A casino employee helped players at a Maryland casino cheat the casino company out of over a million dollars. For his efforts, he gained $1,000. However, for his $1,000 he got fired, charged with a crime, and up to five years in prison. This doesn’t seem like a good tradeoff for the casino worker, but it seems the players made a good deal.
Gambling in Maryland
Virginia, where the man lives, does not allow casino gambling. Virginia has some of the most restrictive gambling laws in the country. The state has horse racing and allows pari-mutuel betting on horseracing. The state participates in a lottery, both in state and multi-state. Maryland, on the other hand, has moved further into gambling. Maryland recently opened a huge casino resort just outside Washington D.C. at National Harbor. Maryland has also legalized gambling on horseracing. Like Virginia, Maryland also has a lottery. Maryland is looking into legalizing sports betting as well when the legislature comes back into session.
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game played between a player and a dealer. There are three possible outcomes of the card game: the player wins, the dealer wins, or there is a tie. The dealer deals seven cards in a shoe, or a hand. Winnings are based on the value of the cards that are dealt. However, usually, only the first two or three of seven cards are turned over for the game. The strategy is played based on the total of the value of the cards in the player’s hand. For example, if the banker has a three for his or her total, he would draw another card, unless the player is showing an eight.
Despite the difficulty of baccarat, it is still possible to cheat. Often, cheaters at baccarat will try to anticipate the cards that the dealer has by learning how to count cards.
The Cheater, and His Not-So-Great Profit
The man, who worked as a baccarat dealer at a Maryland casino, was caught cheating. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to transport stolen funds. The scheme the baccarat dealer concocted with his conspirators was deceptively simple. He surreptitiously allowed a player to photograph the unshuffled cards. This allowed conspirators to predict the outcome of a shoe if they knew what order the cards were in. With Baccarat, the odds are more in favor of the player than the house at times. But the odds are greatly in favor of the player when the order of the cards is known ahead of time.
According to the federal court in Virginia, players unfailingly predicted the outcome of the shoe with “near perfect” accuracy. The scheme, which went undiscovered for several weeks, cost the casino over a million dollars in losses. The man’s only request for allowing players to cheat is that he receive a cut of the proceeds. The dealer’s cut for the total $1 million amount: $1,000.
Considering the risk the dealer was taking, this seems like a huge price to pay for the cheating. Casinos have security and security cameras with facial recognition technology all over the casino. In addition, casinos regularly review the footage of the day’s gamblers to make sure no cheating has occurred. It was only a matter of time before the casino found out the dealer was cheating. None of the players and co-conspirators was charged with a crime. Prior to working at the casino, the dealer worked this scheme at a different casino in the Maryland area. How much was he paid for that cheating occurrence? $1,000.
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