Ex-cheat says technology has its limits

Angie Wagner

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 10:47 a.m.

Sitting at a blackjack table with a tiny camera taped to his wrist, "Billy" was sweating profusely and spooked by the looks from casino workers.

But it was the thrill of winning big -- and paying off bills -- that kept him at the table.

A few minutes later, Billy was hauled off to the casino's security office. They thought he had a bomb instead of a high-tech device to help him win big. They threw him out and Billy decided then, in 1995, to quit cheating casinos.

Billy was working with medical records in Reno 15 years ago when a friend suggested a quick way to make money. A team of about 200 people needed new recruits. Cheating soon became his regular job, eight hours a day, five days a week.

The team mostly cheated at blackjack with tiny cameras that could pick up what the dealer's hole card was, then beam the image into a van outside. Team members in the van would communicate how to play the hand through a tiny earpiece.

The team would win $50,000, then move on, maybe pulling in $500,000 at another.

Billy, who refused to give his real name, got kicked out of casinos a few times, but was never arrested. With the new facial-recognition technology casinos are using, he might not have been so lucky. His picture is in the database of known cheaters.

Then again, he notes, technology has its limits.

"No matter how high technology gets, the cheaters are there," he said. "It's always a catch-up game."