How random are card shuffling machines at casinos?

Card Counting in Gambling. When does it become illegal or immoral?

• I am Australian and lived in the US for 2 years. While there, I worked in a casino as an internal security officer. I was provided training and experience in the different fields of Casino security. We encountered cheats with slot machines using devices, and people at card tables working with the dealers. This is obvious cheating. An issue I could never understand which was scorned upon in the gambling industry, was the card counter. A card counter has no guarantee of a win, but merely increases his odds subject to how good he/she is at counting cards. Is that any different to the ordinary person who merely has the luck of the cards on the night? We used to evict detected card counters and pass their photos to the other casinos who would then equally ban them from entry. I often questioned this.... how different is that to a skilled card player who knows when to up a bet, compared to fold a bet, just on experience? Subsequently, I learned the fundamental aspects of card counting, but I am far from a card counter in casino terms. I like to play black jack, only as a game. I go to my local casino maybe no more than 3 times a year average. I sit at the black jack table applying the principles and techniques in card counting. I most often walk out at a loss. (I walk in deciding to spend no more than a hundred bucks, and when it is gone, I leave. However, I have walked out with many times that in my pocket maybe 1 time in 4. Subsequently, when I do play black jack, when averaging it out, I am well up. If I tried to calculate it, I am possibly up around 300%) Now while I know the skills, but not so proficient that I do it as a regular circumstance, does this make me illegal or immoral? Compare that if you will to the person who just has a good memory, untrained who is also winning more than losing. Where is the line drawn between illegality and immorality.?

• Answer:

  I dont think card counting itself is EIther immoral, and its definately not illegal. It is NOTHING BUT a playing strategy. Card coutning would not be possible if the casinos dealt the game in such a manor that did not allow it. They know this is possible but choose to leave themselves vulnerable to players with the skill to do it. I beleive methods beyond counting cards may become immoral at times, and I have questioned myself sometimes on the things I do at the BJ table. It is possible to know the values of segments of cards after the shuffle, and by using the cut card to your advantage, you can force yourself to haver an increased probibility of being dealt cards of interest that you have notated the location of. It is possible to know the value of a card to be imminantly dealt, for example, that the ace of hearts will be found in the next couple of cards. If a player knows this because they were flashed the card by the dealer durring the shuffle is that an unfair advantage to place a bet on? I think this may be chetaing because only one player at a time may be in the correct position to whitness cards flashed during the shuffle. It is possible to know the value of the next card with a high degree of efficiency by using card sequencing methods, again, is it wrong to place a bet knowing you have a 15-20% chance of drawing an ACE because you remembered the order of cards before the last shuffle and they were maintained though an inneffient shuffle procedure? I think in this case, the blame fallas on the casino for not shuffling thouroughly enough. I used ot think all that was immoral, UNTILL i came to one realisation that sums it up and makes it fair. I see too many gamblers in casinos that WHOLE HEARTEDLY beleive their gambling system will make them profits from casinos games that arnt beatable. I feel it is immoral for the casinos to con these people for profits by advertising prizes, and luring them in with freebies. If casinos were moral on the casino side of the table, they woudl advertise the house advantage for the games they were offering so people knew what they were placing bets on, but they dont, so I wont tell the casino the instantanious edge I have over them, because thats what they do. I wont tell them when I know there is an Ace about to be dealt, And i wont tell them when im expecting a 104% ROI for every dollar i drop into the betting circle. I will have no remorse for doing so. Thats the conclusion I have come to. 23 miss-spellings