"It would be wise of you to allow us a chance to win our money back..."
Posted on 08/21/2012 1:51:22 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
Suits and countersuits over $1.5 million in winnings are flying between the Golden Nugget Casino, 14 players and the card manufacturer who is allegedly delivered unshuffled cards as shuffled, and ready to deal.
At first, it seemed like a coincidence, the kind of thing that happens from time to time at a casino, where the same number or same sequence of cards happens twice in a row.
But when the players at an April game of mini-baccarat at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City kept seeing the same sequence of cards dealt, over and over and over again, their eyes grew wide and their bets grew bigger, zooming from $10 a hand to $5,000.
Forty-one consecutive winning hands later, the 14 players had racked up more than $1.5 million in winnings - surrounded by casino security convinced they had cheated but unable to prove how.
In a lawsuit against a Kansas City playing card manufacturer, the Golden Nugget contends the cards were unshuffled, despite being promised to be pre-shuffled and ready to use.
The April 30 incident was the latest instance of unshuffled cards causing big headaches for an Atlantic City casino. In December, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort used unshuffled mini-baccarat cards for 3 1/2 hours before realizing something was wrong. That episode led to a $91,000 fine against the casino, which fired nine people it said were involved.
It is so basic to the concept of gambling that it often goes without saying: the cards in the deck need to be shuffled before anyone uses them. But in the case of the Golden Nugget, the gamblers did nothing wrong, and deserve to be paid the nearly $1 million they still have coming to them, according to their lawyer, Benjamin Dash.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
"It would be wise of you to allow us a chance to win our money back..."
The Horror!!
As for the suit between the casino and the deck manufacturer? The deck company should be held liable, but the casino is stupid for not checking the decks. How do they know that there aren't any misprints or missing cards without checking?
What is mini-baccarat?
So, 14 people were steely-eyed enough to figure out a pattern, but the dealers and pit bosses weren’t?
Not only did the card company screw up, so did the people hired to keep an eye on the casino’s operation.
I'll bet the old system can't produce the evidence against them, ironically.
Card counting is not cheating per court precedence. This case would fall under the same issue. The players knew what cards were comming and took advantage of that. They must payout and are well withing their rights to "not invite them to play again." But that is all.
Mistakes the casino made:
1. Outsourced the shuffling of cards to a third party.
2. Didn’t check the cards as they came out of the deck.
3. Didn’t realize the cards were unshuffled until playing 41 consecutive losing hands - the players realized it
4. Suing the patrons will end up costing them more than their gambling losses in attorney’s fees and lost business.
The Casino rushed in floor persons, managers, supervisors, surveillance and security officers,They watched the play and couldn’t figure out what was going on and yet the players spotted it right off.
I am not buying this BS.
The deaer -—there is a dealerin Baccarat isn’t there?-— couldn’t spot that all of the cards were coming out in suits? I suppose they use normal cards for baccarat, I don’t know, but unshuffled cards would have come out all one suit, then another and in sequence,even an idiot could spot that.
Afraid I do not know much about Baccarat.
The Casino rushed in floor persons, managers, supervisors, surveillance and security officers,They watched the play and couldn’t figure out what was going on and yet the players spotted it right off.
I am not buying this BS.
The dealer -—there is a dealer in Baccarat isn’t there?-— couldn’t spot that all of the cards were coming out in suits? I suppose they use normal cards for baccarat, I don’t know, but unshuffled cards would have come out all one suit, then another and in sequence,even an idiot could spot that.
Afraid I do not know much about Baccarat.
This is exactly the kind of publicity Atlantic City needs. (sarcasm) They are struggling as it is.
They could have turned this into a PR campaign. We give out lots of money type of thing.
Contrary to popular belief, the card counting craze of the 80s and 90s helped the table games revenue. Similar to Texas Holdem, lots of people learned simple counting and betting systems that they thought would make them rich. The real secrets to successful card counting involve huge bankrolls, organized teams, etc. and a near full time committment over days, weeks and months at a time.
Most of the wanna-be card counters (like me and my wife) did it for the excitement, fun and prestige and really made little more than had they played perfect basic strategy.
I can’t imagine these losses are that damaging to the casinos given the total take in a fiscal year. I’m sure they spend much more on advertising than what this “mistake” will end up costing them.
And good luck finding a sympathetic jury in Atlantic City.
I love this part of the article:
” . . . citing state gambling regulations requiring all casino games to offer fair odds - to both sides.”
I guess it all depends on how you define “fair” - but any idiot who patronizes the casinos should realize that in all the games the odds are set in favor of the house. I guess the state of New Jersey considers that fair.
Mini-baccarat is my game. Wish I had been there. Yes there is a dealer.
“Is that a game of chance?”
“Not the way I play it.” W.C. Fields
The Tran family was featured in a recent show of “Cheating Las Vegas.”
They focused on Asian style games (mini baccarat being one). In mini baccarat, you are allowed to count cards. They give you sheets of paper to do it with.
Now the scam:
They recruit dealers to screw up the shuffle where the cards that are counted are placed back into the deck in the order the come out. In other words, the dealers, after placing the used cards into the pile, when the cards are then spread out, mixed up and put back into the deck then shuffled, the same winning cards are in the same position in the deck.
Since the cards are being counted, the person counting from outside the pit, makes a signal when the winning hands start appearing. Everyone who is in on it at the table now bets that way. They clean up and move on.
The feds rounded up most of the Tran gang and some are still awaiting sentencing.
Anyway, that’s how it is done. Very tough for the cameras to pick it up.
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