In fact, Is Card-Counting legal?

Card-counting is the most effective way of beating the casino. But is it legal?

Card-counting, the method that allows you to get a positive player odds in the casino is not welcomed by all the casinos regardless of the country you are playing in. It started in the US where the casinos began banning players that won too much using this strategy. When they could not detect or prove the player was counting cards they started using methods to eliminate or make card counting impossible.

One of the most widely used method is using more than two decks of cards in the game and shuffling all the time so that players could not track the cards.

So, is it legal?

According to most jurisdictions of the USA Card counting is not illegal. True, card counting is simply the use of mental ability to count the cards and thus find out their winning probabilities. Nevertheless, casinos still are private property and they have the right to ban the players they suspect in counting cards without any explanation. However, we should underline the fact that any use of electronic devices it still illegal!

Modern Methods to Stop Counters

Modern technologies allow casinos to use various systems to detect cards counters. All the halls are monitored by “pit bosses” that use the video surveillance and computer analysis to detect “violators”. In addition, even psychologies from detective agencies are used to tell the ordinary player from a counter. Most casinos have access to a database of card-counters created by other casinos and computer system analyses and compares faces of the players to detect the ones that count.

Another way is the use of modern automated shufflers that track card values, estimate player edge and track the small and high bets to see if there is a regularity. The system can also calculate errors made during the game when the player Doubles or Splits and see the average play variation according to the count.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to keep you from counting cards. Nevertheless, there are still ways how to avoid them and win the game!

To find out more about card counting let’s now go to the History of Card counting.