Cheating At Roulette May Be Legal In UK

nuke-alwin writes, "A hidden device that appears to give an advantage to roulette players may be legal in the UK when the gambling industry is deregulated next year. The device — which consists of a small digital time recorder, a concealed computer, and a hidden earpiece — uses predictive software to determine where the ball is likely to land. It has been tested by a government lab, which found that 'the advantage can be considerable.' It will be up to casinos to spot people using such devices."

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Worth a try

[farker haiku]

Clicker: Used to record the speed of the rotor and ball, the data acquisition clicker can be concealed in a pen, a watchstrap, a shoe or even clipped to a molar tooth. The device is clicked as the two entities pass reference points to gauge the deceleration speeds. The data is sent to a remote computer

Computer: Uses the timings to calculate which number the ball will strike based on an algorithm from data gathered and transmits the information to the earpiece. It is small enough to be hidden in a mobile phone, MP3 player, handbag or cigarette lighter.

I wasn't actually sold on the idea until I read those two parts.. If I can conceal the clicker in my shoe or watch strap, then I can practice at home until I can do this undetected. I could rest my arm against the table and press on the table slightly until it clicks... just a matter of practice. Same thing for the shoe. If you fidgit from foot to foot regularly, it's a simple matter to press your foot down slightly. As far as a lighter - well I can't see casinos banning any form of vice... they themselves sell vice!

Re:Easy way out

[smilindog2000]

No, that wont work. The shoe computer simply tries to guess which half of the wheel the ball will land on, and the mass of the ball isn't one of it's assumptions. It basically just times the ball, finds out how quickly it's slowing down, and does a simple projection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaemons [wikipedia.org]

An old boss of mine did something similar a few years later, in the early 80's. He built a card counting machine in a cigarette pack, and sent him signals through 2 LEDs hidden in his watch band, which were burried in small tubes angled at his face, so only he could see them.

He made about $10K with the machine, then stopped using it. The money he made wasn't justifying the risk he felt he was taking. He worried he would be killed if caught.

So, he still has the cigarette pack, and made his money honestly, founding a successful company in Silicon Valley, and taking it public.

Deception?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the casino gets you to promise you won't use such a device before they let you play, wouldn't anything you win be obtaining monies by deception?

I feel divided

[rbarreira]

I'm kind of divided on whether that guy deserved the money he won or not. On one hand, he built the card counting machine himself as you say, so it all came from his ability directly. On the other hand, of course, people aren't expecting to play against a combination of human and machine...

In a few years (or now?), when people can build such machines inside their own bodies, I wonder if casinos will still be viable. Of course, it can all just end up being a protection->anti-protection->anti-anti-protection game... We'll see!

Re:Oh, well that's OK then...

[camcorder]

And also there's no way to predict weather behaviour because there needs to be blah blah sensors and blah blah devices to detect infinate number of samples and also a model etc. etc. You should not need to be 100% exact for most of times. And that device is one of those. It might not be 100% exact, but even 70% or 60% prediction level might help you alot to earn horse sack of money. Just as in weather forecasts. It's not 100% exact, but you still know that it's better to carry an umbrella in a rainny reported forecast. Or you can ignore that and turn back home soaked keeping your 40% doubt for those measures.

Re:Legal... yeah

[PeterBrett]

Actually, there's a reason why we have some of the best knee surgeons in the world in Northern Ireland.

Yes, and it's that the IRA had a peculiar attachment to putting electric masonry drills through people knees.

Re:Cheat-chat

[Anonymous Coward]

THESE MACHINES ARE A SCAM!!!!!!!!! read about the guy who creates them, Mark Howe:
http://www.roulettesystemreviews.com/r-markhowerou lettecomputer.htm [roulettesy...eviews.com]
how did this bogus article get past slashdot? i am disappointed