RFID Casino Chips 271
scubacuda writes "Could casinos be the next Gillette or Wal-Mart? New Scientist and others report that casinos could soon start using RFID tags to spot counterfeits and thefts, and also to monitor the behaviour of gamblers. Embedded RFID tags should make the chips much harder to counterfeit, and placing tag readers at staff exits could cut down on theft by employees.
(With companies like Infosys helping clients identify and plan pilot RFID projects, we'll no doubt be seeing more and more companies dabbling in this area. Those interested in reading objections to RFID use should check out the position paper issued by CASPIAN, EPIC, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Junkbusters, ACLU, Meyda Online, EFF, and PrivacyActivism.)"
Re:Well.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ouch for card counters... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ouch for card counters... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Ouch for card counters... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:More power to 'em (Score:3, Informative)
As for card counting, I have done it quite openly. The fact is they don't care if you're counting cards at the $3 minimum/$25 maximum table. They'll just be more aggressive in providing the free drinks, both to get you drunk and to distract you from your count. I'm sure the story is different on the high-roller tables.
The only game I'll drink while playing is roulette, and that only when I already have my favorable numbers sussed out. The main difficulty is finding a wheel that's out of true, and figuring out its tendencies. In my experience, 10-15% of the wheels out there are out of true enough to give YOU the advantage over the house. Once you've figured out what numbers to play (or more accurately, what segment of the wheel), you can drink all you like. All you have to do is remember what you've already figured out.
I've openly admitted to pit bosses that I chose a particular table because the wheel is somewhat predictable. They let me keep on playing anyhow. I've even had them stand there and watch, rather than being called over every time the dealer has to pay me stacks in excess of $300. They know what I'm doing, but there's nothing illegal about it. If they don't want me to do it, they should pull the table out of service and replace it with one in better condition (which actually happened to me once in the Bahamas). It's not like I'm betting "under the radar" either -- if I find a "hot" wheel, it's not unusual to be throwing $80 a spin on the table ($10 x 8 numbers, all in sequence on the wheel).
For those who go to Vegas, I'll tell you that the last time I was there I found nicely biased tables at both the Sahara and the Lady Luck. I took the Lady Luck for a hundred or so, which I spent somewhere else in the same casino (so I doubt they mind), but the Sahara I took for about $400 and only played half of that back. My winnings at roulette covered the entire cost of our trip, save for vehicle wear and tear.
You do need a resonably large starting sum to pull this off. If you don't have enough money to survive 20 losses before hitting a winner (at 35:1), then don't play. $100 is generally a minimum starting sum, since most tables require $5 on every spin. And you COULD lose it all if you play the wrong table. I was $200 down from playing the wrong tables before I found the one I could predict, and won $600 in 30 minutes, leaving me up $400. So don't expect that it's a given that you will win. You may have to invest a few hundred bucks in acquiring the skill of reading an imbalanced wheel. It's well worth it though -- I leave Las Vegas with more money than I arrived with about 2/3 of the time. I'm sure anyone with the ability to do rough statistical modeling in their head can do the same.
Mal-2