Casinos across US using intelligence network to beat cheaters

Casinos across US using intelligence 

network to beat cheaters

     The man at the poker table had a ball cap pulled down almost to his nose, but his glance up at a television screen revealed a familiar face to Mohegan Sun's surveillance cameras: A photograph of the known card cheater had been sent by bulletin to casinos around the country.

      Within hours, the bettor was arrested, accused of marking cards with invisible ink."The officer who identified him, basically she had a 'Holy crap!' moment," said Jay Lindroos, the casino's surveillance director. "She saw the face and said, 'I recognize that guy!'"scanning cameras.

     Casinos from the U.S. to Australia use their own intelligence network to warn one another about cheaters. As table games spread across the Northeast, resorts are using it more than ever to stay ahead of suspect players — professional thieves and card counters — who can easily hit multiple casinos in the span of a few days.

      Mohegan Sun, one of the world's largest casinos, began sharing intelligence a decade ago with its giant, next-door rival in southeastern Connecticut, the Foxwoods Resort Casino. Although it was once less common for casinos to talk with competitors, the online network has evolved through mutual self-interest.

      "If something happens at Foxwoods at 1 o'clock, we'll be aware of it no later than 2, 2:30," said Joseph Lavin, director of public safety for the Mohegan Tribe, which owns and operates the casino. "It won't take more than a day or so before that information goes to Atlantic City, goes to Pennsylvania, goes out to upstate New York."
The element of luck makes it impossible to know exactly how much revenue is lost to cheaters, but 100 percent casino surveillance coverage is a security standard for a U.S. industry that generates tens of billions of dollars annually.

     Workers at Mohegan Sun monitor feeds from roughly 4,000 cameras, scrutinizing the dealers as closely as they do the players. On a given day, they could be on the lookout for as many as hundreds of faces, some pointed out by other casinos, others by law enforcement agencies seeking criminals who might be trying to launder money.

     If a camera picks up somebody who's been flagged for possible cheating, security officials said they'll watch the person play before taking any action.
The man arrested Sept. 15, Bruce Koloshi, 54, was the subject of a security bulletin issued two weeks earlier by officials in Louisiana. He had cheating convictions in Iowa and Nevada and was facing charges in Louisiana that he marked cards last month at the L'Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge.

      After the surveillance officer spotted him, Koloshi was seen moving his hands away from the Mississippi Stud poker table, allegedly for the marking substance, and cameras detected the ink that wasn't visible to the naked eye. Koloshi wore special contact lenses to see the ink, authorities said. He was arrested and charged with cheating, conspiracy to commit larceny and being a fugitive from justice. His bond was set at $300,000.

       When he was questioned in Louisiana, he surrendered $3,300 in winnings though authorities did not have enough evidence to charge him at the time, according to Capt. Doug Cain, a spokesman for Louisiana State Police. Mohegan Sun officials said Koloshi was arrested at their casino before winning a significant amount.

      A person who answered the phone at Koloshi's home in Summit, N.J., declined to speak with a reporter. His defense attorney was not available for comment.

      The warning about Koloshi was relayed by the Division of Gaming Enforcement in Delaware, where table games were introduced in 2010. The division's director, Daniel Kelly, said information sharing has increased as Northeastern states have legalized more types of gambling. It also has become more important, he said, because cheaters have so many potential targets in a small geographic area.

      "Within an hour, they can be in three or four different states," Kelly said.
High-level casino cheats are considered rare, but Mohegan Sun officials say they frequently see card counters and other "advantage players," people who are not breaking the law but have skills that bend the odds in their favor. Lavin said card-counting techniques were glamorized by the story of a group of MIT students who scored big wins at casinos, including his, in the 1990s.

      One tell-tale sign for surveillance workers is gamblers placing higher bets than might be expected with the hands they're dealt. When card counters are discovered, Lindroos says, the casino will restrict their play by keeping them to betting the minimum or suggest they try a different game.
"The professionals, as soon as they see somebody walking over toward them, they'll say, 'OK, I'm out of here,'" Lindroos said.

                                                               MARKED CARDS


               From personal experience I know that when average people think of card cheating they usually first think of marked cards. Furthermore, whenever the subject of marked cards is brought up, most people usually suspect miniature marks on the backs of the cards. Unfortunately, they don't hit the nail quite in the head.

               First of all, marked cards are just one of the many gaffs that may be used to cheat during a card game. Furthermore, even if marked cards are used, the markings are not necessarily small nor do they have to be on the backs of the cards. Sometimes the marks can be large symbols on the backs, and sometimes they are not even marks (see sorts below). Sometimes the marks are not on the backs, but rather on the sides, or even on the fronts. By now you probably have guessed that cards with those miniature marks that everyone looks for on the backs are usually used by less knowledgeable amateur card cheats.

              Marked cards are also called readers or paper. Card cheats who use paper are called paper players. Another popular term for paper players is painters. This is because expert cheats like to "paint their own paper," as opposed to buying a ready-made marked deck from a crooked gambling supplier.

              An expert painter will only prepare as many cards as absolutely needed for a particular

game. For example in some games, such as blackjack, the suits are irrelevant so there is no

need to mark them. Furthermore in blackjack cheats usually mark only the relevant groups of

cards. The aces, the tens (this includes picture cards), high cards (7's, 8's and 9's) and

low cards (2's to 6's). To use this system the cheat only needs to develop three marking

patterns. One of the four groups (in this case the low cards) will be left unmarked. It

should be noted, however, that another very effective marking system for blackjack would be

to mark only the Aces and the tens. What groups of cards the cheat decides to mark is a

matter of personal preference. As a general rule there is less chance to discover markings

if fewer cards are marked. By the same token, the fewer times the cheat resorts to those

markings, lesser the chance of being caught cheating.

                 In poker the suits are relevant because they can complete flushes. However, contrary to what people may think, expert poker cheats do not often mark the cards for suits. There are

several reasons for that, but the number one reason is to keep things simple. However, there

are plenty of other card games where suits play a much more significant role than in poker,

and those are the card games where the cards are more likely to be marked for suits. But in

this case the values may be omitted.

                 Marked cards have also frequently been discovered in casinos. Under rigorous casino security it is even more necessary to keep things simple and minimize the amount of work put on the cards. So, interestingly enough, the higher the stakes the simpler the work.

It also should be noted that a marked deck is just a tool, but a tool does not do one any

good if one doesn't know how to use it. An amateur cheat who purchased a marked deck from a crooked gambling supply house will not really know how to use it correctly. When you play

cards you don't really have time to study the backs or ask your opponents to please hold

their cards in such way so you can see the backs. Using marked deck is a skill that requires

practice. An expert paper player will spend time developing an effective cheating strategy.

               To better illustrate how hard it is to use marked cards feel free to do the following

experiment. Take a deck face-up in dealing position. Then deal the cards as if for a four-

handed game of poker, in effect into four face-down piles. As you deal you have the chance

to glimpse at the cards while they are in your hand. After the cards are dealt players might

cover them up with their hands and you may no longer have the opportunity to see them, nor

the marks, which is why you dealt the cards face down. As soon as the cards are dealt try to

reconstruct each player's hand. Get the idea? This is obviously a poor strategy for using

paper but nevertheless it is a problem that every inexperienced cheat might face if they

just buy a marked deck and jump into a game without really knowing how to use it.

                Besides using inferior methods of marking, amateur cheats also tend to rely on those marks too much. This gets them caught as they feel too confident and therefore tend to make

illogical decisions during the game. On the other hand, experienced cheats will only resort

to those markings whenever absolutely necessary. To be convincing they need to lose some 
and win some. They will always lose those hands with low stakes and win when there's something worth winning. In fact, the only time they really care to cheat is when the stakes are high enough. The rest of the times they may simply play the game like everyone else.