There were also some early shoe-based devices I have read about, which used earpieces (difficult to avoid breaking the thin wires necessary to hide them, and prevent damage from sweat). Some of these stories unfortunately weren't documented super well -- I think I came across them from the original participants chatting on a long-defunct forum or newsgroup -- but it is mentioned in passing here: https://jimsudmeierstories.com/adventures-with-a-concealed-b...
> Then around 1976 came “David,” using the Z80 microprocessor, oriented towards team play (the Big Player making the big bets) with hand keyboards operated through holes in pockets and transmitters to signal the Big Player. Later came “Thor,” a computer to track the shuffling (and possible clumping) of multiple decks. One of his inventions involved networking players together with fine wires about 3 feet long. Then there were “Magic Shoes” in which 12 batteries, computer, and all were hidden in “Frankenstein” shoes. Later still there was “Narnia, the sequencing computer.”
Yes Thorp had secured a hard to schedule meeting with Shannon regarding his research. Turned out Shannon was more interested in the analysis of a few gambling games that Thorp had thrown in the conversation.
The wide interest in things that Shannon held from weird gadgets to possibly the most famous Masters thesis dissertation, Shannon has me in awe and respect. Had he been a good storyteller, I suspect, people would have been as familiar with his name as Feynman.
A great reference, thanks! I can imagine both Thorp and Shannon desperately trying to solder loose wires in a toilet booth could make a great awkward scene in a future film
I read a story one time about a mysterious player who visited the casino one time per month. He would look at the table for many spins, make a single bet, win a small amount and leave. When he entered security was on high alert, they all had their eyes on the monitors, didn't see anything suspicious. When he left they would pull up the footage from his previous visits and examine it again. They did that every month and thought it was hilarious how he came to "steal" something like 50 bucks one time per month and got away with it every time.
The Remote Uber and Hybrid are like a roulette computer in the cloud – it can be applied from anywhere with internet access. You don’t even need to enter a casino. You can have others play for you, who pay you part of their winnings. You determine who accesses your computer and when. The Hybrid computer even allows you to watch your teams play live with a hidden camera."
This whole thing sounds sketchy, but this is particularly sketchy.
> It depends on the computer version. Normal mobile phones cannot accurately process timings, so they are unsuitable for roulette computers. This is why our phones are modified. How we modify each phone depends on the model, but in most cases we install a crystal oscillator that acts as a microprocessor timer, then we re-program the phone firmware to source it’s timings from the new timer. The phone has the timer, custom firmware, and interface software depend on each other. This gives the best combination of accurate timings and complex algorithms to predict roulette spins. The modifications are difficult and expensive, which is why most roulette computers are unmodified phones or PDAs, or microprocessors.
Is it just me or does this sounds more like a justification for the cost and/or to discourage reverse engineering? I'm skeptical this is actually necessary.
I don’t have proof to back up my assertion but my gut says a lot of these online/non-us/crypto casinos are cheating. How would you the end user know? The house knows where the big money is placed on the table and then magnetic or some mechanism control where the ball lands. Profit even more than their statistical edge.
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[0] https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/2007.030.014
> Then around 1976 came “David,” using the Z80 microprocessor, oriented towards team play (the Big Player making the big bets) with hand keyboards operated through holes in pockets and transmitters to signal the Big Player. Later came “Thor,” a computer to track the shuffling (and possible clumping) of multiple decks. One of his inventions involved networking players together with fine wires about 3 feet long. Then there were “Magic Shoes” in which 12 batteries, computer, and all were hidden in “Frankenstein” shoes. Later still there was “Narnia, the sequencing computer.”
The inventor Keith Taft talks about it in more detail in an interview here: https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/interv...
(Another famous '70s card counter, Ken Uston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Uston ended up writing one of the very earliest video game guides, Mastering Pac-Man (it came out in 1981, the same year as Tom Hirschfeld's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Master_the_Video_Games .) Apparently one of its readers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_Dukach discovered Uston's blackjack books as a result, got into blackjack and so ended up on the later, late-'70s-to-early-2000s MIT Blackjack Team led by J.P. Massar .)
The wide interest in things that Shannon held from weird gadgets to possibly the most famous Masters thesis dissertation, Shannon has me in awe and respect. Had he been a good storyteller, I suspect, people would have been as familiar with his name as Feynman.
Here’s an interview with him from a few years ago.
https://youtu.be/CNvz91Jyzbg?si=vR8jxJ7iBCP0uYzk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eudaemonic_Pie
The Remote Uber and Hybrid are like a roulette computer in the cloud – it can be applied from anywhere with internet access. You don’t even need to enter a casino. You can have others play for you, who pay you part of their winnings. You determine who accesses your computer and when. The Hybrid computer even allows you to watch your teams play live with a hidden camera."
This whole thing sounds sketchy, but this is particularly sketchy.
> It depends on the computer version. Normal mobile phones cannot accurately process timings, so they are unsuitable for roulette computers. This is why our phones are modified. How we modify each phone depends on the model, but in most cases we install a crystal oscillator that acts as a microprocessor timer, then we re-program the phone firmware to source it’s timings from the new timer. The phone has the timer, custom firmware, and interface software depend on each other. This gives the best combination of accurate timings and complex algorithms to predict roulette spins. The modifications are difficult and expensive, which is why most roulette computers are unmodified phones or PDAs, or microprocessors.
Is it just me or does this sounds more like a justification for the cost and/or to discourage reverse engineering? I'm skeptical this is actually necessary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivey_v_Genting_Casinos