Against the Odds
Gambling has become America's hot pastime. But today's casinos have more of an upper hand
But a few players say MindPlay gives the casino an unfair edge. John Allen, a Woodland Hills, Calif., attorney, says he saw dealers at MindPlay tables at two Nevada casinos last year shuffle whenever the deck started turning favorable for the players. That makes MindPlay "a cheating device," he alleges. Allen sued the maker, a casino, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board over the incidents but after an unfavorable ruling is considering an appeal.
Marcus Prater, MindPlay senior vice president of marketing, says dealers can't use the system to deceive. "Even though we know every card in the shoe, there is no way to alert the dealer that a hot run for the player is coming. And that has been proven to the Nevada Gaming Control Board," he says. Nevertheless, gamblers' suspicions worry casino executives like Harrah's Loveman, who has so far declined to install the tables. "The player has to have complete faith that the game is not manipulable by the casino," says Loveman. "You can get to a point where you are too clever for your own good."
AN ONLINE FREE-FOR-ALL
Online casinos, however, are pushing the envelope on clever. Anybody who's ever been ripped off in an eBay deal knows that Internet transactions are inherently risky. But placing online bets poses far more danger than buying Beanie Babies from strangers. First, there's the questionable legality of betting online. None of the estimated 2,300 online casinos operating today is based in the United States because many state and federal prosecutors have taken the controversial position that several laws ban Internet gambling. Prosecutors have used those laws to convict a handful of U.S. citizens who operated online casinos overseas. And they have used those laws to scare credit card companies away from processing online casino transactions and publications from accepting Internet casino advertising.
In at least one case, they've gone after a bettor, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $500 fine for violating an almost never used North Dakota provision against placing any bet of more than $500. Still, the rules governing online gambling send a mixed message. At least one U.S. court has ruled that federal law limits only sports bets, not online poker or other types of online gambling. The World Trade Organization last month raised the possibility that U.S. laws banning overseas betting may violate international trade rules. And some law enforcement agencies just don't want to bother with bettors. "You are not going to see John Q. Citizen prosecuted for placing a bet," says Tom Metz, the FBI's assistant section chief for organized crime.
Stop payment. Nowhere is the confusion more baffling than with online gambling payments. Banks, which have been told by prosecutors not to process credit card transactions for online casinos, nevertheless funnel millions of dollars every day to the very same casinos via consumers' debit cards, check cards, paper checks, and electronic fund transfers. But that, too, has become controversial, as Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl is reportedly drafting a bill that would stop banks from processing any Internet betting transaction.
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