Why is it illegal to count cards at the casinos?

It’s not illegal. Casinos are allowed to refuse service to whoever they want, and they all happen to do so with card counters. It’s not cheating if you count cards in your head (it’s just being really good at the game), but it is illegal if you use a device to cheat.

Ditto to @gorillapaws It’s perfectly legal. The casinos would prefer that everyone think it’s illegal. I would too if I had a lucrative income based solely on the fact that algebra is on my side.

Thanks guys.

In every other game in their establishments, the odds are favoring the casino. Slots are the worst (for customers ) because they can set the percentages for each machine themselves since it’s all computerized.

A good card counter tips the odds just enough in his favor that they will get rid of them when they spot them.

There have been several organized attempts at card counting rings but sooner or later they get found out.

Each casino also keeps a photo record of each known card counter so some have resorted to disguises.

There have been a few documentary films made and it’s a fascinating subject.

How does one count cards? I mean isn’t it in their head? How could they catch them?

Watch these documentaries, especially the last one goes into details.

Of course, it’s much harder to catch them when it’s a team (like the famous MIT blackjack teams) but if someone is consistently beating the odds, it’s difficult to hide it.

And if you’re just going to settle for only the usual chance like anyone else, then why bother card counting.

Sooner or later card counters stick out. But it takes awhile and a sharp head of security to spot the patterns.

But they have overhead cameras watching everything 24/7 so there’s no escaping the “eye in the sky”

Here’s a few of the best docs. Perhaps you can find them on Netflix or something. It’s a fascinating world.
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http://www.documentarytube.com/articles/top-3-blackjack-documentaries-you-need-to-watch-today
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I will keep an eye out for them. Or watch on my computer when it’s back up. (BTW @Buttonstc…I figured out how to copy names so I don’t have to spell them manually)

So, you use copy/paste? On my particular current phone that’s more of a PITA than just typing it out.

Plus if I’m on my old iPhone 3G, c/P is not possible at all since it wasn’t added in until later iterations of IOS.

Kk

I saw Breaking Vegas. It was very interesting.

@Dutchess_III it’s not the card counting that is revealing, because, as you said, it is in their head. It is the pattern of betting as a result of card counting. Card counters will play the minimum bet while the deck is considered negative or neutral, but increase their bets to two, three, or four time more when the deck is “rich” or positive.

Casinos will counteract by using multiple decks (5 or 6 in a shoe) and even doing a bit of counting themselves, so if they are halfway through a deck but the odds have tipped in the players favor, they will shuffle the deck early.

There is the additional factor that nothing draws and concentrates the attention of casino management like people consistently winning money. A casino won’t necessarily wait for proof that you are counting cards or cheating to openly question your “good luck”.

Casinos, like any private establishment, are under no obligation to let you stay. They may not totally kick you out but they don’t have to let you gamble, or maybe you’ll be banned totally.

I’ve been to the casino once. Went with $20. First round of whatever card game I was betting I lost and lost. I was down to a few bucks…and started winning. Maybe it was my imagination but it felt contrived. I got my winnings back up to $20 and cashed out! Ha ha on them!!!

This has been educational guys. Very interesting.

@Dutchess_III

It is contrived to a degree. It’s in the casino’s interest for the players to win to a degree. Winning small amounts every few rounds keeps you at the table playing, spending money, buying drinks, etc.

Maybe you might walk in with $20, ultimately lose that, then walk away with only a $20 loss. Someone else, upon winning a few hands (even if it only amounts to a few dollars), might decide that they’re “getting hot”, that luck is one their side. They’ve got a big win coming up, they “can just feel it”. So they go to the ATM and take out $20 or $40 more. Repeat the process over and over again until they wake up in their hotel room (possibly comp’ed by the casino, because they “treat their customers like kings”) the next morning hungover, with only a fuzzy memory of what happened the night before. They they look up their bank statement online and then contemplate trowing themselves out the window rather than face the financial ruination they’ve brought on themselves.

(Not that that’s ever happened to me or anything.)

^^^^ right?!

@Darth_Algar An ATM in Vegas is the only place i have ever been where it only gave out multiples of $100 in $100 bills.

@Dutchess_III: That’s why many casinos give free drinks while you are gambling. They want to loosen your inhibitions and get you to really have a good time, in the meantime, keep feeding the one armed bandit or stay at the table and bottoms up, keep gambling.

I know that @jca. That’s one of the reasons I don’t go to casinos. I don’t know how easily I could be sucked in.

@stanleybmanly “The casinos would prefer that everyone think it’s illegal”

That’s actually not true. There were a couple of waves of the public trying to count cards after news broke about successful card counting rings, and casinos saw record profits. It’s easy to read a book and become a bad card counter who thinks he’s talented at it. Having lots of gamblers in your casinos like that is fantastic for business.