If you can see it, and believe it, it is a lot easier to achieve it - Oprah
The #1 casino game protection threat is a crooked dealer. The #2 threat is an exploitable dealer. The #3 threat is an exploitable process.
Trending on casino threat charts right now are cheats using miniature hidden cameras to expose and identify the face value of cards. They’re taking advantage of both exploitable dealers and exploitable processes.
The information gained by knowing card values before they are exposed in the game is priceless for players who can then make playing and betting decisions with a sizeable unfair advantage. It’s casino cheating 101 - get inside information.
In late July 2024 two men were arrested in a Paris casino cheating on a “poker game” using hidden cameras. The men were believed to be part of a network of professional cheats that had hit numerous casinos in Europe. It was reported that they had won €200,000 in a single night.
The scam made headlines all over France but was overshadowed by the big news of the day, the Olympics. Although the crux of the scam was covered by various newspaper reports the important specifics of the scam were missing due to the case being an ongoing police investigation crossing international borders. A notable piece of the jigsaw missing from news reports was what game did the suspects cheat on?
Soon after the scam hit the news there was a lot of conjecture in the poker world blogosphere implying that it went down on a poker game. However, a WIRED article published on December 18 by Ben Dowsett titled “Poker Cheats Allegedly Use Tiny Hidden Cameras to Spot Cards” reported:
Following tips of suspicious behavior at a major casino in Enghien-les-Bains, French police with the Central Racing and Gaming Service (SCCJ) launched an elaborate in-person and video surveillance operation around two suspected players at both blackjack and Ultimate Texas Hold’em poker (a type of poker played against the casino rather than against fellow players).
According to news reports one player allegedly used a modified smartphone positioned flat on the gaming table surface next to the dealer’s shoe. The other player had a concealed camera in the pocket of his clothing. They positioned the cameras at table level to capture live video of card faces as they were dealt. The video was streamed back to an accomplice located in a vehicle in the parking lot. The accomplice assisted the players on the table by communicating what he had seen back to the cheats via a tiny earpiece worn by one of the players. The newspapers reported “the earpiece was so tiny it could only be removed with a magnet.”
Should casinos be concerned? Let me put it to you this way. A visual technology firm, LDV Capital, published an insight report in 2017 estimating that by 2022 there would be 45 billion cameras on Earth. How many are on your gaming tables?
How Hidden Camera Scams Work
Hidden camera crews have been cheating casinos for a few decades. Although not a common occurrence, when they do pop up they are usually highly organized, travel internationally and use the latest advancements in camera transmission technology. They generally are also well financed and seek to win big and quick.
The modus operandi is simple; however, the effectiveness has been greatly enhanced in recent years because of the development of new camera technologies. The Willypedia version of the scam goes like this:
A casino cheat with a hidden camera positions himself on a game where it is possible for the camera to spot the card values during the dealer’s delivery. The video of the exposed cards is streamed back in real-time to an accomplice located off the table or in a remote location outside of the casino. The accomplice analyzes the video stream and communicates to a player via wireless transmission, guiding them on how to play the hands.
Sounds easy right? But in order for the cheats to escape detection, maximize their earnings and prolong their longevity, there are some key steps to their success:
The first step is to choose the right apparatus. Concealed cameras now come in all different shapes and forms from wearables to modified objects commonly permitted on gambling tables. Cheats often make their own hidden camera devices but you can easily buy custom devices from online spy and “magic device” stores. These stores can get cheating devices in your hands within weeks. They can also get cheating ideas within your head in seconds.
Common wearable hidden camera devices include up the sleeve cameras, shirt button and watch cameras. Common modified object camera devices include cell phones, chip cups*, cigarette boxes and lighters. Miniature cameras are so small now they can be fitted to almost anything. Different ways of concealing cameras is only limited by one’s imagination. If imagination is too time-consuming for cheats they don’t have to hire “Q” from the James Bond movies, they can simply go to an online magic device store for inspiration.
The next step is to choose your method of transmission. Many digital communication platforms allow live streaming know. Pick your provider.
The third step is for a camera crew to scout a location for exploitable opportunities. Their primary target is a casino where a dealer exposes cards during the dealing process. Often a dealer can be found that is exploitable because they’re sloppy and lift the cards too high while they’re dealing. In some cases the process the casino uses may be exploitable, like a dealer who is forced to lift a card high to remove it from a shuffle machine.
The fourth step is to identify the best positions on and around the table to get the best shot.
The key to spotting card values is positioning the camera device at table surface level or just above.
The fifth step is to prepare the “card caller.” Quite often they position themselves in a vehicle in the casino’s carpark. This is helpful in case a quick getaway is needed. I have heard of remote card callers setting up in hotel rooms. Regardless of the location the best choices require reliable wireless transmission capabilities and the ability to conceal their nefarious deeds.
After some transmission quality testing it’s time for the crew to take position, direct the camera and… ACTION!
The Latest Intel and Rumors
News reports stated that the two men who were arrested in Paris were from Latvia and Ukraine. Their accomplice in the parking lot got away. It is believed the group is part of a larger network of cheats that has hit numerous casinos across Europe.
In recent months I also received intel that a camera crew got caught using the same modus operandi on a house-banked poker derivative game in a major Asian casino. It appears the group is spreading their network across the world. Or the word is out that there are numerous exploitable opportunities to cheat casinos using today’s smart technology.
Over the last year there has been a lot of chatter in the poker world about cheats using hidden cameras. Some online poker influencers and armchair analysts are suggesting a link between the camera crews working the casino poker derivative games and the standard poker games. That hasn’t been officially confirmed but it is quite possible.
Regardless of the casino and law enforcement silence, professional poker players are speaking out and voicing their concerns. Perception or reality, players are concerned that cheats using hidden cameras at poker is compromising the integrity of the game and potentially hurting professional players livelihood’s.
Suspicious behavior and unorthodox playing strategies by unknown or mediocre players has got some players asking for more protection measures in poker, a game that has long been self-policed without much oversight by casino operators and regulators.
Back in October Maria Konnikova, a top professional poker player, psychologist and respected author, publicly called for a ban on electronic devices at poker tables. Her concerns were subsequently addressed and in December, for the first time in history, WSOP organizers introduced rules restricting the use of electronic devices in their events. But is that enough? What about regular casino poker? What about other table games?
Why Do Casinos Need to be Concerned?
Some of the largest casino cheating scams in history have involved camera crews but up until now they’ve been mainly on baccarat because of the high betting limits. Sequence identification is the scam of choice for baccarat camera cheats who generally work in collusion with a dealer. The price of cutting the dealer in for a percentage is a nominal fee for such a high return.
Most casinos treat high-limit baccarat as a surveillance and supervision high priority. More human resources and financial scrutiny are placed on these games because of the high volume and risk. In contrast, house-banked poker derivative games are often treated as low-limit novelty games sometimes referred to as carnival games. They don’t receive as much attention.
So why are camera crews targeting house-banked card games now? Three reasons:
Dealers are lifting and exposing cards. Hole-carding is trending upwards. Anecdotally, the opportunities have increased. Dealers are either not being trained correctly, being sloppy or are hampered by a process that forces them to lift and expose the cards.
Camera technology is more driven by software now. It’s not only that cameras are smaller and of better quality now, AI-driven image recognition technology has progressed to a stage where automated analysis and identification is mind-blowing…and quick! Software needs only a glimpse of the face of a card to be able to identify it in real-time. This makes peeking and identifying dealers hole cards achievable for cheats that don’t posses an eagle eye. It’s computer assisted vision.
Collusion with staff is not required. Hiring crooked dealers is like hiring honest dealers. They can be hard to find and hard to manage, not to mention they come at a cost. Not having to spend time recruiting dealers to collude with them makes it easier for camera crews to hit casinos quickly and move on to the next one.
Another factor that comes into play is that most casinos in the world have blackjack and some form of poker derivative games open on their floor for most of the day. Not all casinos have baccarat (unless you’re in Asia). In a lot of jurisdictions the numbers of house-banked poker derivative games are growing. Other new versions of poker derivative games are introduced on a regular basis and bonus jackpots are attracting more play. This makes for more opportunities around the world.
It should also be noted that casino management often doesn’t place the same importance on game protection training for dealers, supervisors and surveillance on poker derivative games as they do on the traditional big 4 (blackjack, baccarat, roulette and craps). With all these factors in mind it is easy to see why cheats using hidden cameras on hole card games is trending.
How to Prevent Hidden Camera Scams
Here are 3 tips for preventing hidden camera scams on casino hole card games:
Train-Remove-Ensure. Capturing the dealers hole card is a growing trend. Make sure all your dealers are trained to deliver the cards without exposing face values. Remove anything hampering the dealer from achieving a clean delivery and forces dealers to lift and expose the card i.e. a badly designed shuffle machine. Ensure dealers are dealing correctly by instructing supervisors and surveillance to regularly inspect card delivery and report any exploitable deliveries. Counsel and, if needed, retrain offenders.
Ban electronic devices on gaming tables. Yes, that means cell phones. Cut the umbilical cord. If you’re worried about being unpopular with the cool kids, have your gaming table manufacturers build a shelf below the surface of the table where players can place their phones and devices. In my view the gaming layout should be treated like a sports field - no foreign objects allowed on the field of play, during play. Table game layouts and sports fields are very similar now. They are both platforms for gambling and operators should ensure integrity of the game cannot be compromised by cheating devices.
Know how to play the game. But what about wearable concealed cameras? Good question. The best way a casino can protect themselves from hidden cameras on hole card games is to make sure their supervisors and Surveillance know how to play the game. Too often we train staff on how the game should be dealt to standard procedures. But what sets most other casino card games apart from baccarat is players have to make decisions. The decisions they make are often the best indicator to whether they’re cheating or advantage playing. For this reason supervisors and Surveillance should know normal playing strategies for each specific game and be able to identify “odd” play that requires further investigation. I recommend that supervisor and surveillance training includes time spent playing the game.
Final Words: It’s All in the Delivery
Before miniature hidden cameras were used casino cheats used to position different everyday items on the table so they could spot the reflection of the card values. They called them “shiners.” Hidden cameras are basically the 21st century version of shiners that allows a more covert approach with an added bonus of remote image analysis to improve identification accuracy.
This article didn’t shed too much light on accusations and chatter centered around poker. It instead focuses on casino house-banked card games. Poker players certainly should be concerned about the potential for hidden camera shenanigans; especially in light of there being little oversight in poker rooms and the capabilities of new magical camera technology. In saying that, the same recommendations for game protection that I have listed above could apply to poker, with one additional suggestion - get rid of the pitch and have dealers deal from a shoe. This would force cards to be slid along the felt preventing the possibility of spotting cards.
Regardless of whether the game is dealt in the poker room or the main gaming floor, the same potential for cheating with hidden cameras on decision-based card games apply. Casinos who up until now may have been neglecting possible cheating amongst players in poker rooms should heed a warning. The poker room may just be a training room for cheating on the main gaming floor.
Stay Sharp!
Willy Allison
*camera chip cups are devices that are created to look like a small stack of casino chips but are hollowed out on the inside to conceal a miniature bluetooth camera
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