Part I: Card Game Cheating · Collusion & Electronic Cheating at Card Games · #2.22

Concealed Blackjack Computer (Computer Shoes)

How it works

A player hides a small computer on the body and feeds it the cards as they are dealt, usually through switches in the shoes worked by the toes. The computer keeps track of the cards played and tells the player, by vibration, how to bet and how to play the hand. Counting cards in your head is legal; the device is not. In Nevada it is a crime to use, or possess with intent to use, any device at a licensed gaming establishment that helps keep track of cards played or analyse the probability of an outcome or a playing or betting strategy (NRS 465.075, added in 1985).

Where it appears

Blackjack, and any card game where tracking the cards already played gives an edge

On the record

In a 1987 Nevada Supreme Court case, a player was arrested at the Westward Ho casino in Las Vegas after a surveillance technician saw unusual toe movements that matched certain cards appearing at a blackjack table. The court record describes switches in his shoes, a computer strapped to his calf, and a vibrating receiver that told him how to play. A lower court had found the device law too vague. The Nevada Supreme Court reversed, holding that the use of a hidden computer is precisely the conduct the statute was written for.

Published as a detection reference for surveillance, compliance and gaming-operations professionals. Thresholds and tuning are set by the property. Nothing here is instruction: the method is described so it can be recognised.