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Shoe used to rob casinos
The Daily Telegraph (Australia) ^ | March 14, 2005

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".


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: belgium; casinos; fraud; gambling; hungary; shoebusiness; wheelheel; wheeloffortune
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To: Blurblogger
...Kovacs' body including $10,000 in his underpants.

My money says it was in front.
41 posted on 03/15/2005 12:08:02 AM PST by carumba
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To: Petronski
This is BS. The speed of the wheel does not take into account the position of the numbers at any given moment, nor does it take into account he speed of the ball in the opposite direction, or all the random bouncing a ball does before it settles in one pocket.

Total BS.
42 posted on 03/15/2005 12:12:41 AM PST by MindBender26 (Having my own CAR-15 meant never having to say I was sorry......)
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To: ran15
Its easy for them to find cheaters.. look for anyone coming out ahead.

I wasn't cheating today! :)

43 posted on 03/15/2005 12:17:51 AM PST by BJungNan (Have a look at GoGov.com)
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To: calljack

You learn so much on FR, Don't you! Now, if someone can just post the plans to this shoe.


44 posted on 03/15/2005 12:21:37 AM PST by BJungNan (Have a look at GoGov.com)
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To: Charles Henrickson
I can predict that my message should land on . . . post 26.

Ok, arrest that man (how did you do that? That was a pretty good prediction)

My post will be 45!

45 posted on 03/15/2005 12:23:52 AM PST by BJungNan (Have a look at GoGov.com)
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To: Petronski
Not to mention the liquor and whores.

Those would probably be included within the "fortune". :-/

46 posted on 03/15/2005 12:24:18 AM PST by Thinkin' Gal
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To: Charles Henrickson; aculeus; dighton
I can predict that my message should land on . . . post 26.

And since 26 is the numeric value of the Tetragrammaton...

47 posted on 03/15/2005 12:27:11 AM PST by Thinkin' Gal
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To: MindBender26

You got it....random ball bouncing ends in your own pocket.


48 posted on 03/15/2005 12:28:48 AM PST by Route101
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To: Petronski
I'm sorry, but I just don't see how this could work. I hope someone can explain it to me, because right now it sounds like BS.

Petro, I'm sticking with football. I wouldn't want to figure out something like this only to get hemmed up by Lucky Lenny and Tony Two-toes. Those types of guys play for keeps.


49 posted on 03/15/2005 3:00:24 AM PST by rdb3 (I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice.)
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To: rdb3

I here ya. It's poker for me, something I can manage.


50 posted on 03/15/2005 5:14:00 AM PST by Petronski (If 'Judge' Greer can kill Terri, who will be next?)
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To: Route101
On top of all that, you have the position of the ball, its speed, and the little brass pyramids that deflect the ball en route to the number cup.

Finally, the ball does not drop when the wheel slows down, but when the ball does!

We agree. All BS.

Dan Rather would probably have led with story tonight.
51 posted on 03/15/2005 5:25:10 AM PST by MindBender26 (Having my own CAR-15 meant never having to say I was sorry......)
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To: Thinkin' Gal; Charles Henrickson; dighton
Police found $74,184 in cash and chips on Kovacs' body including $10,000 in his underpants.

Place your bets: boxers or briefs?

52 posted on 03/15/2005 7:01:32 AM PST by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
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To: Petronski

Blackjack is my game. I'm getting better at it, and I should... Lord knows I've paid enough for the lessons!


53 posted on 03/15/2005 7:11:35 AM PST by Max in Utah (By their works you shall know them.)
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To: Petronski

A 2% variance is huge.


54 posted on 03/15/2005 8:31:54 AM PST by steve8714
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To: MindBender26
This is BS. The speed of the wheel does not take into account the position of the numbers at any given moment, nor does it take into account he speed of the ball in the opposite direction, or all the random bouncing a ball does before it settles in one pocket.

Total BS.

Read post #7 and you will understand. First you observe a relation between ball place release and speed of the wheel differences and bucket quadrants in which the ball falls.

Your odds thus increase from 35/36 in roulette to actual above .5, thus insuring systematic winning accross losses and win patterns.

The only danger is that you;d fall out of step and go in a losing pattern.

55 posted on 03/15/2005 10:07:11 AM PST by JudgemAll (Condemn me, make me naked and kill me, or be silent for ever on my gun ownership and law enforcement)
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To: JudgemAll
Actually not. In the game in question, there were only 6 patterns. In roulette, there are hundreds of thousands of permutation involving the speed of the wheel, the speed of the ball, the angle at which the balls strikes the bump pyramids, the angle at which the then deflected ball hits the first pocket, the places it can bounce.

This is at least as complex as a four bodies, three dimensional gravity problem, and that has no bump pyramids, etc. A 4B3D problem takes even super computers hours to solve.
56 posted on 03/15/2005 11:23:50 AM PST by MindBender26 (Having my own CAR-15 meant never having to say I was sorry......)
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To: JudgemAll

Then add in the varying "bounciness" of different segments of the ball. You are into billions of permutations.


57 posted on 03/15/2005 11:25:10 AM PST by MindBender26 (Having my own CAR-15 meant never having to say I was sorry......)
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To: need_a_screen_name
How would knowing the speed of the wheel help a person know what number might come up next?

So that the person placing the bet could choose a number before the wheel stops and have better odds of getting the right one. IIRC, in the casinos in which I've played the Roulette wheel, you have to have placed your bets before the wheel is spun. The person spinning the wheel waves his hand over the betting field to signal the time after which no more bets can be placed.

Maybe it's still done the other way in Europe.

58 posted on 03/15/2005 2:18:20 PM PST by SuziQ
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To: need_a_screen_name

You'd have to program an algorithm that started with the starting number, then counted clicks and could extrapolate the length of time to completion taking into the account the lenthening time between each click as the wheel slowed down. The there is the matter of the ball being sent out at what speed and energy. Variables would be how far back the wheel was pushed back before being shoved forward and the amount of drag the wheel was subject to...( drag would be critical at the very end as the wheel may slow up faster than the inertial velocity decay of the ball causing those last minute "bounces").


59 posted on 03/15/2005 2:40:44 PM PST by mdmathis6 (By playing the Devil's advocate, one can often separate self from the Devil!)
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To: MindBender26

Clearly, the speed of the ball and the wheel position need to be taken into account. The player with the wheel speed can do this with training. Clearly this guy had a lot of money, I doubt that it was won by chance.

The show Las Vegas" featured this scheme in one of their episodes. The player did have a device that measured the ball speed and wheel position so in effect made the betting far easier. Of course, in playing (cheating) you still must be careful to miss some of the time or you will be caught even faster.


60 posted on 03/15/2005 2:50:09 PM PST by KC_for_Freedom (Sailing the highways of America, and loving it.)
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