Part IV: Financial Fraud · Internal Collusion & Employee Fraud

Scam #12: Improper Card Delivery (Lifting/Exposing Cards)

How it works

In games that use automatic card shufflers (particularly poker-derivative games like Ultimate Texas Hold’em and Mississippi Stud), dealers must lift cards out of the shuffler well and place them on the table. If a dealer lifts the cards too high or exposes them during this process, the card faces become visible to anyone with a line of sight - including hidden cameras positioned at table level. Modern cheating teams have exploited this vulnerability by placing concealed cameras on the table surface to capture the exposed cards as they are lifted from the shuffler. The cameras stream footage to an accomplice who relays the information via hidden earpiece. This vulnerability has increased with the proliferation of auto-shufflers in poker-derivative games.

Where it appears

Poker-derivative table games using automatic shufflers (Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Mississippi Stud, Three Card Poker)

On the record

In November 2025, a Kazakhstan couple won over $1 million at Crown Sydney cheating poker-derivative games using concealed cameras to capture dealer cards as they were lifted from the auto shuffler. Similar arrests occurred in Paris in July 2024. These cases represent a growing trend targeting poker-derivative games.

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.