Three gamblers suspected of using a hi-tech mobile phone laser beam at London’s Ritz Casino
Ritz Roulette £1.3m win scam
London, Dec. 6 — Three gamblers suspected of using a hi-tech mobile phone laser beam at London’s Ritz Casino being allowed to keep their £1.3m winnings, has prompted casinos across Britain to review their security.
The gamblers’ laser device in the mobile phone allegedly enabled them to predict with more probability the outcome of every spin of a roulette wheel. But Scotland Yard has failed to find evidence to prosecute the gamblers and refunded them the “significant” quantity of cash which officers seized after their arrest.
The group, described as a “chic and beautiful” Hungarian woman, 32, and two “elegant” Serbian men, aged 33 and 38, had been on police bail for nine months but are now free to leave the country.
Scotland Yard spent nine months investigating whether the trio conned the Ritz Casino in London.
Reports from Budapest say the Hungarian woman was well known at the capital's top casinos and had been banned as a result. But on March 16 when she walked into the Ritz accompanied by her two friends, aged 33 and 38, she did not initially raise the suspicions of croupiers.
The 32-year-old woman watched as the roulette ball settled on her selection then cashed in her Ritz chips for £100,000. The following evening the three returned to the Ritz casino’s roulette tables. This time they won £1.2m.
The Ritz's management suspected they were using a scanner inside a mobile phone which measured the speed of the ball as the croupier released it and calculated where the ball would settle.
The phone data was then beamed to a microcomputer, which ran through thousands of possible outcomes to forecast which section numbers the ball would land in. This data was flashed on to the screen of the phone just before the wheel made its third spin, by which time all bets must be placed.
Having reduced their odds of winning from 37-1 to 6-1, the trio placed bets on all six numbers in the section where the ball would likely end up.
