Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A High-tech Wheel of Fortune

Posted by michael on from the no-whammies dept.

tcp writes "The BBC is reporting that the London police have detained three people, for allegedly beating the roulette wheel at a London casino. Using a cell phone, a computer and a laser scanner, they were able to predict where the roulette ball would land, winning more than 1.5 million dollars in the process. This technique was not new, and as I recall was the plot of a movie once. The suspects have not been charged yet. The UK has been behind in bringing their gambling laws to deal with new hi-tech threats unlike the US and Las Vegas."

15 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. $1.5*10^6? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    After winning $1.5*10^3 you'd think they'd start to get suspicious.

  2. Las Vegas by ungulation · · Score: 3, Funny

    unlike the US and Las Vegas ahhh yes... the country of Las Vegas

    1. Re:Las Vegas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Questioning slashdot's moderation system?

      Crush The Dissenter!
      Crush The Dissenter!
      Crush The Dissenter!
      Crush The Dissenter!
      Crush The Dissenter!

      HAVE NO MERCY ON THE HERETIC!

    2. Re:Las Vegas by boarder8925 · · Score: 3, Funny
      the country of Las Vegas
      It was on the Internet, so, then it must be true!
      --
      Keep your eyes to the sky.
    3. Re:Las Vegas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      i didn't expect the spanish inquisition....

  3. Monty Python anyone? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2, Funny

    Two Serbian men, aged 38 and 33, and a Hungarian woman aged 32 have been released on bail until 30 March.

    Well, if she hadn't been arrested for cheating at the casino, she probably would have been arrested at the tobacconist anyway...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. Well you know one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    British gambling laws from 1845 are currently in the process of being redrafted to bring them up to date with 21st Century gaming.

    I bet it's illegal to duel in the casino & you have to leave your hired help in the coat room.

  5. Odds by Lakedemon · · Score: 2, Funny

    We mathematicians made sure that the games in the casino would steal the customers blind, well with a quite high probability anyway.

    You can't win against maths (Any Teenager in any school knows that... ^_^).

    So, feel free to play if you want to get poorer...
    And feel free to cheat if you want to end up dead/in jail...

  6. Re:Tipping the odds in your favor... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny
    ... once you have a large enough amount of capital, any advantage over 50% is garaunteed to make you money.

    If you have that much capital, then to hell with the gambling. Go get some hookers!

  7. Re:Physics can solve anything if it has all the in by the_twisted_pair · · Score: 2, Funny

    Corollary: it's possible to derive an easily-memorized algorithm for consistently beating the House at Roulette... that only works for spherical cows in a vacuum.

  8. In other news... by bartwol · · Score: 5, Funny
    "This technique was not new, and as I recall was the plot of a movie once."
    In other news, a team of three people were instantaneously transported from Teaneck, New Jersey to Istanbul, Turkey. Most onlookers were unimpressed, having seen this technology in use for years on Star Trek.

    Sheesh.

    <bart

  9. Not quite... by the_twisted_pair · · Score: 2, Funny

    ..but the new rules will limit the size of countries you can subjugate. It also limits Britain to colouring no more that 40% of the Globe pink.

  10. Boohooooo! by Skwirl · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's no longer equal footing, and the casino is going to be ripped off.

    Oh, please, won't someone think of the casinos!?!
  11. (-1, dorky) by c.emmertfoster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bah, the solution is obvious. The casinos just need to start using subatomic particles as Roulette balls, so that you would have to build a Heisenberg Compensator to cheat like this.

    --
    We can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die!
  12. Re:Casino Hacking by blue_adept · · Score: 2, Funny

    no, I think the greatest hack you ever pulled off was getting 4 moderators to believe your bulls**t.

    --

    "Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"