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Thread: Gambling pro Archie Karas charged with defrauding casino

  1. #1
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    Gambling pro Archie Karas charged with defrauding casino

    Gambling pro Archie Karas charged with defrauding casino

    SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - World-renowned professional poker player Archie Karas, has been arrested on charges of cheating and defrauding a casino after authorities say he was caught marking cards at a California blackjack table.

    Karas, 62, best known for reputedly building a beginning stake of $50 into a $40 million fortune during a record three-year winning streak, was taken into custody on Tuesday at his Las Vegas home, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office said on Friday.

    He will be extradited to San Diego to face a criminal complaint filed last week charging him with burglary, winning by fraudulent means and cheating, the prosecutor's office said.

    If convicted, Karas, whose real name is Anargyros Karabourniotis, faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

    "This defendant's luck ran out thanks to extraordinary cooperation between several different law enforcement agencies who worked together to investigate and prosecute this case," said county District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

    According to prosecutors, Karas was spotted by surveillance cameras marking cards - using tiny smudges of dye secretly wiped onto the backs of jacks, queens, kings and aces - while playing blackjack in July at the Indian-owned Barona Resort and Casino in Lakeside, California.

    The marks gave Karas an unfair advantage by helping him identify the value of cards before they were dealt as he chose whether to take another card, or hold, in an effort to reach the winning value of 21 without going over, prosecutors said.

    The scheme worked so well that he managed to cheat the casino out of more than $8,000 before he was caught, district attorney's office spokesman Steve Walker said.

    'THREAT TO THE GAMING INDUSTRY'

    California Justice Department spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said Karas was doing the marking with dye inserted into a hollowed-out gambling chip that he would inconspicuously swipe over the cards while playing through a deck.

    A search warrant executed on Karas's home turned up hollowed-out chips from other casinos, but so far no other gambling establishments have lodged complaints against him, Gregory said.

    But authorities said Karas has been accused of cheating before.

    "The Nevada Gaming Control Board has investigated Karas on multiple occasions resulting in four arrests," said Karl Bennison, that agency's enforcement chief, said in a statement. "Karas has been a threat to the gaming industry in many jurisdictions."

    Karas set the record for the largest and longest documented winning streak in gambling history from 1992 to 1995, arriving in Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket and going on to amass $40 million from high-stakes poker.

    He subsequently lost most of those winnings at baccarat and dice games in three weeks, according to Tom Sexton, who publishes the online gambling magazine Poker News. Karas returned to the poker table many times, often with backers, and cleaned out many of the best players in the world, according to Sexton.

    He is considered by many to have been the greatest gambler of all time and often has been compared with Nick "the Greek" Dandolos, another high-stakes gambler and high roller who died in 1966.

    San Diego County has 19 federally recognized Indian tribes and 10 Indian casinos, more than any other county in the United States. Industry experts estimate that casinos nationwide lose tens of millions of dollars a year in various cheating scams.

    Reuters.com
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

  2. #2
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    Re: Gambling pro Archie Karas charged with defrauding casino

    Quote Originally Posted by littleroundman View Post
    [B][SIZE=1][I][B]

    Karas set the record for the largest and longest documented winning streak in gambling history from 1992 to 1995, arriving in Las Vegas with $50 in his pocket and going on to amass $40 million from high-stakes poker.

    He subsequently lost most of those winnings at baccarat and dice games in three weeks, according to Tom Sexton, who publishes the online gambling magazine Poker News. Karas returned to the poker table many times, often with backers, and cleaned out many of the best players in the world, according to Sexton.
    I find it interesting how many people with such talent seem to repeat this boom and bust cycle. "One of a Kind" about Stu Ungar tells a similar tale, comes in both a movie and a book, a little disturbing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Ungar

    ------------------------------------------------

    On a cheating note, seems to be going around.


    Card sharp used infrared contact lenses in Cannes poker scam

    By Henry Samuel, Paris


    The self-styled "player and cheat of international renown" impressed even the presiding judge for his sophisticated use of "old techniques and high-end technology" to win thousands of pounds at a casino in the French Côte d'Azur resort of Cannes.

    The court in Grasse heard how Stefano Ampollini, 56 – code name Parmesan – turned up to "Les Princes" casino in the Mediterranean resort in August 2011, wearing a set of infra-red contact lenses purchased online from China for 2,000 euros.

    Opposite him on the other side of the stud poker table was a discreet accomplice, code name "The Israeli", who sniffed or snorted to help Ampollini choose the right cards. Two corrupt casino staff members had already marked the cards with invisible ink.

    Thanks to his special contacts, the Italian shark was then able to keep track of the game, racking up 70,000 euros between them without being caught.

    "Casino security found his behaviour rather strange as he won very easily and, above all, because he folded twice when he had an excellent hand, suggesting he knew the croupier's cards," said Marc Concas, lawyer for the Groupe Lucien Barrière, which owns the casino.
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    They called the betting police, who launched an investigation.

    Thanks to telephone surveillance, they worked out that staff members had handed cards over to the Italians who had marked them with invisible ink.

    They were then placed under cellophane and returned to the casino cupboard, ready for use.

    When the Italian returned alone two months later, he won 21,000 euros for himself, but was then arrested by police as he left the casino.

    Ampollini reportedly smiled as presiding judge Marc Joando marvelled at his sophisticated exploits.

    That did no stop the court on Wednesday slapping Ampollini with a two-year prison sentence, and 100,000-euro fine.

    Two other Italians were also convicted. Gianfranco Tirrito, 55, described as an elegant "professional cheat" and "probably the mastermind", was handed down a three-year prison term and 100,000-euro fine.

    Rocco Grassanno, 57, who claimed to have come to the Côte d'Azur "for tourism and to meet beautiful women", received a 30-month sentence and a 50,000 euro-fine.

    "This is the first time this sort of technique has been seen in Europe," Mr Concas told The Daily Telegraph.

    Ampollini confirmed that he had given other pairs of infrared contact lenses to unnamed "friends".

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...oker-scam.html
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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