People cheat casinos
• One scam sees cheats mark the cards. A conman once grew his thumbnail into a point so that he could make tiny indentations. He was caught but never convicted.
Card crimping is similar to card marking, but crimpers use tiny folds.
• Scanners use technology to gain an unfair advantage. The Met’s gaming unit recently arrested three roulette gamblers who allegedly stole £1.3 million at the Ritz last year using a computerised scanner hidden in a mobile phone. In that case, there was not enough evidence to prosecute.
• The Met unit recently found a minute camera hidden in a gambler’s cuff. In this con, an associate in a nearby room or car sees the pictures and passes on information to another player.
• A legal trick gamblers can try is card counting. It uses a system of remembering which cards are dealt in order to predict which will come up.