maxwell Smart-style microcomputer hidden in the heel and sole of his scuffed elevated dress shoe.
With a tap of a toe, a microcomputer in the shoe transmitted a voice-synthesised message to a wireless micro-earpiece telling the user of roulette wheel's speed. This could help calculate the next number that would appear.
Police found $74,184 in cash and chips on Kovacs' body including $10,000 in his underpants.
The Daily Telegraph has learned Belgian and Sydney police are assisting a royal commission-style inquiry, known as the European Union Court of First Instance, into large scale casino frauds which they suspect involves shoes allegedly designed by Kovacs.
The Sydney shoe is the only one of its kind found so far.
Kovacs, a professional gambler, was deported from Australia in 2001 before he could be sentenced over "using a device" to defraud the Star City Casino. A warrant for his arrest is now in place should he return to Australia.
European police believe he is the gadgets man and may have assisted a well-known European criminal gang perfect the microprocessor shoe technology. He has been questioned by police in Europe, including in London.
A Star City spokesman yesterday confirmed Belgian police will visit the casino.
Kovacs, who visited every casino along the east coast, had won more than $120,000 at Star City before his arrest, although police suspect he won twice that amount. Evidence show he used the Pyrmont Post Office to wire a large amount of money in $10,000 lots, to an overseas account.
NSW Police yesterday declined to comment on the case "on advice from Belgian authorities".
no
we have a winner
we have a winner
One reviewer of that book claims a 26% advantage over the house using wheel timing.
I bet it's a pretty tough gaffe.
Microchips and the 666 wheel ping.
Yesh 65
11. But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill the coup of mixed wine for Destiny:
Well, it works like this: With the shoe that I'm wearing right now as I sit here in my pajamas, I can determine the speed of the postings, which means I can predict that my message should land on . . . post 26.
You devil!
"One reviewer of that book claims a 26% advantage over the house using wheel timing..."
The Eudaemons claimed a 44% advantage with their computer.
It's Al Bundy's fault!
Rules and how to play Roulette:
Roulette was first played in France back in the 17th century. It is now one of the most popular European gambling games and Monte Carlo in Monaco is a well known and famous casino center for playing roulette.
The Basics
Players, usually up to eight, play against the house represented by the croupier also called the dealer, who spins the roulette wheel and handles the wagers and payouts. In the European roulette and French roulette version, the wheel has 37 slots representing 36 numbers and one zero. In the USA most roulette wheels have two zeros and therefore 38 slots.
Each player buys-in a different colored chips so their bets don't get mixed up. At the end of play, if you won, you exchange back the colored chips with cash chips. These are special chips with the value amount imprinted on them. There are several denominations in various colors. You then take these chips to the cash desk where they will give you actual cash money in exchange.
To play roulette, you place your bet or bets on numbers (any number including the zero) in the table layout or on the outside, and when everybody at the table had a chance to place their bets, the croupier starts the spin and launches the ball. Just a few moments before the ball is about to drop over the slots, the croupier says 'no more bets'. From that moment no one is allowed to place - or change - their bets until the ball drops on a slot. Only after the croupier places the dolly on the winning number on the roulette table and clears all the losing bets you can then start placing your new bets while the croupier pays the winners. The winners are those bets that are on or around the number that comes up. Also the bets on the outside of the layout win if the winning number is represented.
The house advantage
On a single zero roulette table the house advantage is 2.7%. On a double zero roulette table it is 5.26% (7.9% on the five-number bet, 0-00-1-2-3). The house advantage is gained by paying the winners a chip or two (or a proportion of it) less than what it should have been if there was no advantage. (See Roulette Quiz - The Casino Advantage.)
The 'En Prison' rule
A roulette rule applied to even-money bets only, and by some casinos (not all). When the outcome is zero, some casinos will allow the player to either take back half his/her bet or leave the bet (en prison = in prison) for another roulette spin. In the second case, if the following spin the outcome is again zero, then the whole bet is lost.
The 'La Partage' rule
The la partage roulette rule is similar to the en prison rule, only in this case the player loses half the bet and does not have the option of leaving the bet en prison for another spin. This refers to the 'outside' even-money bets Red/Black, High/Low, Odd/Even and applies when the outcome is zero. Both the La Partage and the En Prison roulette rules essentially cut the casino edge on the 'even-money bets' in half. So a bet on Red on a single-zero roulette table with the la partage rule or the en prison rule has a 1.35% house edge and one on a double-zero roulette table has a house edge of 2.63%.
The payouts
A bet on one number only, called a straight-up bet, pays 35 to 1. (You collect 36. With no house advantage you should collect 37 (38 in the USA on double zero roulette wheels). A two-number bet, called split bet, pays 17 to 1. A three-number bet, called street bet, pays 11 to 1. A four-number bet, called corner bet, pays 8 to 1. A six-number bet, pays 5 to 1. A bet on the outside dozen or column, pays 2 to 1. A bet on the outside even money bets, pays 1 to 1.
Object of the game
To win at roulette the player needs to predict where the ball will land after each spin. This is by no means easy. In fact, luck plays an important part in this game. Some players go with the winning numbers calling them 'hot' numbers and therefore likely to come up more times. Others see which numbers did not come up for some time and bet on them believing that their turn is now due. Some players bet on many numbers to increase their chances of winning at every spin, but this way the payout is considerably reduced. Other methodical players use specific roulette systems or methods, money management systems, or both.
Not to mention the liquor and whores.
In European casinos, you can also bet on "les voisins" - a specific number and those adjacent to it on the wheel, typically 2 either side for 5 numbers in all. This is a clear win if you can estimate the sector of the wheel in which the ball will land. In fact, the player comes out ahead of the house is he can eliminate just two of the 37 slots!
The Casinos will investigate till the 12th of never...after all, they are not only protecting the Casinos but the Nevada State taxpayers...Gee!...I wish I had that kind of taxpayer protection up here in Washington State...You cheating the system...I break'a you face!.....
Now if they could come up with a version of this in a horse shoe, maybe I could win at the races.
I remember reading about it in a science magazine in the 80s.
Notice to all floor camera operators....arrest anyone tapping his shoe constantly....even if he says he only has to go the bathroom because he's had to much to drink.....
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