Is Card Counting banned in Las Vegas | The Untold Truth
You have no need at all to be concerned about getting handcuffed for card counting in the middle of a Las Vegas blackjack pit. In Las Vegas, it is legal to count cards. Not only is it legal to count cards in Las Vegas, but many longtime residents of the strip will tell you that the development of Las Vegas into what it is today was made possible by individuals like Edward Thorpe, the grandfather of the game.
Having said that, a lot of casinos don’t like it when you adjust your bet with the count, and since they are private companies, they have the right to kick you off the floor and forbid you from entering the grounds. This is basically a double-edged sword because your photo will then be distributed to numerous other properties by the surveillance department. The majority of properties will then frequently request that you leave before you’ve placed your first wager.
Crime Types in Casinos in Las Vegas
You cannot be arrested by the police for card counting at a casino, but you may face charges for other card counting-related offenses like:
Counting cards with electronic devices: Possessing an intellectual edge is not prohibited. However, you may be arrested for cheating if your advantage makes use of a mechanical or electronic equipment.
Cheating: If you physically influence the outcome of a card game, you may also face arrest charges. Cheating includes things like tampering with the card deck or trading cards with other players.
Trespassing: Due to the financial loss incurred by customers who cheat at games or count cards, most casinos have extremely strict security measures in place. You can be asked to leave the casino or move away from the table if security at the casino finds you counting cards. If you don’t leave, employees at casinos may call the police and have you jailed for trespassing because they are private properties.
Disorderly behavior: You risk being arrested for disorderly conduct if you are asked to leave a casino and you resist or cause a disturbance. The best thing to do when asked to leave is to comply rather than respond angrily.
Physical assault: Remain calm and don’t act hastily if you are seen counting cards and a casino employee or security officer detains you or tells you to leave. If you physically harm or harass casino employees, you may be placed under arrest. You might be arrested for even mild pushing and shoving.
You are entitled to legal counsel if you were detained in a casino in Las Vegas. Adras & Altig, Attorneys at Law’s criminal defense team is available to assist.
What Are Our Rights in a Casino?
Casinos are privately owned. Their owners are allowed to operate their casinos in any way they see fit, subject to state and federal regulations. Staff at the casino have the authority to order you to leave for any reason, including cheating and rowdy behavior.
If the casino staff instructs you to leave, you must comply or face legal repercussions. If you refuse, the casino owner may also bar you from returning to the site in the future.
A Criminal Defense Lawyer in Las Vegas can help you defend your rights.
If you were arrested at a casino and charged with a crime such as trespassing or disorderly conduct, please contact Adras & Altig, Attorneys at Law as soon as possible. We are prepared to vigorously defend your rights and may be able to have the charges withdrawn or reduced. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
Can I be prosecuted if I’m discovered?
Not following security instructions is what can and does get players jailed, especially after a few drinks. If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being “walked,” be silent and avoid making physical contact with anyone.
They won’t drag you upstairs and then dump you on them; this isn’t the movie theater. Their goal is to get you colored and out of there as quickly as possible. However, you will soon find yourself on the ground in handcuffs with the cops arriving if you touch one of them or even if you say anything rash that you will regret the next morning.
You could not even be asked to leave in certain situations. Casinos have long since realized that you are not always extremely good at anything just because you are trying to count cards. Regular gamblers lose at the same rate as most inexperienced card counters.
Because they don’t have the staff or the patience to keep an eye on your play for very long, casinos will ask you to stop playing blackjack or occasionally any other table game and leave you to your luck on the slots and video poker in the unlikely event that you’re a deranged gambler with some knowledge of card counting.
Why is card counting not prohibited in Las Vegas and what does it entail?
Card counting isn’t some type of mental gymnastics that demands a Ph.D. All you have to do is keep track of the high and low cards, increasing your wager when there are several high cards. However, this is only effective since there isn’t much of a house edge in blackjack.
In order to beat the new house odds when the amount of high cards is in your favor, you’ll need to wager more when casinos alter the rules to their advantage. Certain rule modifications, such as paying only 6/5 for blackjacks, are also highly challenging to implement.
It is entirely lawful to base your betting and playing strategy on the cards that have already been dealt, but only if you do it without the use of any technology or machinery. As early as the 1970s, people like Ken Uston constructed wearable computers in an attempt to win the game. But the courts made it quite evident that although exercising your own judgment was OK, getting outside help wasn’t.
An intriguing sidebar is that the Nevada Supreme Court has also decided that utilizing a dealer’s revealed hole card to guide your judgments isn’t prohibited if you can see it unassisted and, of course, the dealer isn’t presenting it to you as an act of collusion.
Switching cards, increasing or decreasing your bet after the cards are dealt, using a computer or phone to help you play, utilizing a prism or camera to catch the dealer’s hole card, and engaging in any kind of collusion with the dealer—such as purposefully being overpaid or the dealer flashing you the next card before it is dealt—are some of the actions that can land you in jail.
A Synopsis Of Las Vegas’s History With Blackjack and Beatdowns
In 1946, there were just about twenty thousand people living in Las Vegas when Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hilton. For the next thirty years, this impoverished western town would be ruled by the mob. When the majority of the mob’s power started to decline in 1980, the town had expanded to a metro region with more than 500,000 residents.
There are books by authors as early as the 1950s that start to outline fundamental blackjack strategies and make passing references to counting. “Beat the Dealer,” written by Thorp, was released five full years prior to “Playing Blackjack to Win.” However, the nation was captivated by Thorp’s computer-assisted study, which even made it onto the New York Times best seller lists.
As one might expect, there was a lot of mayhem when mathematically inclined people tried to outsmart the mob and the casinos. In fact, Thorp has stated that a few years after the publication of his book, the mob attempted to assassinate him in Las Vegas.
Over the years, Ken Uston and numerous other card counters, some of whom were competent and others not so much, would also suffer beatings at the hands of the mob. For the majority of the 1970s, casinos frequently upheld their own justice. And this is the root of a lot of people’s concerns that card counting is forbidden or criminalized.
Ironically, following a brief period of fear, the managers of the casinos along the strip discovered that the patrons crammed into their now-full blackjack tables were not so much novices as experienced players who thought they could beat the game but were not skilled enough to do so. For decades to come, this notion that blackjack was weak would fill blackjack tables and hotel rooms in Las Vegas.
Even yet, casinos continued to alter the rules of the game, adding as many as eight decks beyond the initial two. Five Card Charlie and surrender went extinct as the cut card was pushed forward, resulting in fewer cards being handed out. This reduced the number of people who could count cards profitably as well as the amount of beatings that had to be administered.
The days of beatings are long gone, and the downtown museum in Las Vegas is pretty much the only thing that remains of the mafia. There are still those who are willing to take a chance because of the excitement of counting cards and trying to bring down the house. In all honesty, you are getting off easy, even if the casino has the right to order you to leave if they suspect you of counting cards. No bouncing down many flights of stairs and no shackles.
