5 Casino Stories You Probably Haven’t Heard Before

Even if you play at the best online casino, luck still decides most results. Some players, however, have found strange ways to tip the odds. If you’re a regular player, you’ve probably heard the famous casino stories already.

The MIT blackjack team, Don Johnson’s huge blackjack wins and Stanley Fujitake’s legendary craps roll all come up often. So we’ve gone looking for some lesser-known tales instead. Here are five true casino stories you may not have heard before.

1. Two Poker Pros Settled a Bet With an MMA Fight

Poker players love a side bet. In 2015, Olivier Busquet took that to a new level. He posted online that he was looking for a six-figure fight with anyone from the poker world.

Fellow pro JC Alvarado accepted. Alvarado already had some martial arts training and held a jiu-jitsu blue belt. Because of that, he put up $150,000 to Busquet’s $120,000. Busquet, on the other hand, was much bigger. The pair agreed that he would weigh in at 187.5 pounds, while Alvarado would come in at 165.

After six months of training, they met on 21 April 2016 at the Syndicate MMA gym in Las Vegas. Fans paid a small entry fee, which went to the One Drop charity. Thousands more watched online, and plenty of side bets rode on the result.

The fight was tough to watch. Busquet used his size to control the action on the ground. After three rounds, Alvarado was badly cut and the fight was stopped. As a result, Busquet won by technical knockout.

Both men earned respect that night. Busquet praised Alvarado’s toughness straight after the fight, and Alvarado left hospital the same evening in good spirits.

Neither player swapped poker for a fighting career. Still, it remains one of the wildest prop bets the game has seen.

2. The Roulette Player Who Didn’t Really Cheat

Roulette is meant to be pure chance. Every number should have the same odds on every spin. That only works, though, if the wheel is perfectly balanced. In the early days, wheels were not always so perfect.

Joseph Jagger was a textile engineer from Yorkshire. He spent his working life around spinning machinery. So he suspected that no roulette wheel could spin perfectly true.

In the best-known version of the story, Jagger hired six clerks. Each one recorded every result at one of the six wheels in the Monte Carlo casino. After studying the numbers, he found that one wheel favoured a group of nine numbers. He then began betting on those numbers and won heavily.

The casino soon grew suspicious. At one point, staff switched the wheels around overnight. Jagger started losing, until he noticed that a small scratch on “his” wheel was missing. He found the right wheel again and carried on winning. In the end, the casino changed its wheels so the pattern disappeared, and Jagger walked away.

How Much Did He Win?

Accounts differ. He is said to have won more than two million francs, worth roughly £65,000 to £80,000 at the time. In today’s money, that would be several million pounds.

The date is also debated. Many retellings say 1873 or 1875. However, a biography by one of his descendants places the win around 1881. Either way, he used the money to buy property back home in Yorkshire.

Best of all, Jagger didn’t break any rules. He simply spotted a flaw and used it, which is why he is still famous today.

3. The Smallest Casino Was in the Back of a Taxi

Some casinos are huge. This one fitted in the back of a London black cab. In June 2016, Grosvenor Casinos launched what it called the “World’s Smallest Travelling Casino”.

The idea was to celebrate a big summer of sport, including Euro 2016. Former England cricketer Phil Tufnell hosted the launch in London on 1 June. Inside, the cab had a blackjack table with a real dealer. There was also a tablet for online games, TV screens for live sport and a small bar.

Anyone in London could request a ride on Twitter. Passengers could get a free trip to their nearest Grosvenor casino. Alternatively, they could go anywhere in the city in return for an optional donation to Carers Trust.

After London, the cab toured the UK for three weeks. Its stops included Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. The dealer gave quick lessons rather than taking real-money bets. So it was more of a fun promotion than a working casino. Grosvenor is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.

4. Keith Taft Built Wearable Computers to Beat Blackjack

Most people know Edward Thorp, the maths professor who showed that blackjack could be beaten. Far fewer know Keith Taft. Yet Taft may have built some of the first wearable computers in history, all to win at blackjack.

Taft was a physics graduate and engineer from Montana. He was also a devout churchgoer and music teacher. He first played blackjack on a family trip to Reno in 1969. After that, he read everything he could find, including Thorp’s book.

The problem was that Taft wasn’t very good at card counting. He found it hard to count quickly without being spotted. So he decided to build a machine to do it for him.

“George” and Beyond

In 1972, he finished a computer called George. It weighed about 15 pounds and was strapped to his body. He entered the cards using switches hidden in his shoes, pressed with his toes.

George didn’t make him rich. Later devices, however, became much smaller and smarter. Taft teamed up with blackjack legend Ken Uston for a time, and his son Marty helped build later models.

At the time, using a computer to count cards wasn’t against the law. That changed after Taft’s brother Ted was caught with a tiny camera hidden in his belt buckle. It sent pictures of the dealer’s hidden card to a helper in a truck outside. In 1985, Nevada made the use of such devices illegal.

Taft was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004. He died in California in 2006, aged 72.

5. The Baccarat “Cutters”

Our final story made headlines in 2011. It involved a group that security experts nicknamed the “Cutters”. Their trick was simple, but very hard to catch.

In baccarat, players are often invited to cut the stack of cards before the game. As a Cutter made the cut, he would gently riffle the corners of the cards with one finger. A tiny camera hidden in his sleeve filmed the cards as they flicked past.

The cutter would then head to the bathroom and hand the camera to a partner. The footage went to someone nearby, who slowed it down and wrote out the order of the cards. Baccarat is played slowly, so there was still plenty of the shoe left to play. Other gang members then sat down and bet, already knowing what was coming.

Caught, but Not Charged

In January 2011, Nevada agents detained a group at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. The casino suspected the scam, but nobody could find the camera. As a result, the players were released. The group was also linked to a $100,000 win at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

A few months later, in May 2011, some members were finally caught in the Philippines. A casino surveillance manager spotted a camera up a player’s sleeve and picked out several others nearby. Security experts believed the wider gang was much bigger, and many members were never identified.

The trick hasn’t gone away either. Casino security experts report that cut-card scams have returned in recent years, sometimes using mobile phones instead of sleeve cameras.

What These Casino Stories Tell Us

These stories are fun to read. Still, there’s a clear lesson running through most of them. Casinos learn quickly, and loopholes rarely stay open for long.

• Jagger’s win led casinos to take wheel balance far more seriously.
• Taft’s devices led directly to Nevada’s 1985 law.
• The Cutters put casinos on alert over how players cut the cards.

Today, online casino games use tested random number generators, and live dealer studios are watched closely. In other words, nobody at home should expect to find a Jagger-style edge. The smartest approach is to play for fun, pick games you enjoy and stick to a budget. Our gaming tips are a good place to start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is card counting illegal?

No. Counting cards in your head is not against the law. However, casinos can ask card counters to stop playing or leave. Using a device to help you count is illegal in Nevada and many other places.

Did Joseph Jagger cheat?

No. He noticed that one wheel had a physical flaw and bet accordingly. He didn’t touch the wheel or break any casino rules.

Could a biased wheel happen today?

It’s very unlikely. Modern wheels are built to strict standards and checked regularly. Online roulette uses tested random number generators instead of a physical wheel.

Were the Cutters ever convicted?

Some members were caught in the Philippines in 2011. Beyond that, public details about charges or convictions are limited, and much of the wider group was never identified.

Enjoyed these casino stories? For another remarkable tale, read about the UK Varsity Dropout who won £1.2 Million at the 2021 WSOP. And if you have a casino story of your own, we’d love to hear it.