Wired shoe helps gambler cheat at roulette
posted Mar 19th 2005 6:30AM
We want to meet Laszlo Kovacs' shoemaker. The Hungarian gambler was recently arrested in Australia, after
authorities discovered he was using a shoe-based computer, connected wirelessly to an earpiece, to cheat at roulette.
Apparently, by tapping his foot under the roulette table, Kovacs was able to get a reading on the wheel's speed and use
that data to calculate what number would come up next. Authorities estimate that Kovacs won about $200,000, tapping his
way from casino to casino. Yes, we know hookups like this are illegal in casinos around the world, but we'd love to see
how this thing worked; we assume it's based on the same tech as the shoe computer — pictured above — created by the
Eudaemons in the 70s. We'd also like to find out
if there's a way to apply it to other casino games (and, yes, for those of you who
are counting, that's another shameless cross-network plug).
[Thanks, Bernie]
There was a CSI episode where someone got killed over one of these shoe things.
It probably works like this.
Tap your foot as the ball passes a point, say the number 0 on the wheel. With 2 taps and from the time between them you can tell how fast the ball is travelling (relative to the numbers) and where it was (above the number 0).
So you can now work out where on the wheel the ball is likely to run out of speed and drop. Its not 100% accurate but the increased odds of you getting a right number means you can beat the house.
I remember reading this somewhere, but have no idea where :)
Finally, HARD EVIDENCE that genuinewinner.com and roulettecomputers.com are a scam that claim to sell roulette computers and systems for beating online casinos.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Gentleman
I had to laugh when someone above believed that roulettesystemreviews.com is a genuine evaluation site of roulette systems, it is not, it was set up by internet criminal Steven Hourmourzis to pretend his systems are the nly systems that can beat roulette.
The facts are very different. Here is how this former imprisoned internet criminal actually fakes the footage and a report by one of his users who had BOTH his systems for 8 months and only lost money. We have presented evidence that the purchaser bought the systems and his findings of the systems. We also present evidence how the scam is done which shows convincing video footage of a guy beating roulette with a roulette computer. World reknowned Roulette prediction expert Mark Anthony Howe of http://predictroulette.com analysed the footage that Stefano Hourmouzis ( Real name Steven Hourmouzis) presents at his site to lure unsuspecting customers and revealed that it is simple dealer signature where the Dealer can influence where the ball will fall with physical intervention. This makes interesting viewing of the freeze frames showing Stefano hourmouzis faking the footage and studpidly filming himself doing so. The authorities reported he had to be one of the most stupid criminals on the net.
If you wish to see how its done and the fraudulent footage and proof of one customer that had both systems for over 8 months and only lost money and was refused a refund , then visit:
http://www.computeroulette.com
also go to a Lawyers site that purchased steven hourmouzis system who also did some digging about him
http://www.roulettesystemsexposed.com
Then, finally go to a genuine roulette computer review site by a former casino employee.
http://www.roulettecomputerreviews.com
There is no systems that can beat online casinos, that is a fact!
hope this helps you guys
Avoid Stefano Hourmouzis( Real name Steven Hourmouzis) that claims he has winning systems.
Its a very eleaborate scam.
Anyone wanting a refund can obtain one by presenting evidence of purchase and a written letter or email that the product does not work,
Send complaints and evidence you have the http://www.genuinewinner.com or http://www.roulettecomputers.com system, proof of purchase and problems you have had with the system. We will try and obtain a refund for you within 14 days through the office of fair trading in Australia on your behalf.
Email mark@predictroulette.com
You'd probably need a third tap to get the rate of deceleration.
I seem to recall someone using one of these for blackjack too... The guy was inputting cards via taps.
Are we sure about this story- the guy's name makes a little suspicious. Lazlo Kovacs is the alias Belmondo gives in Breathless (it's also the name of a famous cinematographer, and there is some dispute about whether that's who Godard was referencing.) It might be a coincidence, but it seems odd.
Smart guy.... A more accurate way would to have one of those optical rpm tachometer pointed at the wheel, and a formula of the wheel size&rpm to give you the speed.
Well, any good criminal would have an alias, and any one smart enough to build a shoe that can predict a roullette spin is probably going to choose an alias that is a reference to something ikmportant to him or that only he "gets" - classic profile, anyway.
being a musician I'll take a stab at how he did it... He went and bought something like a korg digital metronome and tore it apart for components (see.. http://www.lacg.net/accessories_korgma30.htm)which allows you to "tap-in" and get a resulting tempo figure, from their i guess he calibrated it on the actual roulette table by standing back and watching for a while... and the rest jsut comes down to maths.. thats my guess anyway
anyone know where i can get hold of a decent mathmatician :) lol - pure genius except the bit where he got caught
how can that even work? fine... tap your foot at the speed of the wheel, but how do you tell your little foot computer when the ball dropped in and where...
roulette seems impossible to predict like this. if anyone has any more real info, not speculation, please post it!
To # 10 -- it's basic physics. The zero is pretty easy to spot -- it's the only slot that's green -- and you just tap each time the ball passes it. Each traversal makes the calculation more accurate. I suspect there is some method of calibrating the computer on each result -- meaning increased accuracy as the night goes on.
As for Blackjack... since the cards aren't shuffled at the end of each game, basic number counting still works pretty well I guess.
This was done many years ago by a group of scientists that eventually went on to work on chaos theory. You can read their story in a book entitled "The Newtonian Casino" (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0582057523/202-5721205-8759838).
This is quite a feat - he must have perfected this with many hundreds of hours on test wheels, and he probably spent a lot of time calibrating his device for the specific wheel he was about to play before making his move.
The thing is that you have to place your bets before the ball goes around the wheel 3 times - that's not a lot of time at all. In this time you have to tap twice (I don't think you'll have enough time for 3), then you have to listen to the calculated result, and place your chips without looking suspicious.
Well done!
On a side-note, there's a guy that got caught recently in Europe doing this same sort of thing with a more high-tech laser device that read the speed of the ball directly. It was disguised as a cellphone and apparantly was quite successful - he won millions of dollars that way. After he was caught the courts ruled that he could keep the money even though no casino will ever let him in again.
Linky for you all:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4069629.stm
As far as I know it is also legal in the US except in Nevada.
Yes this senerio seems very familiar!! I did a bit of looking around and it appears that the folks who make CSI did and episode on this. http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-19/epid-325343/
They used the same idea with the show incorperated some murders and Voila they had CSI. They also used the same amount of money that Laszlo Kovacs made whch is kinda neat.
These guys shouldn't hang around to make millions. Make a few thou and call it a day off...rush of to the next casino, or go to another country...Don't stand out...
looks like the casino owners are pretty sure people can't be that lucky :)
the trick is too complicated to be true.
>the trick is too complicated to be true.
If you predict with 70% accuracy the half in which the ball will fall, you'll make a lot of money. Or if you predict with 30% accuracy the quarter.
It's impossible to predict since there are many things to put up: speed, ball weight, angles, deceleration, size of the wheel, etc.
The only game possible to cheat is blackjack, remember that MIT team?